84th Anniversary Rev. Brother Simeon Anupatt Petchara-Yuttachai: Life & work

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54 rn ANNIVERSARY REV. BROTHER SIMEON ANUPATT PETCHARA - YUTTACHA I

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1963, ANEW STAR IS BORN IN THE GABRIELITE SKY (THE GENESIS OF ASSUMPTION COLLEGE RAYONGJ BRO. SIMEON Once upon a time, Rayong Province was entrusted to the care of a gentleman named Mr. Song Laosunthorn. Though he was himself a devout Buddhist, he had relatives who were catholic, one was a Brother of St.Gabriel. He understood that education is the root of development and want- ed to have a school that would be a model for others . He was not a former student of the Brothers but my inkling is that as governor of Rayong, he must have heard of Assumption Sriracha. The fact is that he went to knock at the door of Bro .John-Mary who was provincial superior at that time to present his request. He must have been very persuasive. Sometime before a former student of the Brothers had given some land in the Bangna area for the sole purpose of education . As it was impossible to start two projects simultaneously-lack of personnel , lack of funds - a choice had to be made, the Bangna project was opted out and offered to the La Salle Brothers. A new Assumption School would be erected in Rayong on a 120-rai of reserved forest that had already been allocated to various of- ficials . However, Bro . John-Mary had put two conditions to accept the project as it was not necessary for the new school to spread on such a vast area, part of it would be offered to the Sisters of St.Paul de Chartres to open a school for Girls and another part kept for the erection of a church. The good governor couldn 't believe his ears when he realized he would kill three birds with one shot and he accepted readily. At that time, the early 60's, Rayong looked very far away. The only way to go was via Sathahip. The new project had to be financed entirely by the Province. Without being stingy, the Province could spare a shoestring budget. The sole way to minimize expenses was to contract labor. As ACS was the closest to the new place, the director- Bro.Honorat-was asked to take charge of the construction which meant he had to take care of buying cement, steel rods etc. and see that everything was done according to the blueprints . As he could not be on the spot continually he had to rely on a supervisor, a gentle Chinese \"sinsae\" by the name of Mr. Kim Long. The proof that he did a good job in that after 50 years the structure of the building is still as strong as ever. Sand was obvi- ously not a problem or was it? Thousands of years ago, the sea covered the whole area and sand accumulated up to eighty meters which meant there was no need to buy any. On the other hand to drive down 20-25 meter-high piles was impossible. To erect the building on solid foundations, the contractor had to use a different approach, dig sand at different intervals on a three-meter broad, two-meter deep area and pour concrete . Another thorny problem was that of water. Noen Phra where the school was located was far beyond the city limits and had no access to electricity. The area had for a long time been a refuge for lepers; parents would worried . So a large reserve of rain water was necessary. But no underground water-tank had been planned , only a 25 cubic meter one on the top of the building. When the architect and the engineer were queried about it they saw no problems. 84 'b ANNIVERSARY REV . BROTHER SIM EON ANUPATT PE T CHARA-YUTTACHAI

Eighty meters of a sand is as strong as rock. So the decision was taken to add a 400 cubic-meter tank under the building. To make sure there wou ld be no leakage, from the moment work started, concrete was poured down non-stop until the whole thing was completed. To prevent water to have any ceme nt after-taste the tank was generously sprayed with alcohol. It worked magic, as soon as it started raining the water was drinkable. The above may look queer and in contradiction with the Gospel (Mt. 7/24-27) but when the Lord refers to a house build on sand, He meant very shallow foundations easily washed away, which is what Lu ke says (LK 6/46-49) In 1963, I had been at Sriracha since my coming to Thailand in January 1957. For the last three years I had been working as bursar, a job that would stick to me through thick and thin until now. I remember one morning, he must have been in February, Bro.John-Mary the Provincial Superior appeared unexpectedly and matter-of-factedly announced that I had been appointed as the iirst director of the new institution. To say that I was delighted would be an overstatement. I had been to the place several times and in petto had wished I would not have anything to do with it. The Lord had played me a little trick as He would again and again . Blessed be His Holy Name! Right away, Bro.John-Mary took me to Rayong . The school-building was coming up and so were the Brothers' headquarters under the wise supervision of Bro. Honorat. When I was told that the residence would be half-concrete, half-wood (the rooms) I asked whether it cou ld be all co ncrete and was given the green light on the spot. But when I looked around and saw only shrubs and trees and sand, sand, sand my heart sank deeper the more as I was told that my potential helpers, Brother Sorachai Suckchai and Brother Prasert Anamnart had not yet iinished their novitiate. A juniorate wou ld be built inside to bring to the young aspirants from St.Rock along with their Master, Brother Raphael, who would be the ofiicial headmaster but he would not be available until May. We came back to Sriracha and I tried my best not to think too much about the problems I would encounter as they would come one by one and require unique decisions. It did not prevent me to plan though. But the school-year was not yet over and I had sti ll a lot of work to do and things to put in order so that my replacement, Bro.Donatien, wou ld iind everything neat and clean . It was no until April 17 that I could iinally free myself and move to my new kingdom. Prior to my coming I had told the contractor to see to it that part of the residence would be completed. I was somewhat baffled when I entered the dining-room to iind that tiles covered only half of the area . Thank God, I had a room upstairs where I could rest peacefully and a community-room downstairs that would be my temporary ofiice as the school-building was not yet comp leted. As mentioned above, there was no water or electricity, so I had to do without a lot of amenities, radio (transistors were relatively new and stations not powerfu l enough to sent their waves that far away), television , even a humble fan, air-conditioning was unheard of at that time. The only luxury I could afford was a refrigerator that worded on kerosene . However, I had brought a small generator from Sriracha to have light in the evening until about 10.00 p.m. and early morning from 4.30 till it was light. As there was no kitchen, I asked th e contractor a share of the food given to the workers . The news of my coming, well-orchestrated by the Governor, had spread like iire in the city 84 r\" ANNIVERSARY REV. BRO T HER SIMEON ANUPATT PE T CHARA-YUTTACHAI

of Rayong and the neighboring amphoes and tambons. So early in the morning of April 18, parents appeared eager to have their sons registered at Assumption Rayong . The first to come was an official in charge of the road syste m, catholic from Chantaburi who had been particularly helpful to see that everything would run smoothly. He had three sons and asked me the first three registration numbers for them. Many followed that day, mostly officials, telling me that many more were getting read y. At the end of the day I had already 75 pupils. Yet, I was skeptical! The fire wou ld soon died down . Dur- ing the annual retreat Brother John-Mary had warned me not to expect too much. The school was far away, there was no light, the site was haunted by the specters of lepers. The example of Assumption Bangkae two years before was premonitory. He was wrong! Early in the morning of April 19 as I tried to say morning prayers, I heard a lot of noise down below and wondered what it could be. Looking from the verandah, I could n't believe my eyes. It was about 6 .30 am. And there were already dozens and dozens of parents all over the place. They had nowhere to rest or sit. How wou ld I receive them? Who ca me first? Who came last? I retreated to my room and started writing numbers on sheets of paper to have a semblance of order. I distributed them through the closed gate . After a quick breakfast, I came to my office. Before I left ACS, one teacher,- Mr.Sakda - had come to see me and inquire who would help me at the outset. I told him I'd be alone and he volun- teered to join me for a few weeks . Though he passed away many years ago I am still very thankful to him . April 19 was another very busy day. As we had been invited by the Governor and he had been so kind to see that all the papers and necessary permissions from the Ministry of Education were ready, I had decided to pay him a visit the day after to thank him, in vain . I was closing shop, when Mr.Song turned up to thank me to have come . It turned out that we got along very well and would meet from time to time to discuss problems of common interest. A year later, I was due for home leave and the Governor put up a grand farewell dinner in my honor with all the local and provincial officials attending. When I came back eight months later he had been transferred to Chantaburi . He died prematurely a few years later of a brain tumor. The ACR administration building has been chris- tened after him. He certainly deserves it. Coming back to those days, after hardly one week over 600 kids had been registered. Brother Robert who was the director of Assumption Bangrak happened to pass by and I asked him to tell Brother Provincial that I cou ld probably fill the whole building. Two days later Bro. John Mary was in Rayong to tell me to stop. The Province could not afford to put up a second building the year after. It was easier said than done and yet I had to brace myself to refuse new comers, though I certainly yielded a few times. I remember accepting grade two twins by the unlikely names of Ching-Tae and Tae-Ching . I also received a grade one boy who had been born in China on February 30! !! Birth-certificates were then written according the luna calendar which had to be translated into days and months and years. Bro .Raphael supplied me with a special calendar and I soon became an expert to translate the 7th day of the waning moon of the sixth month of the Monkey into Monday 10, May 2004. To rece ive children was one thing but I had also to find teach- ers, secretaries, workers . I had to order furniture both for the school and the res idence . Class-tables were made at a factory located behind the ACC football-field . It does not exist anymore. As for the 84 - r AN N IV ERSAR Y R E V . B RO T H E R S I ME ON A N U P A TT PE T C HAR A- YUTT AC HAI

rest, I found excellent cabinet-makers in Mapthaput. A number of so-called \"orphans\" of ACS who had just completed M6 (Grade 1O at that time) offered their service. They were welcome. Then lo- cal people came to apply mostly women, one of them Miss Suthinee had just completed a bachelor degree in education. The Provincial Council had agreed a few months earlier than women-teachers could be accepted on a regular basis. Until then it had been considered taboo though Assumption and St.Gabriel 's had some already. I remember a Mrs.Ann teaching French at St.Gabriel's. Two of her grand-daughters would later graduate from Assumption Unive rsity . When I told Bro .Provincial that at least 50% of the teaching staff would be wo men his answer was , \"that is yo ur responsibility!\" Yet I know that in some circles I was viewed as a kind of maverick. As I was stil l alone, Bro.Honorat, Bro.Donatien and Bro.Prachuab would drop down from Sriacha, we would have dinner and then see a movie. Little by little , everything fell in place. In May, the two newly professed brothers joined me. The chaplain had yet to come and on Sundays we had to go to the Parish Church near the sea. The old parish priest, an uncle of Bro. Stephen, was blind and could only celebrate the Mass of the Blessing virgin in Latin . Bro .Sorachai looked very young and I overheard people wondering that there were also a \"Naen Yai\" at ACR. The name struck and between ourselves Bro.Soracha i was known as Naen Yai. During the week we had a French priest to ce lebrate the Eurachist. I have forgotten his name and how he ca me to be with us. I had asked Bro .So rachai to prepare the Mass in our common room. One morning as I was coming down for praye rs , I noticed a bottle of Fine Champagne (a kind of quality brandy) had been taken out as if to be used for the celebration. I quietly set it back in the cupboard and put a bottle of wine instead. After the Mass, I questioned both the father and the brother, the latter conceded he had used that bottle of Fine Champag ne as wine for mass, while the father commented that he had found the wine rather strong . For the past few days we had celebrated Mass with Cogna c!! ! The second wee k of May, Father Sangna Chantarasomsa k, the first chaplain and pastor of the would-be parish, ca me to stay with us. Then Brother Raphael brought his juniors , about fifty of them for prathom 5, 6 and 7. Bro.Vicharn, Bro.Sunant and Bro.Anant are the only surviving unsung heroes of that time. Life would not be easy for them . Right after class they would go to their quarters and for over one hour work hard to clear the forest around. When they came to the study-hall they were dead tired and would probably sleep on their books. Teacher started complaining that many juniors did not do their homework. I required they would pass through my office in the morning and those who had not finished or done their work would get three strokes. Poor kids, I was sorry for them because they we re not responsible. Bro.Sommai and Bro.Thaddee accompanied them. In the evening, Bro.Sommai would drop by and we would have lively discussions sitting on the ve randah in front of the common room. Television had not yet co me to kill community life and fraternal exchanges! We had a dog, a black-tongue German Shepherd by name of Taras. Taras was both clever and playful. As we would go inside for night-prayers , the animal would manage to pull its way in and then play with our cas- socks. We would never have thought of removi ng our habit! More often than not, Brother Sorachai wo uld start laughing , then it wo uld spread to all of us and the night prayer would be over. God the 84 -H ANNIVERSARY REV. BRO T H E R SIMEO N ANU P ATT PE T CHARA-YUTTACHAI

Father, Abba, would certa inly bless his son who were happy with such a simple life! On May 17, we we lcomed out pupils resplendent in their brand new blue and white uniform, something not yet seen in Rayong as usual colors we re either khaki or black. Crowds of parents came in happy, anxious. Bro.John-Mary was there to see how everything was going on but he let me run the slow. Many little kids were crying and would not let their mother go. So I had to intervene and forbid any parent to go to the class-rooms. What I said was strongly worded but very effective. Later Bro .John was kind enough to remark to me that I should rather use smooth forms of speech. I was very thankful and never forgot the lesson . As it was a Thursday and there were still a lot of details to be fixed, parents and students were told to come back the next Monday. Another first for ACR was to close on week-end. Most Catholic schools still closed on Thursday and Sunday, a custom brought by French Missionaries. Roads had been made of laterite to move in out and around. They were narrow, the sand very soft. Everyday some cars would miss though and parents would join together to push the vehicles on terra firma . At that time the fence had not yet be erected. The school was an open ground . We were six kilometers away from town so there was no way kids would escape. May 26 was chosen as the official opening of the school. It was a Sunday. Teachers and students had been required to be present before 8.30. Most brothers from Bangkok, Petriu, Sriracha were present. H.E.Bishop Sanguan from Sriracha first blessed the premises and then H.E. the Governor of the Provin ce Mr.Song Laohasunthorn handed over the 'N.S.3.'- as they were not yet official title-deeds-to Brother Teophane Chin who was the President of the Brothers of St.Gabrie l's Foundation . Sometime in June , the Secretary for the Private Schools, Ministry Education, came to Rayong. I knew him personally as he was a frequent visitor to ACS . All headmasters, principals and owners of schools had been invited for a meeting. I accompanied Bro.Raphael as the representative of the Foundation . The official first gave a number of directives then turn his attention to the situation in the Province to praise lavishly the new school. I felt rather queasy and would have put myself in a rat's hole. Finally, he casualty asked whether there were any questions. He was initially answered by dead silence, then one dared ask about that new school, and then another one, and another one. One lady who had lost half of her pupils to ACR was particularly virulent. I did what I had to do, I kept quiet. I did what I had to do, I ke pt quiet. As tea was served and we were free to move around, I went to meet that lady to try to smooth her wounds. She was startled and did not know what to say expect \"Mai Paen Rai!\" I had learnt a lesson though and decided that the best policy would be to keep a low profile. I could depend on Bro.Raphael who as the headmaster would have to attend all meetings. Bro .Raphael would not rock the boat and as the months passed by would weave a web of friendship around. So little by little , the atmosphere became less oppressive . There was still the eventual anony- mous letter coming in but it was not much to fret about! Principals, Headmasters would drop by to discuss problems of common interest. One afternoon, it must have been in March 1964, the lady who had been so acrimonious came to see me. I did my best to welcome her and queried whether there was anything I could do for her. In fact she had a request. She had a son that attended grade three 8 4 Tr ANN IVERS ARY REV. BR 0 THE R SI ME 0 N AN UP AT T PE T CH AR A - YU TT AC HA I

in her school. Being the son of the owne r, the kid felt already important and would not obey anyone. Could I accept him? Of course I d id , and from that day onwards we became very good friends. The iirst academic year passed swiftly, the holiday and then a new academ ic year started with a who le bunch of new grade one kids up to M.S. 1 students. In 1964, after nearly eight yea rs in Thailand I was due for home-leave. I had also asked to attend to Second Novitiate in Rome. Bro. John-Mary sent Bro.Seraiin who was at the Sriracha Juniorate to be acting-d irector. At this point I have to open a parenthesis. Bro Seraphin was never ever director of Assumption College Rayong as propagated later. He took my place from July 7, 1964 to February 20, 1965. In May 1965, he was appointed the iirst director of Assumption Ub olratchathan i. 1965 started with a new team; Bro.Vinal Seangkeow had joined the ACR Community. The number of students had increased gradually from Prathom 1 to M.S.2 and the first building was full to capacity. A new bui lding would be required for the next academic year. St.Joseph's School for Girls had already been operating for me year. Actually the Sisters had started building soon after the opening of Assumption. The Mother Provincial. Mother Anna , a portly and dynamic sister who had previously been Provincial in Japan and therefore did not know a word of Th ai asked me to look after the constru ction . Towards the end of the year, she came to ask me to recruit the iirst batch of students for their school so that when the Sisters wou ld settle down at Rayong they would be able to proceed with registration. How many girls came to apply? I have no idea, a few hundred I guess . Many had their brother or cousins or friend at ACR. When I came back from home-visit in February 1965, Mr. Damrong Sunthornsarathoon was the new governor of Rayong Province. He was rather young, dynamic and had a lot of projects. I was told that he seemed to be less enthu siastic than his predecessor about our school, an assertion that would prove to be erroneous. One of his pet projects was to build a scout-camp for the province of Rayong in Phae . He needed iinancial help as his budget was limited. He summoned the direc- tors and headmasters of the private schools and asked them find him 20,000 Baht within 6 months. 20,000 Baht may look peanuts in to-day's environment but at that time it was a fortune. A worker wou ld hardly get 300 Baht a month . The monthly salary of a teacher having completed high school was 800 Baht. The heads of the private schools held a meeting and asked Assumption to take the lead of the project. Bro.Raphael could not refuse which means the whole thing iinally landed on my shoulders. Thank God th e Sisters were very eager to help. We met together to see what cou ld be done and iinally decided to put up a show by the St.Joseph's Girls among other things. I went to see the owner of the cinema-hall in Rayong but obtained a negative response . I moved to Mapthaput and was given the green light. The hall was a mess, we had to do a lot of scrubbing and washing but every school cooperated . It was blessing in disguise, as we came to know and appreciate one another better. The girls produced themselves several times and the show was a success . We were not the on ly one to contribute financially, other schools did . Yet we had not reached our target and I kept wondering what else we cou ld do. The Sisters must have prayed hard and thought of an easy 84 -r ANNIVERSARY RE V. BROTHER SIMEO N ANUPATT PE TCHARA-YUTTACHAI

way out. They asked their Mother Provincial to supply the 3,000 Baht missing. Overnight we had the sum desired . I would never have dared to ask my superior. Lack of faith maybe! Another project was to build up a stadium near St. Joseph's School. Again we were put to contribution but manually this time! The area was covered with shrubs and bushes. We were asked to clear it. Every Friday afternoon during sport time the MS 1 and MS 2 students along with their teachers, and armed with spades and shovels would go and work for a couple of hours. It was some- what a risky job as it was not unfrequent to unearth deadly red, green or black snakes . How long did it last? I don't remember. Back in those days malaria and cholera were endemic . Chinese military researchers had not yet discovered antemisin that cut the death rate by 94 percent in a malaria epidemic in Vietnam in the early 1990's. How many times did I see little kids coming to my office shivering with fever. At least twice a year, the health department would come to the school to have the children vaccinated against cholera and the youngest -6 & 7 years old against diphtheria also. A couple of details worth recalling. To erect the buildings, the contractor had made use of sand on the spot, between the Assumption Building and the Brothers'residence . It left a wide gap behind . We lived on a tight budget. So we decided to take the bull by the horns and do it ourselves. Every Saturday afternoon, months after months, the three of us and Bro .Sommai from the Juniorate would take \"Poon Ki\" - that type of twin baskets hanging from a wooden bar on the shoulder - and bring sand in front of our house. Casual visitors, parents, friends couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the director along with his brothers doing such a menial work. But I guess they appreciated our dedication. Actually, it was a wonderful occasion to live a very warm fraternal life and we did it in a very cheerful way. After three to four hours of 'hard labor' we wou ld enjoy some coconut milk or fresh sugar-cane and a well-deserved rest. As mentioned above we had no electricity. We did not have an assembly-hall either when I could have addressed the students . Brother Francois was in charge of St.Joseph's School in Trok Chant. I knew his expertise and dexterity in mechanics and electricity and asked him whether he could build up something so that I could send messages to all the classes or to one particular class from my office. Using a car battery he prepared the whole system and came to install it. Not only could I transmit messages but I cou ld listen to what was going on in any class at any time. Inciden- tally my office was on the ground floor of the Assumption Building, the first room on the right hand side when entering the school. The campus itself was initia lly a reserved forest and when we came there were still a few huge rubber-trees here and there. To have them cut was not a simple affair and required a lot of meetings and paper-work. When I had to put the second building, it took me weeks before I could have the trees cut. I had to sign a document whe reby I did not want to keep the wood, I even wondered whether I would be asked to pay for it. But Bro.Raphael dicided to make it a beautiful and attractive place. Little by little with the help of the gardener he planted trees and flowers and when we both left in 1996, he had renewed the face of ACR. 8 4 -\" ANNIVERSARY REV. B ROTHER SIMEON ANUPATT PETCHARA-YUTTACHAI

The General Chapter 1965 saw Bro.John-Mary elected assistant general. Bro. Philip Ammuey Phinratana was called to take the helm at the tender age of 35! Bro.Honorat who had been a councilor for a few years already was also 35 ! There was no consultation and everything was de- cided by Rome . To make his job easier, I presume, Bro.Philip decided to make a lot of changes in the Province. So one day I received a letter telling me that I was to take over the direction of ACS as Bro. Honorat had been transferred to ACC. The second building was coming up and I had been allowed to put up a new canteen . I tried my best to put everything in order to make it easy for my rep lacement, Bro.Vira . On Wednesday, April 6, 1966 I left my little ACR baby for new adventures, unaware of what Providence had in reserve for me. ACR has now grown into a respectable and well-know institution. New generations cannot imagine how it looked way back in the early 1960's. Well-planned buildings have been added to accommodate an increas ing number of students . Road s have been designed to make circulation inside easy. Trees and flowers have sprung up to give an impression of freshness and perennial youth. Above all , administrators and teachers have joined together to adjust themselves to new and rapid technical development and maintain the leve l of education as its highest level possible. As the holy book reminds us, \"For here the saying holds true.\" \"One sows and another reaps ... \" (John 4/37) I happened to be the one who sowed . Others reaped are reaping abundant harvest. I can but rejoice and wish ACR unending prosperity. 8 4 TH ANN IVERS ARY RE V. BR 0 THE R SI ME 0 N AN UP AT T PE T CH AR A - YU TT AC HA I

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WHEN ACN WAS HATCHING BY SAP In June 2500, an outbreak of the \"Asiatic Flu \" forced the Ministry of Education to close the schools throughout the Kingdom. At Assumption Sriracha where I was stationed, over half of the boarders had been stricken by the virus and were bedridden . We were relieved to see them go home. As we were on forced vacations for an unknown period of time, Bro . Montfort, the superior, suggested we had better go on a trip for a few days, Korat-Nakornsawan-Bangkok was our choice. The night before we slept at AC. As we were leaving the school, we met Fr. Bray, the Pastor at Korat, who was on his way to take the train back home. He told us he would be very happy to welcome us ... In fact, he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw us waiting for him at Korat Station that afternoon. At that time, the Friendship Highway had been completed up to Si Kiew and was not open to the public. As we reached Saraburi, we made as if to take the new road but were stopped by the guards . As we were turning around to take the old way, one Police ofiicer recognized Bro. Montfort and came to greet him ... A few minutes later we had a pass allowing us to use the highway. At noon we were in Korat and warmly received by the people at the church who gave us accommodation at the building along the road that had been used as a hotel under the name of \"Rong Raem Phra Jesu\". Fr. Bray took good care of us . One day. He took us to a derelict place outside the city along the Lam Tha Kong river and told us of his dream of having a hospital and also a school run by the Brothers of St. Gabriel in that area. Looking at the place, in the middle of nowhere, I inwardly pitied the guy who could have to pioneer the project. Little did I suspect that ten years later, obedience would ask me to start a new Assumption school there ... It was on March 2, 2510 that I landed in Nakhonratchasima. Fr. Bray who was still the Pastor and had achieved half of his long cherished projects came to pick me up. As there was no school, no residence yet, the Father generously offered me hospitality at the rectory . The Bishop, H.E. Alain Van Gaver and all the priests gave me a hearty welcome. They were all French MEP missionaries. Soon I was appointed as member of committees in the Diocese . I was also granted the privilege, something totally new following Vatican 11 , to distribute the Holy Eucharist at the church when no priest was available. But I had to put a surplice over my habit and say some prayers . It was a great honor. As far as contact with officialdom was concerned it was a different story. Four years before when I had pioneered Assumption Rayong, I was greeted as godsent. The Governor had arranged all the paper-work, transfer of ownership of the land (reserved forest), authorization to open a school, etc ... Most ofiicials were eager to have their sons registe red. When I reached Rayong by the mid- dle of April, the class-building was nearly iinished and I could welcome the parents at the Brothers' residence .. . In Nakhonratchasima, I was unknown and did not think it was expedient to contact the authorities at least initially. When I went to see the premises the day after my arriva l, to say I was discombobulated would be an understatement. I couldn't believe my eyes. The school building had not yet reached the iirst floor, the Brothers' residence was on paper only and I was supposed to open a new school on 84 TH ANNIVERSARY REV. BROTHER SIMEON ANUPATT PE TCH ARA - YUTTACHAI

May 17! I was alone and had to solve lots of problems. The construction was under the labor contract which means I had to take care of all the rest, buying cement. iron-bars ... As I was penniless, I had to rely on the generosity of Bro. Greg, the Provincial Bursar, who was very kind and comprehensive. To help me with the building, I had to rely on a Chinese old man by the name of Mr. Aroon. Fortu- nately I also knew the Thao-Kae as I had had opportunity to employ him before. As it was the month of March, I put everything in Joseph's lap and beseeched him to take care of everything. However, the nitty-gritty was mine . To open a school requires students, teachers, personnel but also furniture, tables, chairs , books, time-table ... Who would come to school that existed only in name? On March 20, I started receiving students. Fr. Bray who had made a lot of advertising at his own school lent me a room at St. Mary's. at the end of that day, seventy-eight kids had registered. It took about a month to have all the classes full from Prathom One to Mathayom Suksa One. As there was officially no such school as Assumption Nakhonratchasima, I could not issue receipts for school fees. It would haunt for over three months as a number of parents were government employees, army or air-force officers, civil servants who were anxious to get their money back. Some parents who had paid a visit to our site humorously questioned whether I was registering their son for May 2510 or May 2511. At the same time, I had to staff the school and kept wondering how to handle it as I could not possibly announce anything . Then on March 22, as I was receiving parents , Mr. Edwin-Sukhamit unexpectedly turned up from Sriracha. Ten years before we had supervised together the Narumol Building . Mr. Edwin wanted to settle in Nakhonratchasima, acquire some property near the school, build a student-hostel and teach at ACN. I knew he was a very good teacher with over ten years of experience . Besides this, he had degrees that allowed him to be headmaster. His visit was a bless- ing indeed and we soon came to an agreement. His coming turned to be as if a spigot had been opened; a stream of applicants soon came along, former ACS students, Mr. Praphan, Mr. Darun, Mr. Sophon ... , and teachers from lsan who had seen our poster in front of the school . At the beginning of May, things started easing off. On May 5, Mr. Edwin was at work. It was a relief and I could turn my attention to other urgent problems. My first priority was to get the authorization to run a school. For the past few weeks, I had tried my best to befriend the local educational officer-suksa amphoe. He was quite obliging and understanding but could do nothing as the school-building was but a forest of wooden piles and scaffolding . In fact, on May 17, the day the school should have opened, I dis- covered that the blueprint of the building had never been submitted for approval. Putting trust in St. Joseph, I proceeded with my plan though even if contretemps and upheavals came to knock at my door very now and then. On May 18, I had finished preparing the time-tables and programs when I was notified two teachers would not come, the day after another announced he could not make it. So I had to find new people and adjust things to their ability and qualifications. On May 21, Bro. Nookan (Sirinant) reached Nakhon Ratchima , a genuine lsan son from Nong Khoo and eager to contribute his utmost. The day after, we had the first teachers' meeting ever held at ACN. It lasted nearly two hours. I remember asking the ladies in the group whether they would like to wear a uniform. They 84 TY ANNIVERSARY RE V. BROTHER Sllv\\EON ANUPATT PE T CHARA-YUTTAC HA I

declined the offer to reverse their decision three months later. May 24 was a red-letter day, the open ing of the new Assumption school. Many parents ac- companied their kids so proud to show their brand new AC apparel. I took the opportunity to say a few words and thank them for their support. The students were told to move to their respective class- rooms, meet their class-teachers and come back on May 29. As the staircase was not yet finished, M.S.1 students were temporarily accommodated in the open hall on the ground floor. It was not until June 23 that all the scaffoldings were removed and the building finally appeared. Now for all practical purposes, ACN was yet an illegal institution . Sometime after we had started teaching, the Provincial Education Officer (Suksa Changwat) came to visit the school and warned the headmaster about our institution. Prathom 4 and 7 kids would not be allowed to sit for the government exams at the end of the year as they would not have completed the required one hundred and eighty days of schooling ... Yet, the same officer came to see me on June 27 sing ing a totally different tune. He had signed the papers and forwarded them to Bangkok and was expecting a prompt answer. What had happened in betweeh, I had no idea. On August 2, Bro. Philip Amnuay , the Provincial Superior, came bringing along the precious documents we had been waiting for so long. Assumption College Nakhonratch- asima was allowed to operate as of May 17, 2510 Prathom 4 and 7 students would be able to take their exams and receipts could be released to anxious parents. Throughout all this, Bro Sirinant and me had to put up at the Rectory. Our quarters were coming up slowly, we needed a cook and a housekeeper. Every morning , we had to make our way to school on our \"little hondas\", the only means of transportation we had been allowed to acquire , and in the evening , after a long day's work, come back to our temporary nest. It was not until July 15 that I could sleep in a brand new house . Bro . Sirinant had gone on errands to the capital and would bring the cook back, a former Ursul ine sister that had been cook at ACC when I was the acting director the year before . He came empty-handed , the lady was sick and would not be available until the end of the month ... We had quite a few experiences in our sweet little home. One Sunday morning, as we had gone to church, thieves forced their way in the cook's room by breaking the window. Not much was stolen, not even money and we promptly remedied the problem with an iron frame. They were back one night, it was April 13, and they had guns. We were comfortably locked up in our house when I was awakened by the shouts of the cook who had taken refuge in the toilet. Unharmed and unable to fight started blowing my whistle as strong as I could to frighten the burglars. It worked, thinking that the police was on their heels, they bolted out and disappeared in the night. They Police advised me to be armed though . Henceforth I slept with a gun ready at hand on my night-table, in case ... Then one night as I was going to bed, individuals started petting the house with stones . I seized my gun and my flashlight and started shooting. I saw shadows running as fast as they could in different directions, and that was the end of it, they dared not come to attack us yet they found something else . On October 10, 2511 , I was at Assumption Sriracha for the burial of Bro. Hilaire. I came back by train from Bangkok and reached the school in the wee hours of October 11 to dis- cover there was no water to take a bath . Thieves had stri cken again and removed the motors of our 8 4 rn AN N IVE RSARY RE V. B ROTHER SIM EON ANU PATT PE T CHARA-YUTTACHAI

pumps while the guard was sleeping blissfully a few yards away. I kept wondering whether he was in cahoot with them. Later, one morning we had no light. Cables had been removed from the trans- former through half way to our house, they were copper cables , the other half were ordinary cables . Who would know about it but those who had installed the system? In both cases , we reported to the Police, apparently they couldn't care less . Sad events were also out lot. A few months only after we had started , one of our best teach- ers , Mr. Niphon, started complaining about seve re pain at the back which he tried to kill by taking aspirin tablets. To no avail, soon the mal grow worth. He had to be hospitalized and operated of can- cer at Chulalongkorn Hospital. The last time I went to see him he want worn to a shadow, yet talking about coming back for the next academic year. He died a few weeks after. On September 4, 2511, as usual I went to talk with students after class .. . At abut 4.15 p.m. most of them left for home . Some ten minutes later was I was closing my of1ice , a teacher rushed back to tell me on Prathom 7 kid had been killed half a kilometer away. I rushed to the place . Rid- ing his bicycle carefully on the left of the road, Sirichai had been knocked down by a truck, his skull crushed on impact. Not too long after it was a Prathom 5 boy who died in a bus accident. .. To open a new school, put up a building, enroll students, register teachers , etc ... was relatively easy. To create a vision, a mission, a culture and spread it around proved far more dif- 1icult. I was soon confronted with two major problems, teachers absenteeism and lack of discipline among the students. It was mostly the same who did turn up in the morning and sometimes disap- peared two or three days at a stretch without any previous notice. I had very little room for maneu ver though, except stern warning and wait till the end of the year to weed them out. As far as discipline was concerned , I had but one solution if I were to enforce silence, to make sure home-works were given, done, and checked, to teach kids good manners. I must add that I received strong support and much needed help for Bro. Sirinant, Mr. Edwin, most of the teachers especially those who were ACS former students. Alone, I would not have succeeded. After a few months the school was run- ning at its own tempo, everything started falling in place and CAN ended its first year without any further ado. The second academic year started with a number of new faces among the teachers and obviously a number of new students. On June 20, 2511, we were delighted to welcome Bro. Loechai who had just completed his bachelor degree in India. Jovial , enthusiastic he enhanced our daily life by bringing new ideas and suggesting new approaches . To the marvel of many, within one year he could pass the Po Mo test with ftying colors. He and Bro. Sirinant made a very effective and efficient team and we could communicate in perfect harmony as both had been my students at Assumption Sriracha. The second semester had started in earnest and I was planning for the next year and even further when in late November I received a letter from Bro. Robert, the acting Provincial Superior. I had been selected along with Bro. Somphong Jirananda to further my studies abroad in view to getting a degree in Business Administration and become part of a new university college that would open in June 2512. Life begins at 40! I was nearly 40 then and offered a complete change of orienta- tion, a pioneering job again . It was a new challenge. Sure enough I couldn't help feeling a little pinch 84 TH ANNIVERSARY REV. BROTHER Slrv1EON ANUPATT PE T CHARA-YUTTACHAI

in my heart. The little fledging I had fondly nurtured was growing wings and soon would be ready to fly. Others would take care of it. I convinced myself they would do a good job at it and it is with peace and serenity that at the end of March 2512, I parted from ACN for a new adventure that is still going on. . 54 rn ANNIVE RSARY RE V. B ROTHER SIMEON ANU P ATT PE T CHARA-YUTTACHAI

\"'life& 'Work\"