Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School,
Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 5 November
2016 No. 783
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Dear Friends,
A song by “Mighty Trini”, Robert Elias,
January 6, 2013
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Here is an article by Julio Cesar Arreaza,
sorry it is in Spanish, on the Venezuelan situation:
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Abbot Mayeul
idmitch@anguillanet.com
Nov 1 at 10:10 PM
Hello, Ron,
That is amazing detective work.
Congratulations on tracking down the burial place of Abbot Mayeul
de Caigny.
I don’t personally have much interest in the burial places of the
Monks of the Abbey itself. Much as I
respected some of them who made a major contribution to my early education, I
came to realise later that they were all “damaged goods”, some of them probably
as a result of their experiences in surviving the Nazi slave-labour camps of
the Second World War, about which they told us stories.
I am much more interested in the resting places of my deceased
contemporaries at the Abbey School. For
example, my second best friend (my best friend was Michael Joseph Basil de
Verteuil “MJ” who had plans to study to be an architect, but who wasted himself
instead on the priesthood) was “Toby”. MJ
and I never communicated after we left Mount.
Toby was from Guadeloupe, where his father had a banana
plantation. Toby’s name was Joel Guy
Blandin. He and I lost contact for a
while. Then, we made contact and
communicated on and off a few years later.
I learned that he went to a University in French Canada., Mc
Gill, I think it was. After he
graduated, he did not go back to the West Indies. I think he had bad memories of his childhood
home. His mother was a French woman, who
hated life in the West Indies and took her infant daughter, Marie France,
abandoned her husband and son, and returned to live in Paris. He never saw his mother or sister again. After he graduated from college, he also went
to live in France. He got a job as the
Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce in a large city. I think it was either
Lyons or Nice. He married a French
woman. His father–in-law was the
communist Mayor of the city. Unfortunately,
Toby’s marriage fell apart. He and his
wife divorced. His father-in-law was not
happy.
There is probably no connection, but Toby was riding his
motor-cycle along the highway one day when he was machine gunned to death in
what we call today a drive-by shooting. I have no idea if his assassins or his
father-in-law were ever prosecuted. Most
probably, they escaped scott-free. After
all, this was only a mere West Indian who was killed. Nobody of any significance.
In 1981, while I was sitting in my little law office in Anguilla,
an elderly Frenchman came to see me for legal advice on a job in Anguilla. He stared at the photo of my graduating High
School class which hung on the wall behind my head. After a moment, he said, “How do you have a
photo of my son, Joel, on the wall above your head?” I explained that it was a photo of my
graduating class at Mount St Benedict in Trinidad. He broke into tears, and told me the story of
the recent death by machine gun of his son, Joel. That is how I come to know about it.
I have been wondering if some French Old Boy with influence, like
Charles-Henri, might have the ability to track down the police report on the
assassination of Toby. Now, that burial
place would interest me! I can see
myself picking my old body up from North Hill in Anguilla and going to Lyons
just to lay a wreathe at his grave.
Keep well.
Don
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From: horsey
Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2016 8:07 PM
Subject: First Abbot
He is buried about
an hour from here.
Was going to scout
around the cemetery but found this pic on the net.
Ron
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To Charles-Henri Dunoyer de Noirmont
Nov 3 at 12:05 PM
Hello,
Charles-Henri,
I remember the Deleuze boy, but I don’t remember the years he was
there, and I don’t remember his first name either.
And, what is disturbing is that his name is not in the data base
of all the names of all the Old Boys, which I attach.
We shall have to ask Ladislao to put an “All Points Bulletin” for
him.
Keep well.
Don
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From: Charles-Henri Dunoyer de Noirmont
Sent: Thursday, November 3, 2016 10:36 AM
Subject: RE: First Abbot - Mayeul de Caigny
Dear Old Boy.
I read your message about Joël Blandin, who was at Mount St
Benedict with me too, along with another Frenchman: Deleuze, ( I forgot his
Christian name ).
I have a picture of Blandin and myself, plus some of my cousins,
taken while we were vacationing at Chantal and Guy de Pompignan's estate,
located at Mayaro.
I had taken Blandin for some days there, since he had no family
in Trinidad.
Guy de Pompignan was the brother of my grandmother: Elizabeth
Agostini, who lived in Port of Spain, 145 Henry Street.
Could you give me more details about his death, i.e. approximate
date and location?
Best regards
Charles Henri de Noirmont.
I will try my best to find something about him.
(Maybe Carl Deleuze?? Editor)
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Here are some more reprints from 2003 on the
WEB page then started by Anthony Johnson (class 1960) and later abandoned
abruptly.
From: Don Mitchell, QC [mailto:idmitch@candw.ag]
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 5:54 PM
To: Maroth De Marothy
Hello Maroth,
I am an old school-friend of Ladislao's. I was at Mount for the period 1955-1964. I have been corresponding with Ladislao about
the need for us to do something to get the site updated. I have also many months ago been corresponding
with Tony Johnson, but he has not replied to my many recent emails. [I suspect he has tagged all Mount
correspondents "Block sender" so that he does not even know when he
receives a message from one of us.
My knowledge of web sites is very limited. I can access them and read them, and I have a
person who helps me with my own website, but I have never learned anything
about constructing or maintaining websites myself. I have indicated to Ladislao that I am willing
to contribute to the cost. Ladislao has
now sent me a copy of your message below and asked me to contact you and to
discuss with you what we can do to carry the site forward. What can I do to help? What do you suggest?
Don
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Hello Laszlo,
I'm willing to take over the Web
page...provided that all the costs don't fall on me...
I spoke with Anthony Johnson about 1/1.5
years ago...around the time I started getting your circulars...which, by the
way, are tremendously appreciated...
Anyhow, we spoke and I suggested various
ways in which to pages could be improved, and I offered to help make some of
those changes. He agreed but never got back to me. I sent email and got no
reply, so that was that...
I'm a professional computer programmer and
although not a Webmaster, I have created many pages and am comfortable with
scripting languages, HTML, etc.
The first thing would be to get the files
from the current site.
We will need Anthony's OK for this...Then we
need to find a good Web host site...and pay for it...unless we can use a site
already "owned" by an old Mount boy..
Thanks for all your good work...my brother
Christopher also appreciates it...
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From: Ladislao Kertesz
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 7:05 PM
Dear Don,
You must
have received the email from Marothy.
I would
like you to be the CEO on this, if you can!
You have
made contacts with a provider,
Salvador
has ideas. Write him! His English is good, but his Spanish is better.
And
Marothy even discussed the matter with Gabby.
I only
need information for the Circular on the effort being made to get the WEB page
going.
I
unfortunately know little in HTML and web page programming,
The
exchanges that have to be made can be a good article, so keep me informed.
I would
think that you can play a good role as a moderator; I have read some of the
resumes of the cases that you have judged.
Can you
send me a copy of the cases that are open for the public to read?. I enjoy
reading the reasoning used.
If you
can keep me informed on the outcome of the negotiations these would be
appreciated (back to the MOUNT INSIDE days, Editor!)
God
Bless
Ladislao
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From; "Don Mitchell, QC" <idmitch@candw.ag>
To: "Ladislao Kertesz" <ladislaokertesz@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2003 21:43:27 -0300
Hi Ladislao,
I am humbled that you think I can do much with the web site,
beside be an agitator for improvement. I
have no personal web-page experience.
What I suggest is that I approach the various persons you have
mentioned as gently as possible, with the intention of trying to make progress.
I understand that you do not wish to be
copied with all the correspondence, but only wish to receive reports from time
to time on how matters are progressing. I
shall as you request have a go, and let you know from time to time if I have
any luck.
Don
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From: De Marothy, Maroth
To: 'Don Mitchell, QC'
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2003 1:21 PM
Hi Don,
Nice to hear from you. I
was at Mount from 1952-1958, my brother Christopher from 1952 to 1959.
The first step, I think, is for me to find a good and inexpensive
host. I'll pursue this shortly. The second step is to somehow get the rights
to "theabbeyschool.com" name.
I suspect Anthony owns this. If we can't get hold of him, we will
need a new name for the site. Once this is done, the photos, files, etc. on the
current Web site must be copied over. We might be able to do this right now,
unless there are copyright implications.
Will get back to you soon...
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According to the list the following Oldboy
are not with us anymore.
The first number is the would graduate in
Form V
68
Scannone Antonio Julio
49
Scott Michael
49
Scott Philip
49
Scott Quentin
64
Serrao Antonio
52
Shoul Ian
53
Shoul Conrad
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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:
15LK2403FBGLA, Gustavo LaGrave
69LK8458FBTUGAWAR, Arturo Zavarce
15LK1988FBFAV, Fr. Augustine
07EZ0026EZAFAM, Enrique Zanelli and family
On No 783, Brian Lewis writes: "Don, the ‘unknown' talking with Fr. Augustine is Archbishop Harris"
ReplyDeleteThe person speaking to Fr. Augustine if Archbishop Joseph Harris affectionately called Fr. Joe before his appointment to office. He prefers to be called Bishop Joe
ReplyDelete