Dr.. Kenneth Khan (82) passed away peacefully in Barbados on Wednesday, April 17,2019. He is survived by his wife Surudevi, his son Alexander, and two grandchildren. He was the brother of Rudolph Khan (deceased), Leonard Khan, and Zorina Khan. Kenneth will be fondly remembered as a former Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, Past Principal of St. Stanislaus College in Georgetown, Guyana, and Graduate Professor of Mathematics at Harrison College, Barbados.
Viewing
Date: May 3
Location : Downes & Wilson Funeral Home (Eagle Hall Main Rd, Bridgetown, Barbados)
Time: 4 PM - 6 PM
Date: May 3
Location : Downes & Wilson Funeral Home (Eagle Hall Main Rd, Bridgetown, Barbados)
Time: 4 PM - 6 PM
Service/Cremation
Date: May 4
Location: St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral (Bay St, Bridgetown, Barbados, on Jemmont's Lane)
There will be an hour of viewing from 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Service will be presided over by a Roman Catholic priest and commences at 9:30 AM
4 Hymns have been chosen and Eulogies will take place at that time, ending around 10:45 AM
https://downesandwilson.com/obituary/dr-kenneth-mazoor-kalil-khan/
EULOGY
BY
LEONARD KHAN
FOR HIS BROTHER
DR. KENNETH KHAN
Died: 17 th April,
2019
As we journey along this earthly life, there will always be
a variety of experiences as the pendulum swings between
JOY and
SORROW; to reunion and parting;
darkness and light; achievements and obstacles; regret and
satisfaction.
Enjoyable events may accentuate a desire to live; yet
contrasting scenes and emotions may reconcile us to embracing death, that
inevitable end.
Henry Hart Milman an English Poet and Historian writer
wrote:
“It matters not at what hour the righteous falls asleep –
Death cannot come untimely to him who is fit to die. The less of the cold
world, the more of heaven, the briefer life, the earlier immortality.”
On April 17, 2019, my elder brother Ken graciously bowed
out of his earthy life on the beautiful Island of Barbados where the kindness
and generosity of the people of Barbados made him and his wife feel at
home.
Thank you Barbados !
Ken Khan was the second child of Haroon and Khatoon Khan,
two wonderful Parents. We were a united
Christian family, bonded in LOVE.
Our Dad was an educator and served as Head Master in
several primary schools. As would be
expected he placed great emphasis on education and regarded it as a vehicle or
platform for elevating people in general and his family in particular, out of the bonds of colonial yolk
with its inherent barriers to upward mobility and the goals of self-realization
and self-fulfillment.
Ken was age (82) eighty-two years.
In 1948 at age 12, Ken entered the Saint Stanislaus College
which was one of the two prestigious Colleges in British Guiana.
Ken had won a Demerara County Scholarship to go to Queen’s
college. But our Dad chose Saint
Stanislaus.
Our Father wanted the Catholic influence. At Saints S C Ken made lifelong friends
especially Carlyle Moore, Oswald de Haan and Godfrey Persaud. In 1955, Ken was awarded a Guyana Government
scholarship in Natural Science to study at UWI, Mona but declined as he was
already en route to the United Kingdom to join the Jesuit Order. Ken was so intellectually and spiritually
inspired by the Jesuits, that he eventually entered the Jesuit Novitiate in the
United Kingdom 1958 -1961.
Ken studied at Heathrow College, Lincs. towards the
Licentiate in Philosophy 1961-1964.
In the years to 1961-1964 he studied at Campion Hall, the
Jesuit House of Studies in Oxford; also there, was Father Compton Meerbaux,
another Guyanese who became a lifelong friend.
In March 1968 – Ken Khan was ordained as a Jesuit Priest
and went on to complete a four-year course of studies.
In 1970 -1971 Ken returned to Guyana where he had a brief
interlude at Saints SC teaching mathematics.
1971 - 1972 Ken
returned to the United Kingdom to complete the final year of formation and then
took his final vows as a Jesuit Priest in 1972 at the age of thirty-six (36).
Ken then returned to Guyana and was appointed Head Master of Saint Stanislaus
College. In 1975 he initiated many un-conventional programmes including an
industrial workshop and Farm School at Sophia. This
farm was not only a living laboratory used by students but provided practical
training for Agricultural Science students at St. Stanislaus College. “Ken was
driven by his belief that SSC as a Christian Society should aim at imparting
both intellectual and technical skills and at forming citizens of Guyana who are
imbued with a reference of God, a love of their religion and a spirit of
service to their country”. (Quote from Ken’s personal views on the future of
Education at SSC, dated April 25 th, 2011). Ken remained committed to teaching
and felt that ‘teaching is much more than a job-indeed more than a profession.
It is a way of life, it enables men and women to look on their work of teaching
as sharing in the service of others”. (quote).
Ken Khan served with commitment and dedication from 1972 –
1980 as Head Master of the Saint Stanislaus College in Guyana the land of his
birth. When Guyana gained its Independence in 1966 and later, became Republic
in 1970, the social, cultural, political, economic programmes and policies
affected the lives of many sections of people in Guyana in all walks of life.
Father Kenneth Khan was no exception.
In 1975 the Guyana Government introduced co-education and
proceeded to takeover full control of the schools in 1976, making it
increasingly difficult for him as Head Master to run a school with no political
affiliation to the ruling Political Party.
After serving conscientiously as an educator and as Head
Master of the Saint Stanislaus College until 1980, Ken Khan was unceremoniously
removed by the Guyana Government. He received a two-line letter transferring
him to Central High School as one of the Teachers. No reason was given. It was
a time when fear, insecurity and elements of instability, uncertainty and
radicalism permeated Guyana’s landscape. It
was this humiliation and the persecution of the Jesuits that caused Ken to
resign from the Jesuit Missionary.
In 1980, Ken left Guyana hastily from fear
of his life for Barbados as the dark political clouds still hung over the church
and its
members. He was accepted in Barbados and
taught Mathematics at Harrison College, where he started a Scout movement. When
his health was in decline and he could not
drive, Pat Derrell, another close friend, would take him to a Catholic Church
for
service. Ken made many friends in Barbados
that became his second home. He taught at Harrison College until
2001, the statutory retirement age at the time. He was offered
citizenship by the Barbados Government and proceeded
to Cave Hill Campus to study for a PhD which he completed
in 2003.
As I can recall Ken lived a humble life as a priest and
would spend a lot of his time with the poor and homeless, offering comforting
words and support to the afflicted, driven by his Christian values. Even after
leaving Guyana, Ken remained concerned about the future of education in Guyana
and of SSC. He was a great communicator and always carried a small note book of
names, telephone numbers whenever he travelled and would always find the time
to call friends and family members who lived in England, Ireland, cities of the
U.S. and Canada. He kept in touch with his cousins and relatives of the large
Khan’s clan and always, with members of the SSC alumni wherever they were
located. Ken will be missed.
Dr. Kenneth Khan leaves to mourn his dear wife
Surujdevi, son Alexander and his wife
Ramona and two children; his siblings –
sister Zorina and myself.
Ken was also a favorite uncle
to my five children and our first three - Raymond, Sean and Sharon
attended
SSC during Ken’s tenure; Ken was also close to his nieces Anne, Sandra and
Susan. In addition, Ken was the nephew
to Muntaz Khan (NY), fondly referred to as
Uncle Polo, our last surviving elder.
We wish to express our sincere thanks for
condolences from past students and members of the St. Stanislaus College Alumni
and from many friends and family members.
We are reminded that ‘all the world is a stage and we have
our entrance and exit’.
For me and my sister, his relatives, colleagues and
friends, he will be remembered fondly.
He has left his footprints on the Sands of Time.
He will be remembered as a humble, kind considerate,
generous and good humored Christian who made meaningful the Commandment of
LOVING others.
FAREWELL MY BROTHER,
FAREWELL THEE WELL,
YOU WILL ALWAYS BE IN
MY HEART.
MAY THE ANGELS TAKE
YOU INTO PARADISE AND MAY YOUR SOUL REST IN PEACE!
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