“She was a mother, not only to her daughter, Christine, but to every student who studied under her and every younger colleague who worked with her”. This was the gist of the tributes paid to Professor Mrs. Therese Lobo, by Dr. Miss Agnes Fernando, Dr. Mrs. Christina Rajkumar and Mrs. Regina Stephen, who spoke at the 30th day Requiem Mass. The first two had started their career under her Headship in the Department of English, Holy Cross College and the third had been her student.

On Valentine’s Day, 14th February 1914, Therese Costa was born in Manapad, to Stanislaus Costa, a businessman in Ceylon and Francesca Miranda (sister of Fr. Vincent Miranda, S.J.). Therese was the eldest of 6 children, 2 of whom died in infancy. Her younger siblings who survived were Major Joseph Sebastian Costa, an engineer in the Indian Army, Mr. Antony V. Costa, B.A. a successful businessman of integrity in Ceylon and Miss Francesca Costa, B.A., B.T. a renowned school teacher, who taught in Convents in Srivilliputhur, Nagercoil and in Vidyodaya, Madras. Their mother died at childbirth, having borne 6 children in 8 years of marriage.

At the age of four, little Therese was put in the Kandy Convent boarding school, since the younger siblings arrived in quick succession. She lost her mother at the age of seven and took care of her two younger brothers, who were also put in the same boarding. She developed a love for reading from childhood, since her father equipped her with bulky Encyclopaedias and storybooks from a tender age. She continued her schooling in Kandy Convent till 1928, when her father brought her to India and put her in Holy Cross High School, Trichy, under the care of the Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod.

Mother Sophie, Sister Julie and Sister St. John were the beloved trinity of nuns, who showered maternal love on Therese and also coached her as a private candidate for the Matriculation examination. She took Latin as a second language and was coached in that subject by a Jesuit priest in St. Joseph’s College. Having been brought up in Kandy Convent under European nuns, and lacking a mother to teach her the mother tongue, she knew only spoken Tamil and could hardly read and write the language. She found this to be a serious handicap and started learning the language on her own, starting from the alphabet. She felt that ignorance of the mother tongue, made one an alien among one’s own people. This was one reason why she insisted that her daughter should study in the Tamil medium in school and also take Tamil as the second language in college. (Though I was tempted to take French in college, because of the high marks that could be scored in it, Mummy insisted that I should opt for Tamil. I am grateful to her for this insistence, for now I can speak and write with ease both in Tamil and English.)

Therese Costa did her Intermediate course in Holy Cross College, Trichy from 1930-1932 and went to Madras for her English Honours Course in Presidency College, from 1932-1935. By a strange co-incidence, Professor S. Ramasamy who taught her in Presidency College and Professor Macphail who handled Chaucer in Intercollegiate lectures in Madras Christian College, taught her daughter also in Inter-collegiate lectures, during her M.A.in English Literature in Stella Maris College, Madras, 1966-1968.

After her English Honours, Therese Costa decided to take up teaching as her vocation and equipped herself with an L.T. (Licentiate in Teaching, the earlier equivalent of B.Ed.) degree at Lady Wellington College, Madras in 1935-1936. In 1936, she was thrilled to join Holy Cross College as a young Lecturer in English. Being the eldest in her family, she felt responsible for her younger siblings and contributed towards their education. In later years, she expressed a slight disappointment that none of them had become Post-Graduates. From 1936-1946, she taught in Holy Cross College, a much loved teacher, who also trained the students for dramatic presentations and for songs, accompanied by her on the piano. She also edited the College Annual Magazine, single-handed, right from the collection of articles from staff and students, correcting the scripts, typing them herself, giving them to the press and proof-correction to designing the cover page. She enjoyed the teaching, for which she prepared meticulously and the extra-curricular activities which brought her in close rapport with the students. In the mid-1940s she met Mr. S. Albert Lobo, Lecturer, St. Joseph’s College and they got married on 12th June 1946. Her grandson recalls her coy statement to him about their marriage – “It was a love-match!”

During the next seven years, Mrs. Therese Lobo was a full-time home maker. She embroidered beautiful bed spreads, table cloths, cushion covers and chair covers for the home. She stitched dainty frocks with hand embroidery for her daughter, born in 1947. Her repertoire in cooking was limited, since she had never cooked until her marriage, having lost her mother at the age of 4 and having lived in boardings and hostels most of the time. Her understanding husband too ensured that there was always a full-time cook at home. Her specialities were coconut milk rice, cutlets, roast meat, custards, puddings and some sweet dishes, since her husband had a sweet tooth. She also maintained a small garden plot, 2 feet by 8 feet, in her first home in St. Mary’s Thope, since that was the only soil space available. In it stood a curry leaf tree, a rose bush, a jasmine creeper, three colours of neelambarams which flowered in December, pink anemone, white sangu pushpam and a delicate creeper with red starbell flowers and lace-like leaves.

When the daughter was six years old, with her husband’s approval and encouragement, she became the Head of the Department of English in St, Mary’s College, Tuticorin, in response to a newspaper advertisement. From 1953-1956 she ably steered the Department of English at St. Mary’s College, started the College Magazine, which she edited, again, single-handed for three years and put up a mega-play every year on College Day. I remember only one of them, an abridged version of Bernard Shaw’s St. Joan, in which Sheila Mason gave a brilliant performance as Joan. In Tuticorin too, she enjoyed training the students for dramatic presentations, tableaus and songs throughout the academic year. During these three years, mother and daughter shuttled between Tuticorin and Trichy, spending their vacations in Trichy.

Providentially, Sr. Philomene, Principal of Holy Cross College, offered Mrs. Therese Lobo an English Lecturer’s post, which she gladly accepted and the family was re-united again. From 1956 to 1974, when she retired, she worked whole heartedly in the Department of English, as a lecturer and for a brief stint as the Head of the Department. Once again, she edited the College Magazine and took charge of the Dramatics, for a few years, after which younger colleagues took over. She was much appreciated for her well prepared classes, her interesting anecdotes about authors, her amazing memory, quoting long passages of Shakespeare and Milton and numerous other poets like Ben Jonson, Gray, Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Byron, Tennyson and even T.S. Eliot at the end of her career. Her gentle and kindly ways, sympathetic listening and counseling, cheerful smile and hearty laughter endeared her to the students, who began calling her “Mummy Lobo” during her second sojourn as a teacher in Holy Cross College. She always spoke with great affection for all the four Principals under whom she had served at Holy Cross – Mother Sophie, Mother Philomene, Sr. Regina and Sr. Dona.

In July 1976, When Sr. Emily organized 3 charismatic retreats of 5 days’ duration each, one after another, she attended the second one together with her husband and experienced a deep and joyful spiritual renewal thereafter. She attended two National level Catholic Charismatic conferences in Bombay in 1976 and again in 1978. Though she did not go out and preach like her husband, she spent much time in prayerfully reading the Bible and other spiritual books. After her death, about 25 notebooks and diaries were found filled with her note-making and prayers. She also maintained a Diary to note down points for Intercessory Prayer and spent at least an hour on this, daily. She had the habit of ticking off answered prayer petitions and offered thanksgiving prayer, when this happened. She walked for daily Mass with her husband till the age of about seventy, after which it was mostly Sunday mass by vehicle.

In November 1977 when the flood waters entered their home in Thillainagar, there was 5 feet water downstairs, and so the couple retired upstairs, with the maid and two nieces who had come there for the weekend. Both the retired professors were happily clapping hands and singing charismatic songs like “God’s love is so wonderful” and “Praise Him, Praise Him”, while the two nieces were crying, according to the maid.

In July 1979, Mrs. Therese Lobo was stricken with cancer at an advanced stage. But then too after surgery, she was found singing her favourite hymns and songs, in the ward. She underwent radiotherapy at the Adyar Cancer Institute, followed by Chemotherapy. By the Healing power of her Saviour Jesus Christ, she was completely healed. After that much of her time was spent in talking to and praying for people who had cancer. Quite a few used to send prayer requests through me in college. By God’s grace many were healed, but a few succumbed to the disease also. Her retirement was spent in doing small chores around the house, maintaining a spacious garden in her home in Thillainagar and of course praying the Bible, reading and writing. From 1985, she was also absorbed in taking care of her grandson Anbu, reading stories to him, praying for him and lavishing love on him in many ways.

By nature, she was somewhat reserved, gentle and soft-spoken, and very accommodative on most issues. She was blessed with what Peter calls “a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight”(1 Peter 3:3-6). But she was also an independent thinker who asserted herself when necessary. Her insistence that her daughter should study in the Tamil medium and take Tamil as second language in college was one such instance. Another that I remember is that she resolutely walked out whenever the conversation turned to criticism of priests. She believed that it is better to pray for priests than criticize them. Priests were on her permanent Intercessory list. She used to contribute regularly to the Salesians in Shillong, for the education of priests.

After being healed of cancer, she too enjoyed good health, like her husband, without any complications like diabetes, hypertension and other major ailments that flesh is heir to. Psalm 92:14 promises the aged who are rooted in God, that “They shall still bear fruit in old age and shall be fresh and flourishing”. She had a hip fracture in 1995, but again by the healing power of Jesusshe was able to walk within the house within 6 months. A second hip fracture in 2006 January, confined her to bed, though she underwent surgery for it this time. She remained patient and uncomplaining throughout those last three months, until her Home call came on 23rd April, 2006, at the age of 92.

Her favourite Scripture passage was Psalm 23, as for her husband. She knew the Psalm by heart and loved to recite it antiphonally with her daughter, especially during those last months. Surely the gentle Shepherd would have been there to carry her through the valley of the shadow of death to his green pastures and still waters.

_(This biographical sketch of Mummy would be incomplete if I don’t provide at least a fleeting glimpse of what a wonderful Mother she had been to me. So here goes!)_

*A Tribute to the Best of Mothers!*

Though I had a working mother from the age of 6, I never felt deprived of maternal love or time with Mother. Somehow she was always there for me. In Tuticorin when my mother took over as the Head of the Department of English, the gracious Correspondent of the College, Fr. B.S.Susainathar and the Principals, Sr. Teresita Mary and later Sr. Arokia Mary, thoughtfully provided us with a suite of rooms in the ground floor of the staff quarters. There was also a big enclosed verandah with a round table and a garden for me to romp around. So I didn’t feel cooped up in a ladies’ hostel. I had a small garden plot for myself, where I had a few plants which I watered daily. I remember the thrill I felt when my yellow and orange marigolds bloomed for the first time. I also had a ridge-gourd(Peerkangai) creeper, which entwined around a neem tree and bore ‘bitter ridge-gourds’!

Mummy and I used to walk daily for Mass, from the staff quarters near the gate to the Nuns’ chapel, in the interior, about 8-10 minutes away. It was during this short daily walk with Mummy that I effortlessly learnt more than a dozen important prayers, and 2 psalms, by mere daily repetition, starting with the morning offering and ending with the prayer to the Guardian Angel for protection. My First Holy Communion was celebrated in St. Mary’s College, on October 3rd 1953. My father came from Trichy and the dear nuns and Fr. BSS made it a very memorable occasion for me. Mummy taught me to prepare for daily Holy Communion through prayer, sacrifices and good deeds during the day, making them into figurative crowns or garlands for Jesus, which I would place on Him, immediately after receiving Him. Devotion to the Eucharist was thus ingrained in me by her from the age of six.

This was the time Mummy made me speak with her only in English and got me many storybooks to read on my own. The complete volumes of Aesop’s Fables, Grimm’s fairy tales and the stories of Hans Christian Andersen and an illustrated Children’s Bible were my favourites. An illustrated book of poems for Children, illustrated versions of popular stories like the Three Bears, Dick Whittington, Puss in Boots, Cinderella and the Panchatantra stories were all bought in Tuticorin. She got a carpenter to make a small wooden almirah for me, exclusively for my books. I remember being very proud of my ‘Library’ and showed off before my schoolmates from the Vadakku Theru Elementary School, Tamil Medium, run by the Seven Dolours’ nuns. (I used to go there daily with the nuns, in a bullock cart from St. Mary’s College, with me perched in front.)

While at Tuticorin, once a month we visited my father’s relatives, the family of Captain Joachim Gomez, who lived in Kerecope Street. I loved playing hop scotch (Chillaakku) with my cousins there. I used to look forward to our weekly visits to Dhanalaxmi Bakery, when Mum would replenish my stock of snacks – macaroons, cookies, cakes and puffs. Her nickname for me at that time was “Eveready battery”, always ready to accommodate any amount of eats! Her wake up call to me every morning was a quotation from Alice in Wonderland, intoned in a teasing playful tone most of the time. “Up lazy thing, said the Duchess to the Griffin!” But it could become stern if I continued to dawdle in bed after being called thrice. Her talk was spiced with actual or altered literary quotations, which I learnt to recognize later, like for example – “To eat or not to eat, that is the question”, when faced with an extra helping of cake, chocolate or ice cream. She made me calorie conscious from an early age and would chant “Potato chips, a moment on the lips, forever on the hips!”, when I overindulged.

In Trichy she enjoyed stringing flowers from her garden, for my hair. She also taught me to rear butterflies from the tiny larva stage, to the voracious green caterpillar stage, through the pupa stage, which changed colour a day or two before the emergence of the butterfly. Keeping them in a cardboard shoe box, with a few small holes pierced in it, feeding them with the leaves of the curry leaf tree, opening the box many times daily to get a peep at my pets, were all part of my schoolgirl years. I vividly remember the wonder and joy I felt, when I witnessed this metamorphosis for the first time.

My mother spared no efforts to bring out whatever hidden talent may have been buried in me. She put me through piano lessons from Standard Six to I B.Sc. and made me appear for exams of the Trinity College of Music, London, conducted annually in many centres in India, including Trichy, until I passed the Higher Local Exam, which I think was Grade VI. During summer vacations, she taught me hand embroidery and got a teacher from the Usha tailoring classes to come home and teach me tailoring and machine embroidery. She also encouraged me to draw and paint and used to arrange ‘still life’ models for me, using colourful fruits, vegetables and flowers in artistic arrangements. She organized Hindhi tuitions for me at home and made me pass up to the Rashtrabasha exam, conducted by the Dakshin Bharath Hindhi Prachar Sabha. Unfortunately, I did not keep up any of these interests which she tried to arouse in me! I guess I responded enthusiastically only to reading and writing in English and Tamil. She gave me various topics to write on, during the summer holidays and developed my writing skills. I owe my publications in English and Tamil to the encouragement and appreciation of both my parents. I still recall how deeply moved I was, when during her stay in the hospital in 2006, she eagerly read an article of mine in the New Leader in the series, “His Plans for us”, which was later collected and published as a book, by Dawn Communications, Chennai. Though my parents were no more there, to rejoice with me, I dedicated the book to them. My passion for teaching was also from Mummy. I know she felt rather disappointed at my not continuing to play the piano, in spite of her playing on it, even up to her 80s. Mozart’s sonatas were her favourites and also Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” which she could play by heart. I wish now that I had lived up to her expectations.

During my adolescence and as a young adult, Mummy was a good friend and confidante to me. My parents are truly among the greatest blessings in my life, which include my husband and son too. I praise and thank God for His loving kindness in blessing me and surrounding me with love.

(by Dr. Mrs. Christine Gomez, M.A., Ph.D. – daughter)