St Joseph’s School (North Point) has immortalised Father Gerard Van Walleghem, a beloved figure in Darjeeling and arguably the last foreign missionary to remain in the hills till his death, by instituting an award after him.
Father Van died in 2015 aged 88. Although his family in Canada wanted him with them, he refused to leave Darjeeling till the end of his days despite not being granted citizenship in India.
Sonam Gyalsen, a former tea planter and the current president emeritus of the Darjeeling Planter’s Club, who is also an SJS alumnus of the batch of 1956, became the first recipient of the first Fr Van Gold Medal on Saturday.
Father Van was born to a Belgian family at Winnipeg, Canada, on March 7, 1927, and after graduating from St Paul’s School, Winnipeg, in 1944, he decided to join the Society of Jesus.
In 1951, Father Van came to India, and served the region as an educationist, parish priest, communal superior, regional consultant, adviser of bishops and friend and supporter of a number of congregations.
Incidentally, Gyalsen had helped Fr Van extend his visa for another five years of his stay in India barely months before the priest passed away.
“Sonam Gyalsen has made immense contributions to the school. He also played an important role in getting the then President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, to visit the school in 2013,” said a source.
The Fr Van Gold Medal was handed over to Gyalsen at a Rector’s Day ceremony held at the school on Saturday, attended by Darjeeling district magistrate S. Ponnambalam.
The school also instituted an award for a teacher for the first time in its 134-year-old history.
D.N. Pradhan, former headmaster of the school who passed away in 2020 while still serving, was posthumously awarded the Magis Gold Medal.
“This is the first ever award given to teachers. The school also handed over a cheque of Rs 1.5 lakh to a retired teacher, Peter Lepcha, from the rector’s table, apart from conferring the Stanford Gold Medal to Tashi Gurmey, a Class XII student for his all-round performance,” said Fr Stanely Varghese, the rector of North Point school.
Fr Varghese also announced that St Joseph’s School (North Point) had been selected to represent Bengal in volleyball at the national school games after winning the state title.