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We have been planning this trip for months and finally it eventuated in October. As some of you may know, since Fr. Deane's repatriation to Dublin, Theresa Lee has been a regular visitor to Father (three times a year) and her example has led to visits by St Louis Old Boys at various times. So SLOBA here in Australia tried to organize a tour to visit Father in the later part of 2002, through the help of Tony Wong and his staff who run a tourist agency here in Sydney. When we did not get enough old boys to make the tour, some of us decided to go anyway. So we set a date when Theresa would be there too. Peter Cheung could not go at the set time but even better, went with his wife, Peggy before the rest of us. They visited Father at the end of September. Theresa was already there. Then Alex Wong arrived with his wife, Minnie and their son, Jason. Then Tony Wong, myself and my wife, Teresa arrived on 2nd October.
Alex and Minnie picked us up at the airport and wound through the Dublin traffic. We arrived at the nursing home just as Father was finishing his lunch. Although Tony did visit Father last year, I could still see that he was getting very emotional on seeing Father again. As for me, the last time I met Father was in 1994 at St Louis at our 25th Anniversary for the 69-ers. Father was not the great self as I last met him due to the Parkinson's Disease that he had long suffered from. However, we let him rest after lunch and met him again. He started to recognize most of us and became talkative.
Then we took Father to dinner at a Peking restaurant. It was quite an effort to get Father into the car as he had lost mobility and hence some of his confidence. Nevertheless, we gained his confidence and his mobility in and out of the car later on became much easier. We had dinner with Chris and Bosco, Father's good friends back in Hong Kong and both had repatriated too. Also Theresa's good friend, Jenny and her son, Adrian joined the party. It was an excellent meal. As the night was closing in, we took Father back to the nursing home. It did take a while for Father to settle down after a "big" night out.
As we retrieved to the hotel afterwards, we had a hearty discussion. We all felt that Father was steady as it came but his days of dining out were probably over. It got a bit too difficult to get Father in and out of a vehicle without the help of the nurses. However, the visitation by Old Boys to Father was still a good thing for Father as that would recharge his spirit and revoke his memory of the good old days.
The next morning, Tony, Alex and I went to say good-bye to Father. As Tony said, "God bless you," Father replied, "God bless you too." And on that note Tony and I departed from Father while Alex said good-bye a bit later. Theresa stayed on a few more days.
On and whole, we had a "successful" trip in reigniting Father's spirit and mind. I felt the main effect still came from Theresa who visited Father regularly and for long periods of time. The visits by Old Boys would be icing on the cake for this effect. So I would still recommend this type of visit to Fr. Deane if you happen to be in Europe. Dublin is just a stone throw away from most European cities. Dublin is a nice and pleasant place compared to other European cities. The fish and chips there are excellent, and so is the beer. Trust me, I am a beer and wine and a bit of a gourmet buff too.
Ben Lau, Dec 2002
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