A grand old lady currently living down under in Australia, considered as the oldest living Visakhian celebrated her 100th Birthday on March 17 2017 - the same year that her alma mater also celebrated its centenary year.
Cicily Wimalasuriya (Nee Wijegunewardene), was born at Ovitigala, Matugama and now lives in Sydney, Australia with her only daughter Suneetha (Kanthi) also an old Visakhian.
She migrated to Australia nearly 25 years ago after the demise of her husband, the late L Wimalasuriya, former Commissioner of Examinations, and later Registrar of the University of Peradeniya.
The 100th Birthday was celebrated modestly with an alms giving at their Glenwood residence to monks from the Schofield Buddhist temple, followed by a tea party to all her friends in Australia surrounded by her extended family.
It was a family reunion where her two sons and their families travelled all the way from Colombo with the grandchildren and great grandchildren to be with her on this special day.
The old Visakhians in Sydney had, as part of the school centenary celebrations organized a Sangika Dhana, and Cicily was invited to offer an ata-pirikara at the alms giving.
She is a Visakhian of the Motwani era, and had been a hosteller, and recalls how the Principal, Mrs Motwani used to play netball and tennis with the hostellers in the evenings. She is proud that her daughter and both daughters in law, Devika Sarathchandra and Rohini Gomes are all Visakhians.
At the age of 100, she is totally blind for the past 8 years, but manages her life, even climbing up and down the stairs unassisted, many times a day. Apart from that, Ciciliy has no other major health complications, and has a perfect memory of the past and is able to carry on conversations with others.
Until she was 92 years, she used to make an annual trip to Sri Lanka all by herself for two to three months at a time, to meet up with her relatives and friends, which she enjoyed very much.
She is the only surviving member of her family of four brothers and two sisters.