NEWS UPDATE 2010

Reunion 2010:

Our annual school reunion took place at the Bombay Brasserie, London, on Saturday 22nd May.  Those who attended were Hazel (Innes) Craig (Hon. Secretary), Liz Ellis (Betty Halden), James Sinclair with Guests Jimmy Pyke (ex-North Point) and Celine Franklin, Daisy McLaughlin (Badal) and her daughter Gaye Davis, Joyce Course (Leroy), Fazle Khundkar and Tariq Rahmin.  Although there was only a few of us (many members responding with their inability to attend), a very good time was had by all.  The meal was excellent with a wide range of curry dishes served buffet style in the conservatory area of the restaurant, which was light and airy.  Photographs can be seen on the "Look At Them Now" page in the Photo Gallery.

 Contacts: 

Most recently, we have had contact with Lynda Du Croix (Martin) who  was in school in the 1950's and would like to contact her old school friends. The most interesting contact of last year was when I received an email from Kitty Katzell (Mildred Engberg) who was the daughter of one time Headmistress, Lila Engberg (1931-35), and who lives in New Jersey, USA.  Mildred accompanied her mother to Darjeeling when she was a child.  Besides the very precious old school magazines and photograph albums she so kindly sent me at her own expense, she also included a biography of her mother, entitled "Lila" which she published in 2006, which includes a very interesting chapter of her mother's term as Headmistress of Mount Hermon School.  She was well acquainted with Carolyn Stahl, Headmistress (1918-29) and in fact travelled back to the States with her on furlough in 1930.  This was of great interest to Susan Eason, great-great grandniece of Carolyn Stahl, who had visited MHS in 2000 to search for any information on her Aunt Josie, and who had written to me seeking information on anyone who had known her.  It was a great pleasure to put Susan and Kitty in touch with each other and Kitty was able to fill Susan in with stories about her Aunt.  Other contacts have been made with Calvin Laporte, Edmund Jonah, Zoe Kelman, Tim Reynolds, Carol Horne, Greta Halling Nielsen (Christensen), Sandra Robinson (Phillippe), Aimo Aho, Connie Isaacs (Constance Mozelle Anna Saul), Wajid Ali Khan Panni,  June (Anderson) Wallin,  and Jigmi Kazi who is a journalist in Sikkim and was elected First President of Hermonites International (formed in 2005).  He was a student in MHS from 1963-72, in the Teachers' Training College (1974-75) and a Teacher in 1974-75. Please see our Contacts Page for further information.

Sad News:

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Author and Honorary OMHSA Member, Terry Martin, on the 29th April 2010 after a long illness.  He wrote three books on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway; the first "Halfway to Heaven" published in 2000 and subsequently Volumes One and Two of "The Iron Sherpa," the Story of Darjeeling and its Remarkable Railway.  He was a regular supporter of OMHSA and attended several of our Reunions in London.  In his first book he published the words of the old Mount Hermon School songs, "Going Home Day," and "Riding Roads of Sunshine."  He will be sadly missed.

Members will also be saddened to learn of the death of Edith Stiffle (Lloyd-Marrow) on 9th April 2010.  Edith had been an invalid for some years and was in a care home at the time of her death.  I also heard from Gordon Hostetler of the deaths of  Oprha Hershberger (2003), Adrienne Peace (Kilroy) ( 2008) and Mary Ann Melchart (Hostetler) (2005).  It was kind of Gordon to provide me with this information.  I wrote to him after our 2009 Newsletters were returned undelivered from these members.

Susan Eason's Visit to Mount Hermon School:

The following is an interesting account of Susan Eason's visit to Darjeeling and Mount Hermon School in April of this year.  Susan is the great-great grandniece of former Headmistress, Carolyn Stahl.

Contact with Greta Nielsen (Christensen)

These old school photographs of 1945 were very kindly sent to me by Greta Nielsen (Christensen) recently.  She writes:

"I have been looking at the OMHSA pages and enjoying it all very much.  I am living in Denmark but went to Mount Hermon from 1943  to 1945  (Greta Christensen).  My old friend Doris Hunt (Hazel's classmate) showed me the school home page when she visited us on a cruise  tour and stopped in Copenhagen.  I met Hazel in England in 1995 and we had dinner together with Doris and her husband at Gilbeys Restaurant in Old Amersham - please give her my love."

To see larger and clearer images of the photographs, please click on them.

NEWS UPDATE 2009

Reunion 2009:

Our Reunion Lunch took place at the Bombay Brasserie, London, on Saturday 23rd May.  The attendees were - Fazle Khundkar; Ida Smith (Ray); Liz Ellis (Betty Halden); James Sinclair; Hazel Craig; Terry Martin and guest, Fabien Raymondaud; Menno Ziessen; Ronen Ghose and his wife; Patricia Russell; Doreen Ward (Stevens) and new member Daisy McLaughin (Badal) and her daughter.  It was a friendly gathering and the meal served by the BB was of the usual good standard.  The restaurant has been recently refurbished, particularly the lounge and bar area with adequate seating arrangements.  The old school magazines of 1929, 1933 and 1934 and a photograph album of 1926 - 1935 and a smaller album of Mount Hermon School students  taken between 1931 - 34, and sent to me by Kitty Katzell (see above) were shown round and were of great interest.  Photographs of the Reunion are published on the "Look At Them Now" page in the Photo Gallery.

Latest:

After posting our 2009 Newsletter to individual OMHSA Members, we were saddened to hear of the death of Gerald Rayner, three years ago, from his son Peter.  He used to attend some of our reunions in the past when they were held at the Cavendish Club.

New Members:

A warm welcome to new life member Daisy Badel (McLaughin).  Her daughter contacted us through the Internet, and they both hope to join us at our next reunion.

We have had several contacts from old school students or their children/grandchildren over the last year.  These are Mahesh Singh, who is practising law in New Delhi, Jean Hurley (Benedict) who was in school in the 1950s with her brothers and who would like to hear from Nilima Raichoudhury; Charles McGilchrist who still resides in the Darjeeling area and who is a teacher; Tony Morgan who said his grandmother, Marvelle Dozey, worked as a secretary at the school and her sister, Phylis Kelman, was a teacher.  Their mother, Zoe Dozey was a math's teacher.  He was pleased to see some old school photographs on the site with Phylis, Zoe and the Kelmans.  He is connected to the Morgenstern family, and would very much like to know where "The Rosary," was located.  He mentioned that the family sold a large portion of land, which became the site for Mount Hermon School, and he would like to know more about this.  We also heard from Trevor Schubert from Australia.  He and his wife  visit Sikkim and the Darjeeling area as often as they can.  Margaret Griffith who lives in New Zealand also wrote in.  She is the daughter of Lilian Nicholls who was in MHS from 1947-53.  She was visiting India and wanted to contact Meera Hemmad, and with the help of Tammy Dalal and Mehna Khare, she was hopefully able to do so.   We also heard from Tracie Thomas.  She is the granddaughter of Ellen (Nellie) Payne who was a student, then a student-teacher in 1936-37.  She still has her grandmother's old autographs album with a lot of entries by other school students of her time, and would love to hear from anyone who remembers writing in the album.  A Melanie Tucker in the USA also contacted us.  She is interested in contacting OMHSA Member, Joy Abrahams (Callow), as she is doing some genealogical research and thinks Joy may be able to help her with.  Laurie Reynolds (MHS 1969-70) also contacted us, and said she would like to hear from anyone who was in school at that time.  Fred Osgood (Ozzy) also recently wrote in.  He would like to contact Benjamin Badal and Daisy Badal.  He says he remembers Daisy as a particularly formidable hockey player and Benji as a friend and protagonist in the 1937-42 period.  Finally, we heard from Nirmal K. Mondol who lives in Washington DC in the US.  He was very anxious to contact Miss Mary Badal and Professor Philipe Sandre who he says he met in Washington DC in 1943. 


Reunion 2008

Our Reunion Lunch at the Bombay Brasserie, London took place on Saturday 26th April 2008.  Although there were only a dozen of us at the gathering, it was a friendly group.  Attendees were: Fazle Khundkar, Ida Smith (Ray), Liz Ellis (Betty Halden), Hazel Craig, Terry Martin, author of the book on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway "The Iron Sherpa" and his three guests, Fabien Raymondaud, Marilyn Metz and Peter Tiller, who are closely associated with the DH Railway Society.  Joy Broad (Wade) also attended with her daughter, and James Sinclair brought his guest, Jimmy Pyke, who is a regular attendee at our gatherings.  Many of our members had previous engagements, so were unable to attend.  Still, it was nice to get together again for the annual occasion.  The food was up to its usual good standard and drinks at the bar were at special discounted rates.  A few photographs of the occasion are published on the "Look At Them Now" page of the Photo Gallery.

A Reunion After 50 Plus Years:

OMHSA Member Ronen Ghose, who was in MHS in the 1950s, kindly invited Menno Ziessen and Jim Sinclair to meet up with him at Milton Keynes on Saturday 1st November 2008.  Although Jim had not met Ronen, as he was in school before Ronen joined, it was great to see the affection with which Ronen and Menno greeted each other, after a lapse of 50 plus years!  Ronen took us to a posh Indian restaurant for a slap-up meal, then afterwards to his home to meet his wife and his son, Ron, and family.  Menno took his old photograph album with lots of school photographs, (a few of which are reproduced below), and happy memories of old school days were exchanged.  It was a truly memorable occasion, and "Hermonites reunited" was the catchphrase of the day.  And thanks to Ronen for his kind and warm hospitality! 

Please click on images to see them larger and more clearly.

Sad News:

It is with great sadness that we received the  news of the death of Noel Long on the 6th of November 2008.  He passed away peacefully at a hospice after a long and painful illness, with his wife, Jan, and eldest daughter, Sheila, at his side.  He had been a classmate of Menno Ziessen, Barry Morrow, Ronen Ghose and Jim Sinclair, amongst others, back in the 1950s.  His sister, Oreen, kept us informed of his condition and then his final passing.  His wife, Janice, sent in this tribute to his friends and colleagues:

Oreen also sent me these pictures of her school days at Mount Hermon.  She can't remember all the names, so  if you recognise anyone, please contact me so I can add them in.