Circular No 795

 

Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.

Caracas, 28 January 2017 No. 795

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Dear Friends,

In this issue of the Circular we have news of Bro. Vincent, (Lionel Roberts).

Unfortunately he had a stroke and fortunately he is recovering with therapy.

I hope that all goes well and he manages to finish his memoires.

I want to see my name in them, hahaha!

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mailto:idmitch@anguillanet.com

Jan 20 at 5:14 AM

Thank you for that good news, Merlene.

I shall copy this, as I did your first message, to the main communicators among the Old Boy network of Mount.

Keep well.

Don

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From: Merlene and Lionel Roberts

Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2017 10:48 PM

Yes, I have good family support thank you. 

While he is in the rehab facility I will be passing on any E-Mail to him so do pass the word around. 

I spend full days with him while he is doing his therapy and he is slowly coming around.

He can never erase Mount St. Benedict from his heart or mind. 

All Blessing to everyone.

Merlene

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On Wed, Jan 18, 2017 at 6:35 PM,

Don Mitchell <idmitch@anguillanet.com> wrote:

Dear Merlene,

How sad to hear this news.

My heart goes out to you at this time.

I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for you to cope with all the added responsibilities.

I hope you are surrounded by friends and family, and that you are being comforted and will be helped in taking care of Br Vincent. 

I shall notify the alumni straight away.

With best wishes and love.

Sincerely,

Don

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From: Merlene and Lionel Roberts

Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2017 9:50 AM

Hi Don –

This is Merlene, Lionel's wife –

It was such a pleasure meeting with you here in St. Petersburg.

I thank you and many of the students who have communicated with Lionel over the years expressing their love and appreciation for having been a part of their lives, he too treasures those years so dear to him.

Please keep him your prayers as he is now undergoing intensive therapy for a stroke he suffered about 10 days ago, he is able to communicate well - not perfect - but well, he is also in the beginning stages of dementia.

He is still totally aware of everything and remembers his time and friends at the Mount.

We just celebrated 54 years of marriage.

He began writing his memoirs filled with his love for the many lives he touched and in return touched him.

I don't seem to know where to go from here with his book, but it is very interesting and touching.

Please keep him in your prayers and it is alright to inform all those who have been involved in his life.

He is now at Bon Secours, Maria Manor nursing home in the Rehab section.

You know this is a heart break for me.  He has been my constant protector and love.

May God Bless you all!

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Mailto:merleneandlionel@gmail.com

Feb 9 at 2:31 PM

To let you know Lionel is progressing well.

He is still having therapy at home now and improving.

He is right here next to me and asked that you remember him to all "the boys" that part of his life is very dear to him and etched in his memory.

Like I mention to Don he began writing his memoires - very interesting but somehow I do not know how to proceed with it.

It covered his youth and life on the Mount.

He has been and is a wonderful father and spouse and counsellor to many.

Please continue to keep in touch and hopefully one day he can even speak to you.

He plays dominoes every Friday (it will continue in a few weeks’ time as therapy continues) and loves his garden.

Thank you all for being part of cherished memories! 

His wife (Merlene)

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April 27, 2005

My Dear Ladislao,

Greetings in Jesus´ Name and thanks a million for all the wonderful informational work that your circulars are doing and providing for all of us.

The “Mount” remains an unforgettable institution in the lives of all of us who were fortunate to be part of its history.

These few notes, handwritten instead of being typed in a computer convey a sense of brevity in order to send this off to you quickly.

So I do not intend to be lengthy here.

But I want to embrace this opportunity to enclose the attached little donation to assist you in your wonderful work.

It is my hope that it would emphasize several things; such as how much I appreciate your Circulars, also my tardiness or inability to contribute many articles, (I hope later on to do better in this regards), and my thanks for providing me with at least the e-mail of so many “old boys” whom I intend to write when more time allows me to do so.

I have been in close touch with Doctor David Bratt and his family in Trinidad.

I also had the opportunity to meet with Mervyn Assam as well as Father Benedict and Brother Rupert.

I am also in the process of purchasing a house in Trinidad, where, God willing I hope to spend time.

Hoping to split my time between the U.S. and Trinidad.

I am also in close touch with Abbot John Pereira of the Mount.

So busy as I am, I have not been completely out of the “loop”.

That’s all for now, Ladislao, and I ask our dear Lord to bless you and your family abundantly.

Your Lionel

(Formerly Brother Vincent)

Now: Deacon Lionel V. Robert

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My dear Ladislao,

--  My God what a surprise!

Well yes you have found the Lionel Roberts. 

I am so happy to hear from you, and hopefully by this means I could be in contact with so many ot my former students and precious comrades. 

It seems that you have put together a newsletter which I would be most eager to receive. 

I have been hungry for news of as many of you as possible and now thanks to you this might be possible. 

I shall not be long in this communication, as I regard it as reintroduction to a whole generation of friends and former students which almost tragically was almost passing by.

Suffice it to say that I visited the Mount in early January, and had lunch with the new Abbot and remaining monks. 

My wife Merlene was with me and what a thrill it was to us. 

Thoughts and fond memories come cascading back to me of those days of yore. 

On that occasion I met with Brother Rupert who gave me Isaias Farcheg"s address. 

I promptly wrote him, but to date have not been graced with a reply. 

I hope that I would more successful with! 

In my next communication with you I hope to provide you with more information about me and my family. 

God has been good to me and my family

You will be happy to know that I remain within the bosom of the church, 

Two years ago I celebrated my Silver Anniversary Of my Ordination as a Catholic Deacon. 

But more of anon.  

Ladislao how beautiful it is to hear from you..please reply promptly. 

God bless you and your family my friend.

NB:  I will be sending you a picture of myself and my wife soon.

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From:  Lionel & Merlene Roberts <lrober17@tampabay.rr.com>

Date:  7 May 03:31 (PDT)

Ladislao,

I was delighted to receive your communication and pictures so I sat down and drafted such a long reply to you - somehow I seem to have lost it , did you by chance receive it? 

Please let me know, but, yes, you have found me, Lionel, should you get this, please let us keep in touch and reply as soon as possible - warmest regards –

Lionel Roberts

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Lionel Roberts <lrober17@tampabay.rr.com>

AddThursday, July 23, 2009 1:50:25 PM

Ladislao and Nigel:  

Greetings And God's blessings upon both of your families. 

Please excuse me for not writing before, in as much as, I have been receiving most if not all of your MSB Circulars.

I have been planning to write and send you some pictures which I am not sure if you had them but I do not know how to send pictures either by themselves or separately. 

However, I hope to get my wife's nephew to come over today to show me how. 

My wife Merlene's sister lives in Curacao and she is married to a Mount Old Boy, by the name of Alejandro Paula whose E-Mail is <bjorn2007Paula@hotmail.com>

Could you please add him to your list. Thank you 

"Jandie"as he is popularly called, attended The Abbey School from 1954 to around1958. He then became a Seminarian, eventually leaving for Rome to continue his studies.

While there he knew Hans Herman, Draiibas and others.

Jandie is pretty well connected in that Island, having been the Acting Prime Minister, and is presently a high Government Official. 

But he can fill you in.

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 Resurrexit, sicut dixit!

 Nigel P. Boos <nigelboos@eagles-wings.ca>

Friday, November 21, 2008 11:14:04 AM

Ah yes!

The dead has arisen.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Welcome, Vince, to the land of the living; to the land of the MSB-Old Boys; to the land of immediate email connections and ol' blag. Nice to have you with us. We're happy to hear from you again, and happy too that you 'ent pushin' up daisies yet!

I'm sure that the OB's will be very happy to hear of your resurrection, and of your planned autobiography. You have been an inspiration for many of us who were fortunate to be taken under your wing during our early days at MSB, and we wish you continued health, strength, faith and love in your Diaconate ministry.

May God bless and keep you and yours, always.

Nigel P. Boos

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On 21-Nov-08, at 9:43 AM, Lionel Roberts wrote:

Dear Nigel,

        Greetings from beyond the grave!  I suspect that maybe I am one of a few persons who have had the opportunity of reading his own obituary in print.

Nevertheless it certainly had a huge deflationary effect on my ego.

For it appears that my apparent passing caused not even a ripple or some expressions of shock on behalf of the MSB!  

But enough of that!  I thought that I would have some fun while it lasted.

No Nigel your dear “Brother Vince had NOT died ! 

Thanks much for the concern, dear friends.  

I think the misunderstanding might be partially due to my fault in as much as I had not corresponded with you or Ladislao for such a long time .

Yes, I have been receiving most of the newsletters; however I would glance through them and put them away until I have more time to read them.

         You will be happy to know that I am contemplating beginning work on an autobiography, on the insistent urgings of my family.

In fact I have already begun writing snippets of it for I am no longer a Spring Chicken;

I will be Eighty-three years of age next February 28^th.

One of the things I wanted to do was to give a brief overview or background of my life.

Many of the “boys:” only knew a little bit about me, so these few lines will expand their knowledge, for those who care.

         As you have seen from these lines Nigel, I am very much alive, and I believe, in fairly good health:, physically and. spiritually.

I am three times retired from different jobs and am now exceedingly busy mostly with ministry.  

As many of you know, I am a catholic Deacon and this ministry, among other things occupy a considerable amount of my time here in St Petersburg , Florida..

But more ot this later.

Many of you only knew me as Brother Vincent at the Mount. 

However, I had a life before and after’ I had quite an eventful early Childhood.

I grew up in the jungles of then British Guyana, now Guyana .

I was taken there when I was nine months old, and eventually was taken to Georgetown around eight or nine years old.

All my friends were bucs or aboriginal Indians.

Thus, my early childhood or lifestyle was exotic, to say the least.

So part of my youngest years was spent in The Northwest District on the Pomeroon and Moruca Rivers.

        After my School days in Georgetown, Guyana I enlisted in the Royal Artillery of the British Army during World War II at around seventeen years of age, and served in Guyana and Trinidad until the end of the War.

Upon demobilization, and about year after, I entered The Abbey of Mount St Benedict at the still tender age of twenty.  

After one year of Postulancy and two years of the Novitiate, I made my first Trienniel vows for three years. 

Culminating in Vows of Perpetual Profession three years later.

         It was during the period of my first triennial vows, somewhere in 1950 or 1952 that I was appointed as The Bursar/Account of The Abbey School , taking over from Brother Anthony.

About three or four months after, I was asked to ‘hold on’ as Sport Master (Athletic Director) until a teacher (Mr Achong ) returns from vacation in the United States HE NEVER CAME BACK.

So it was that all students enrolling at The Abbey School at that time had the pleasure or misfortune to encounter the Brother Vincent.

          This period at the Abbey was, to me one of the most fruitful, enjoyable and fulfilling period of my.  

It was hard. I worked and prayed from sunset to sundown and beyond.

For I had to balance my monastic life, which took precedence, with the enormous duties of School Bursar/Accountant with those of the planning, developing and executing all the various sporting activities for the School.

But by the grace of God, I managed.

And I believe that the School benefited from it.

I also believe that this period was the golden era for Sports at the School. 

One more point I want make before I leave this period.  

One of the most important duties of the Bursar’s office that either fell to me or voluntarily appropriated by me was, for lack of a better word that of a Father/Mother relationship particularly with newly enrolled students.

Many of them leaving home for the first time , being in a strange country, some not able to speak English,. 

Some arriving without clothes or required personal necessities and .some terribly home sick .

You get the drift! Added to these situations were responsibilities for picking them up at the airport, returning them when it’s time to return home; booking Flights, obtaining visas, the whole nine yards!

Taking them in to the City to shop And oh yes !, keeping the canteen well stocked and more.

And you know what?

I enjoyed it all And I derived much satisfaction from seeing them settling in and fitting in to normal school life.

In this process, I was able to make many, many life-long friends both among parents and students.

        In April 1962, I obtained a dispensation from vows from Rome, after around Fifteen years as a Benedictine Monk and about twelve or thirteen years at the Abbey School .  

It was one of the most wrenching separation of my life to say goodbye to the Monastery and goodbye to the School.

Of course I chose to leave while the School was on vacation, how could I do it otherwise?

Upon leaving, I arranged to immigrate to Brazil where I never visited and knew no one, not even a bird!

And, to boot, the first time I heard Portuguese spoken was on the Varig Airline.

Also I did not speak nor understand the language.

Talk about a shot in the dark!  

But by the grace of God upon whom I had complete trust I was able to survive.  

By the end of April, I was able to get a job and two months later I managed to rent my own house. And I was on my of becoming a full fledged Cariocan. (resident of Rio de Janeiro .)

         Indeed God is good!

On December 22^nd , 1962 I was married to a beautiful, saintly, half-chinese girl from Trinidad .

God-willing, in four year’s time, we hope to be celebrating our golden anniversary of marriage.  

We are presently parents of two wonderful sons.

Laurence ,who graduated from Princeton University as a Civil Engineer and works for the Xerox Corporation in Rochester, New York and Christopher, who graduated from Cornell University, New York as an Electrical Engineer and now works for JP Morgan-Chase as a . Senior Architect..  

Between them, Merlene (my wife) and I are blessed with six beautiful grandchildren.

          In April (again) of 1965 we returned to Trinidad from Brazil, for about four years, finally emigrating to New York, USA where we lived until 1984 when I took retirement and moved to Florida where have resided ever since.  

We were very active in New York .  

While Merlene worked with the United Nations for eight years or more, I was busy working as Professional Pharmaceutical Representative in New York City for about fifteen years.  

Additionally, during this time I worked almost day and night in completing my College degree . 

I also studied intensively for five years in the seminary- weekends and nights – to prepare for ordination to Holy Orders- as a Deacon.  

I was ordained for the Diocese of  Brooklyn , on December 3^rd, 1977’ 

During these thirty-one years of service to the Church,

I was blessed to have had the privilege to serve three dioceses here in the US,  

I also worked briefly with His Grace’ Archbishop Edward Gilbert Archbishop of Port of Spain, in the planning and laying the groundwork to begin the first Diaconate Program for Trinidad.

The first group of deacons will be ordained, hopefully, sometime this coming year.

             So as you may have noticed Nigel,

The burst of energy that I displayed at the Mount continued since I left the Mount.

And you know what! I don’t think God is finished with me yet!  .

So it was an enormous shock to have read of my own demise.

             As I complete “these few lines” let me ask you please to give any of the Old Boys who still remember me, and would like write ,E-mail or call me to do so;

* Deacon Lionel Roberts          (home)_Telephone  (727) 865-3993

2725 66^th Terrace South

St. Petersburg ,  Florida ,    33712

Blessed Trinity Catholic Church      

Telephone  (727)  867-3663

1600 54^th Ave South

St. Petersburg ,  Florida,   33712

* Formerly: Brother Vincent, OSB

Please feel free call me by any name Vince or just Lionel will do.

Nigel I will try and get this to Ladislao.  But in any event you may forward this to him, as well.

   And Nigel, if you care, you may call me at any time.  It would be great hearing from you.

 God bless you, my friend.

 Lionel

N.B. Incidentally, I do have a wealth of information about activities at the Mount and the Abbey School, from another perspective which .I can share as time goes on.

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EDITED by Ladislao Kertesz,  kertesz11@yahoo.com,  if you would like to be in the circular’s mailing list or any old boy that you would like to include.

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Photos:

57LK0001BVI, Bro. Vincent

67IF0024LROWFE, Lionel Robert and wife

17LK0212LUNCH, Peter de Morvay, Urbano de Fdak, Pedro Castro, Manuel Prada and Isaias Farcheg

17LK0021LUNCH, Kendrik Allum, Ladislao Kertesz and Peter de Morvay