Born Date: 14.08.1950
Died Date: 08.09.2011
It is now three years since Mrs. Theresa Fernandes died as
shown in the photo above. She was known
to me as a young pretty looking and good disciplined girl when she was
schooling at Little Flower Convent High School, Calangute, Bardez, Goa. I was
then schooling at Arpora and we both passed our SSC together by answering our
Board exam together in the same hall at St. Britto’s High School venue, Mapusa.
After completing her SSC, she went to Bombay and later on got
married to her husband Jerry Fernandes (Cal), also from Calangute and
who was my colleague at Arpora for a long time.
Jerry Cal was a very well known young boy at Arpora School and in his
locality as well excelling in sports. He was Table Tennis Champion of Arpora
School as well as of Calangute and Carrem Socorro. Besides, Jerry Cal was number one in Cycle
Race both in Cross country 25 kms and in 1500 metres. Additionally, he was a very popular amateur
Tiatrist in his locality and in surrounding villages. After finishing his SSC he too went to
Bombay where he studied Hotel Management and migrated to Abu Dhabi where he
worked as an Executive Chef in prestigious 5 Star Hotels. From here he was sent to UK, Germany and
Holland for further studies in Hotel Management.
After getting married to Jerry Cal, Theresa joined her
husband in Abu Dhabi and got herself employed at The British Bank of the Middle
East later on known as HSBC (Hongkong Sanghai Bank Corp.) where she worked for
27 years till her voluntary retirement. While
in Abu Dhabi, she was involved in lot of extracurricular activities and social
work. She was one prominent lady in Abu
Dhabi along with her husband to help raise funds for Konkani movement such as
for Novem Goem, Konkani Martyrs, KPA etc.
She along with her husband was instrumental in bringing
Tiatro troupes to Abu Dhabi from Goa, namely of M. Boyer, Fr. Fredy J.D’Costa,
Menino de Bhandar, C. Alvares, Rosario Rodrigues and Pascoal Rodrigues. In some
of the Tiatros she also acted along with her husband and earned a good name for
herself.
By using her personal influence and spending money from her
own pocket, she brought many poor Goans to Abu Dhabi for employment besides
providing some jobless Goans with suitable jobs. She was instrumental in organizing the Feast of St. Francis Xavier in Abu Dhabi for over a decade. Also she was helping to sponsor priests in Goa.
She as a wife and as a mother was very responsible person
towards her mission and goals. A woman of very good character she performed her
motherly duties very well by bringing up all her 4 children – three daughters
and one son, all are married except one daughter - very well, discipline wise, character wise and
educationally. One daughter after completing her BSc did the course in Pharmacy
and settled in Abu Dhabi; the other daughter an MBA also working in Abu Dhabi
and the third one a spinster after doing her graduation, BBM in Bangalore did her
MBA at Cardiff University, UK and currently employed in Abu Dhabi as well. The son after completing his Hotel Management
started his own business in Calangute.
She loved Goa, she loved Konkani and she loved Goan causes
and all these attributes she displayed openly while she was working in Abu
Dhabi.
In her death three years back, Goa lost a great woman who was
ever ready to help any Goan cause. Also, in her death my friend Jerry Cal lost
a great supportive and faithful wife and her children lost their great and
loving mother.
MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE.
A.
Veronica
Fernandes,
Candolim,
Goa.
