The medical man whose love for cricket and wildlife bonded us even closer

In 1927, Neville was born to Jerome and Lucy Wijegunawardena Cooray of Ragama.

Subsequently siblings Herbert and Lilian joined the family. The brothers had their early education at St. Joseph’s College, Colombo. Neville having passed his London Matriculation in 1943, gained admission to the Science Faculty of the University of Ceylon, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Biology. Continuing in higher education, he was selected to the Medical Faculty of the same University and in 1953 obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine & Surgery. His initial assignment was at the General Hospital, Colombo where he worked as a Resident in both Medicine and Surgery.

1954 was a milestone for Neville, as he was introduced to the beautiful, vivacious Noeline Rohini Nedra, daughter of Robert and Sarah Samarasekera Gooneratne of Mawathagama. The wedding took place in Colombo in 1954 and they were blessed with two sons, Anil and Rohan.

Neville was extremely proud of his wife’s artistic, musical and literary skills, which he spoke eloquently of both at public and private functions on numerous occasions.

Neville’s medical journey now switched to Radiology, where an opportunity arose for him to proceed to the UK, on a Commonwealth scholarship. He honed his newly acquired Radiology skills at the Hammersmith Hospital in London and at Holt Institute, in Manchester. After his stint in the UK, he returned to Sri Lanka and took up multiple positions as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Colombo, whilst working as an active staff member of the Cancer Hospital, Maharagama.

Once more an overseas assignment took him to Newfoundland, Canada, where he obtained positions at the Memorial University and the General Hospital. After working for four years in Canada, his next move was to neighbouring USA, where he was offered positions in the New York State University of Syracuse, and in four hospitals in the same city. Bidding goodbye to New York in 1976, the family moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he held a Directorate of the Montefiore Hospital, and was Assistant Professor of Radiology, at the University of Pittsburgh P. A.

After almost 20 years of work in Pittsburgh, Neville retired in 1996, leaving his palatial residence and finally returning home.

In retirement, he found two interests - cricket and wildlife. Our wildlife sojourns were to the Kaudulla and Minneriya wildlife parks as well as to Yala. But after the tsunami of 2004, decimated his brother Herbert’s Yala Hotel, resulting in a tragic loss of lives, we never went back to Yala again.

Fortunately Neville’s interest in cricket meant that we regularly watched cricket, especially the one-day matches with visiting foreign teams.

Neville’s world quite rightly centred round his immediate family but he also had plenty of time for his extended family and friends. Even at the height of his medical career overseas, he and Noeline on their visits home, never failed to visit us on the estates we were in and spend some quality time with us.

Neville was a unique individual, calm at all times, never in a hurry and the epitome of courtesy to whomever he met.

To me, it was a rewarding experience to be in his presence.