Farewell to a Few Old Friends…
I seem to get the jitters whenever I go on-line these days. Who will it be this time, I wonder. Which of my former students has died and left that familiar sinking feeling in my heart as I read through his obituary?
There have been a multitude earlier this year, but in recent weeks three high-profile Xavier High School graduates have passed away. All of them were not just former students who became FSM notables, but they were also good friends.
Joseph Urusemal, who passed away in mid-September, served a term as president of FSM after many years in Congress. Joe had practiced for the role in high school where he was chosen to be the student council president. Back then Joe was a typical outer-island Yapese–everybody’s friend. That is a quality he never lost, according to those who knew him when he became a national figure.
Then there was Lorin Robert, who graduated from Xavier a couple of years after in 1975, a couple of years after Joe. I remember him as a good student, but never the kind of person who desired lots of time in the spotlight. After college in Santa Fe, he became a career diplomat for his island nation. He served as secretary of political affairs for fifteen years, and ambassador to just about everywhere during the remainder of his time in public service. Lorin’s sudden death in the middle of November left us all shocked.
Just a few days later, I was called to the hospital to anoint a Chuukese patient who had suffered a heart attack. The patient turned out to be Innocente Oneisom, a Xavier grad from the famous walk-out class of 1976. After college in the US, Inno returned to his alma mater to teach at Xavier for a couple of years and then worked with us at MicSem. He was a very capable writer—and I still recommend a couple of articles he did for us on homicides in Chuuk—but the state legislature won him over. He served there for close to thirty years.
Others who knew them better during their public life can write their obituaries. I just want to testify that their warmth and competence wasn’t something that emerged late in their lives. They were unassuming and self-giving even when I knew them in high school. To these three and to all the others like them who have passed on, thank you for what you’ve given us all. See you before too long in the great beyond!
