Farewell to a gracious centenarian—the end of an era
The death of Dr. Grace Barr Kumarakulasinghe earlier this month at the age of 104 seemed to me to mark the end of an era.
Her equally distinguished contemporary and fellow Paediatrician, Dr. Stella de Silva, predeceased her by 12 months. They were two of a kind, both of them tirelessly giving of themselves in dedicated service to the nation’s children.
I interviewed Dr. Grace when she reached her 100th milestone in 2008 and I headed my article, “A Gracious Centenarian.” I knew her as “Auntie Grace”, the youngest aunt of my close schoolfriend, Gladys Sinnetamby in whose home I first met the striking young woman doctor who had just begun to make her mark. One of Auntie Grace’s brothers, Dr. G.S. Sinnetamby, (later to become the highly reputed Senior Surgeon of the Colombo General Hospital), weaned Grace away from her intention of doing an English Hons. Degree and persuaded her to take to medicine instead.
The Ladies’ College Magazine for 2010 carries a feature on “Gracious Grace - Honouring a Centenarian.” I learn from it that in fact her colleagues at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital had called her “Gracious Grace.”
In this article she reminisces fondly on her days at Ladies’ College and the lasting impact the school and, more particularly, its Principal, Miss Gwen Opie, had on her. An ardent Christian, Dr. Grace said that “The unity and friendship between those of various ethnicities and religions at Ladies’ College emphasised to me the importance of not just accepting, but also celebrating the differences between us.”
Let me briefly recount the highlights of her outstanding career.
Auntie Grace qualified as a doctor with First Class Honours in 1937. She served in the General Hospital, the De Soysa Lying-in-Home (as it was then known), and the Castle Street Maternity Hospital. Later, she was posted to Weligama as W.M.O. (Woman Medical Officer) who, as a member of the ‘weaker’ sex, was, in those days not considered to be on a par with the D.M.O. (District Medical Officer), who was, of course, a male.
In 1946 Grace married Gunaratnam Barr Kumarakulasinghe, a lawyer, and the couple went to England for post-graduate studies. Her son, Sudhir, was born in 1948.
Grace qualified as a Consultant Paediatrician, obtaining her M.R.C.P. and her Diploma In Child Health (DCH) London. They returned to Ceylon in 1953. Grace found to her dismay that it was one thing to get qualified, but quite another to receive her due professionally from the males who then dominated the medical profession.
Dr. (later Prof.) C.C. de Silva was the only one willing to allocate any beds in his ward at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH), to a woman. The other two Paediatricians flatly refused to do so. It was only after a woman, Vimala Wijewardene, became Minister of Health in 1966, that Grace was assigned a ward at the Minister’s insistence. Until then, she had been assigned to the Castle Street Maternity Hospital to provide medical care for newborns.
This aspect of her work paid dividends when, with the help of a Paediatric Nursing Sister named Sr. Grace Danforth, she initiated specialised neonatal nursing care. Prof. C.C. de Silva and she were the first Paediatricians to establish Special Baby Care Units in the Castle Steet and the De Soysa Maternity Hospitals.
Dr. Grace was responsible for compiling the first- ever neonatal morbidity and mortality statistics in Sri Lanka. In 1954 she was invited by the Obstetrics Society to read a paper on this subject. The Obstetrics Society also invited her to be the Founder Joint-Editor (with Dr. Siva C. Chinnatamby), of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Sri Lanka.
In 1961 Dr. Grace was the only woman delegate in a team of distinguished doctors led by Dr. P.R. Anthonis, who went to China to study Traditional Medicine at the invitation of the Chinese Prime Minister, Chou En Lai.
This was due, to the personal intervention of none other than P.M. Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world’s first woman Prime Minister.
In 1963 Dr. Grace was elected President of the Paediatric Association of Ceylon. She was invited by the American Ambassador here, Ms. Willis, to go to America on an Exchange Scholarship in 1965, but sadly her husband died that year and Grace was not in the mood to travel.
However, when Ms. Willis subsequently repeated the invitation, she did go to the USA and it was a memorable visit that she always valued.
In 1967 Dr. Grace resigned her post here and went to be with her son studying in London. She worked as a Consultant in several hospitals including the Middlesex Hospital and St. James Hospital in Balham. Yet what she felt was most rewarding was the voluntary work she undertook at the Bermondsey Medical Mission, a Christian venture serving the poor of London’s East End.
Sudhir and she returned home and in 1997 she received a well-deserved honour at the first annual scientific congress held in July of that year, when she was awarded the Fellowship of the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians (F.C.P., SL) in recognition of her long years of service to Sri Lankan children.
At the formal farewell given her on her retirement, the Director of Health Services, Dr. V.T. Herath Gooneratne, paid a high tribute to her work with and for newborns. It was fitting that Dr. Grace’s portrait was unveiled at the LRH on the same day as were those of two of her seniors for whom she had the highest regard – Prof. Milroy Paul and Prof. C.C. de Silva.
She stayed mentally alert and retained her vibrant personality to the end, attended by her devoted son, Sudhir. I remember her parting words to me: “I consider humility to be the greatest virtue, for a lot of the trouble in the world seems to stem from human pride.” I asked her what advice she would give to young women of today. She thought for a moment and then replied, quoting what I suspect must have been her favourite Bible text: “Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.”
While she loved life and people, she was ready to leave this earth-bound existence for what she firmly believed was a step into the nearer presence of God. I have no doubt she was welcomed with the words: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of thy Lord.”