My dear old pal I will never forget you

My former classmate and close friend, Ronnie Carron passed away in Australia. I came to know Ronnie when I joined St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy after being at St. Anthony’s College for a considerable period of time. I took an immediate liking to him and our friendship blossomed as the years went by.

Ronnie, always dressed in immaculate white, was the monitor in our class. He was strict but at the same time ever ready to have boyhood fun. This was a time when the Laza Cinema (later called Odeon) was fairly close to our college. We purchased the cheapest tickets for the show – the gallery tickets for Rs. 60 each. Whenever there was a good movie at the Laza, some of our classmates made a beeline to watch it and enjoy ourselves. However, since we did not have much pocket money at that time we often wondered how we could purchase our tickets. Ronnie came to our rescue by going round the class and collecting money from some of the other classmates, and off we went for the shows after school closed.

Another incident I recall was how Ronnie, myself and our mutual friend, the late Phillip Perera went for the Novena at Santa Maria Church in Kandy. Apart from the prayers and singing, we also admired the pretty girls who were in church.

I often visited Ronnie at his residence in Padiwatte which included a tasty lunch prepared by Ronnie’s mother. Ronnie’s wife, Tania who is related to Ronnie was staying with them at the time and she possessed a manual typewriter. Since I was following classes in typewriting at that time but did not possess a typewriter of my own Tania very kindly obliged me with her typewriter which I used to practise on at Ronnie’s place.

Once Ronnie took part in a talent contest and chose to sing the old Jim Reeves song “I Missed Me”. Now we will all miss him in our lives!

Ronnie and Tania married almost at the same time that my wife Krishni and I wed. We visited each other and spent pleasant times together. Ronnie later migrated to Australia with his family but we kept in touch. Ronnie and Tania visited us at our Rukmalgama home whenever they were in Sri Lanka on vacation. Later, I was very upset to hear that Ronnie had developed cancer and was in and out of the hospital. During this time I was compelled to stop working due to ill health which put me and my family in a poor financial situation. It was then that Ronnie even in spite of his grave illness sent me money to help us keep our home fires burning. I told Ronnie that he was such a genuine and faithful friend to have helped us while he was suffering himself so much.

Finally the time came when I had to telephone Tania to inquire about Ronnie which I did as often as I could.

On September 21, another classmate of mine, Brian Mack who is also in Australia called to tell me that Ronnie had passed away. I was devastated! I had lost a fine, genuine and loyal friend! Ronnie, my dear old pal I will never forget you and how precious you were to me. I will now miss you and will still remember you singing “I Missed Me”!

Now rest with the Lord in eternal peace and be happy that you have not lived your life in vain.

Sunil Fernando