Dr.Lorenz Perera was born on November 12, 1921 to parents Vivian Conrad Perera and Dorothea Celestina De Silva. He was one of the most brilliant students to walk the corridors of St.Peter’s College. His excellent academic performance won him a prestigious scholarship to the University College.
My mother jokingly tells me that he was only seen at the Uni when scholarship allowances were paid. While at St.Peter’s he was recruited by the Samasamaja Party.
He was such a selfless man with a great love of humanity and a strong desire to fight against suffering, that it drove him to drift away from his academic pursuits and engage himself in political activities much to the annoyance of the British Colonial Government which incarcerated him along with the party stalwarts, late N. M. Perera, Dr. Colvin R de Silva at The Bogambara Prison Kandy. After being sacked from the Uni. he used the two years in Prison to study and regain admittance to the Colombo University College as a medical student.
During his medical studies he put up with my parents Dan and Rene at Pagoda. He continued his political activities and about this time fell in love with a beautiful girl Mabel living just a hop step and a jump away from the Party Office at Bagatelle Road. Eventually they married.
He never asked for any assistance from my parents who were unaware of his marriage and when my parents came to know, he along with aunty Mabel housed themselves in a small annex at Norris Canal Road close to the Colombo General Hospital. He was doing some petty jobs, working at the Colombo Racecourse on weekends to keep the family fire burning, but never asked for any assistance from his parents or mine.
Regi Siriwardenaa well known literary figure and one of uncle Lorenz’s contemporaries at the University and a fellow LSSPer extols the virtues of Lorenz Perera in his book “Working Underground”. According to him my dear uncle Lorenz was one of the most sincere, transparent, honest and humble persons he met, who touched the heart of all he associated with. The main reason for writing the book, he had said, was that as time goes on persons like Lorenz Perera will be forgotten and would fall into oblivion.
His first posting was to the Hospital at Ragama and next Wirawila close to Tissamaharama. He left Government service and joined Dr. Hector Fernando’s medical establishment in Negombo.Dr. Fernando was the LSSP MP for Negombo at that time. Then he started his own private practice at Wennappuwa, but later moved the practice to Marawila and finally Madampe. I used to visit him very often at these places. Once I was Santa Claus to his kids Lilanthi, Lalith, Kusum,Rohan and Mohan.
The next phase in his life was his utter disillusionment with the party to which he sacrificed so much when the LSSP joined the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Government. It was then that he decided to migrate to Trinidad to begin a new domicile. Finally on his retirement he started life in England where he breathed his last.
He leaves his beloved children Lilanthi, Kusum,and Mohan, and also the late Lalith and Rohan.
Uncle Lorenz never ever forgot his moral commitment to alleviate human suffering. When he left politics which was his first dream he merely transferred that dream to benefit his poor and worthy patients who looked up to him as life-giver.
Today he lies alongside his great grandfather, his beloved parents Vivian and Dorothea, his siblings Doris, Rene and Sita, and my Father Dan Aryaratne at the Holy Trinity Church Nuwara Eliya.
Uncle Lorenz was one of the finest persons to ever trod the earth. No words can adequately express my love and admiration for him. Thank you dear uncle for leaving behind in our hearts such poignant memories.
– Ananda Aryaratne
