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As I approached my 95th birthday in February of this year (2008), my thoughts took me back to the years from 1924-1930 which I spent as a boarder in Montfort School in Yercaud. Those were amongst the happiest years of my life, and I still recall with nostalgia the days spent on Big Lake, Small Lake, Bear's Hill, Lady's Seat, Killur Falls, Aeroplane House, Bald Shevaroy, Scorpion Hill and Elephant's Tooth. In 1924, there were panthers, jackals, monkeys and pythons in Yercaud.

My mother passed away when I was just six years old and my father when I was eight. I was therefore an orphan when I was at Montfort School. My bother, the late Bishop Alfred Fernandes, and I were boarders at the school in 1924. He had the honour of being the first Montfort boy to be ordained a Bishop. Likewise, Douglas Gordon, my classmate in study hall, was the first Montfort boy to become a Jesuit priest. I had the opportunity of meeting him many years later in Vijayawada, when he was Principal of the Loyola College there. My brother and I were the first Indians to join Montfort, which in those days was known as Montfort European High School. It was only open to Europeans and Anglo-Indians. There were about 65 boarders then. At that time, Yercaud was a town in Salem district, in the Madras Presidency. Our Principal was Brother Eugene who was a B.A. from Oxford. Later on, we had Brother Victrice who, as Principal, was a strict disciplinarian. I did my High School and Senior Cambridge exams in the same year in 1930. That year I was also awarded the Edward Winkler Silver Medal for good conduct. The whole school voted for me.

In the 3rd Standard, my handwriting was very bad. The teacher, Mr. Rhone, threw my homework book out of the window and asked me to leave the class. Mr. Atkinson, our Physical Instructor, saw me outside and asked me what had happened. When I told him, he took me to his room and gave me some handwriting exercises to practice. As a result of these exercises, known as the "Palmer Method of Business Writing", my handwriting improved dramatically and I soon developed the best handwriting in the school. When Mr. Kershaw, the Inspector General of Schools, was shown proof of my improvement, he made the "Palmer Method" compulsory in all schools.

Mr. Atkinson was a great influence in my life. He had wanted to adopt me as I was an orphan, but my trustees would not permit it. He taught me to play tennis and also introduced me to the Reader's Digest and the National Geographic magazines. From the 5th Standard onwards, I was on every school team in athletics, football, hockey and cricket. Mr. Atkinson told me that America was a great country where one could go from rags to riches. This inspired me to immigrate to this country, and though I did it through my children, I finally fulfilled a lifelong ambition of relocating to the U.S.A.

I have been a resident of this country for the past 20 years now, along with my four children. My elder son and elder daughter are both doctors. My younger daughter is a real estate agent while my younger son is in the food service industry. I am now 95 years old and my wife is 92. We completed 68 years of marriage on the 26th of June, 2008

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Raymond Fernandes is originally from Saligao, Goa. He spent several years in Hyderabad and Bombay, working as a pharmacist and then later, as a medical representative. Having retired in 1987, he now lives with his wife Rose in Plantation, Florida, USA. They have four children, Yvette, Hilaire, Joan and John, all married and well settled.