I was filled with sadness that I received news of Frank's passing away on his journey to eternal life in heaven. However, I was relieved to hear that Frank was surrounded by his loving wife Ara and family at his bedside amidst this COVID chaos.
In 1958, far away from our family, we became good friends and were each other's confidant. We shared happy times together with outings to university sport events such as rugby, Gaelic football, tennis; Irish plays at the abbey theatre and fun times at Irish dancing parties. Frank was a leader at many of these social events.
At home events, we particularly enjoyed his cooking when he would make tasty Indian curries. Frank was the one person who would wake me up on Sunday mornings to go to mass. He was really disciplined and attributed this to his early education by Jesuit priests in Goa. He was very religious and had time to join the legion of Mary group at university.
Frank progressed quickly becoming a skilled surgeon, practicing both in Ireland for years and then in Canada. He devoted much of his time in healing patients, who were grateful for his extraordinary skills. After retiring, Frank and his wife happened to take up residence near to me. Now we had time to see each other more often and keep in daily contact. Frank had confided to me that he felt blessed that he had such a loving wife and that he was very proud of all his children's achievements.
My wife, Florence and I wish to extend our deepest condolences to Ira and family and to wish them courage and strength to deal with their loss at this time. I will truly miss my good friend, and we pray that Frank will rest in peace forever.