Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 24 January 2009 No. 377
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Dear Friends:
Arise, Lionel, and talk
Nigel P. Boos
Sunday, November 16, 2008 5:32:47 PM
Dear Lionel,
Well, you've sure led us a merry chase, you know.
Rumours abound, concerning your recent departure from the land of the living, and thanks to some interesting detective work (I'd like to hear more about THAT!) from David De Castro and Ron Bento, it appears that those rumours must have been a little premature.
We are (and I'm sure I speak for all the Old Boys of MSB) very pleased to know that you're still "with us" and that the good Lord hasn't yet called you up yonder.
One thing however, remains, and that is to hear from you yourself, and if you would oblige us by writing a short note of confirmation that you haven't yet gone to glory, I guess there'll be a whole lot of smiles around the globe, wherever an Abbey School Old Boy is to be found.
Over to you, Lionel. Arise and talk.
Nigel Boos
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Resurrexit, sicut dixit!
Nigel P. Boos
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.
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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 aripple 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 28th.
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 pent 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 demobilisation, 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 life.
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 its 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 emigrate 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 22nd ,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 grand children.
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 3rd, 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, some time 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 66th Terrace South
St. Petersburg , Florida , 33712
Blessed Trinity Catholic Church
Telephone (727) 867-3663
1600 54th 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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FW: BROTHER VINCENT--LIONEL ROBERTS IS VERY MUCH ALIVE
david decastro
HERE IS THE INFORMATION YOU REQUESTED. BRING HIM BACK TO LIFE.
"BANDIT"
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From: RBENTO@tampabay.rr.com
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:23:39 -0500
Dave,
Here is Lionel's e-mail address:
Please notice that the first letter is an "ell" as in Lionel.
It is NOT a one (1). OK, now go resurrect him, bring him back alive (smile).
RON
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From: david decastro
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 11:54 AM
HI RON, WOULD YOU ASK LIONEL FOR HIS EMAIL AND SEND IT TO ME TO FORWARD TO BRING HIM BACK ALIVE
DAVE.
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From: nigelboos@eagles-wings.ca
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07
David,
Have you been able to find any contact information as yet, to confirm that Br. Vince (Lionel Roberts) is still alive?
If so, would you please pass it on to me?
Thanks.
Nigel
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From: "Nigel P. Boos" <nigelboos@eagles-wings.ca>
Date: November 2, 2008 5:26:52 PM GMT-05:00
The first indication that Lionel Roberts had died was given, so far as I can remember, in Ladislao's Circular #360, of 27 September 2008 where he stated:
"Dear Friends
Before I continue with the second part of the tales, I am inviting those who knew "Short Pants" MacIntosh, Llewellyn, to listen to TALK CITY 91.1 FM Trinidad, through Internet, he is the moderator of the daily calypso talk programme, you can call him at (868) 622.4911 for a direct contact.
Today at 21:00 local time, he had an interview with Robert Elias "Mighty Trini" about calypso songs of our time (1960s).
He is promoting the rebirth of Calypso which has been run over by SOCA etc.
I decided to call him at the end of the programme, and to my surprise he picked up the telephone and we had about a 15 minute chat on Mount, and the Reunion in November and I even mentioned the JAM that Glen is trying to get going in Florida.
He give me a sad news, Bro Vincent, Lionel Roberts had died, maybe Salvador can get the details??
To my surprise I was put on the air and even though I never sang a song, I became a participant for at least of 15 minutes after calypso talk time.
If you have some information which would suggest that this is incorrect, I'm sure we would al be interested to know about it.
Please let us have his contact information.
Thanks.
Nigel Boos
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On 2-Nov-08, at 5:11 PM, david decastro wrote:
HI NIGEL,
WHO ADVISED THAT LIONEL ROBERTS HAD DIED?
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From: nigelboos@eagles-wings.ca
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:26:05 -0400
David,
This is great news. Thanks for alerting us.
Can you get his contact information for us, please?
Nigel
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On 31-Oct-08, at 3:54 PM, david decastro wrote:
HI LADISLAO,
PLEASE ADVISE EVERYONE THAT BROTHER VINCENT--LIONEL ROBERTS, IS VERY MUCH ALIVE. LIVING IN FLORIDA.
"THE BANDIT"
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That is for now, till the next one
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Photos:
65UN0001DLRMAR, photo taken at the marriage ceremony.
06SC0009SCOGRP, Bro. Vincent and wife Marlene with Salvador Coscarart and Gina.
57LK0001BVIGRP, Bro. Vincent with kids at school.
57RB0001a6, Bro. Vincent with Isaias Farcheg.
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