Father George A Hess, SJ, being feted in Dhanbad on Sunday. Picture by Gautam Dey

The present and the past came together on the campus of De Nobili School-CMRI on Sunday to honour a much-loved teacher.

Father George A. Hess, SJ, former principal of De Nobili-CFRI, who had served the cradle for long 16 years from 1963 to 1979, was felicitated for his contribution in the field of education.

The function was organised by the alumni association of De Nobili CMRI and CFRI and attended by principals, vice-principals, teachers, students and former students of all the other branches — Sijua, Sindri, Chandrapura, Maithon, Mugma and Bhuli.

Father Hess (92) chose the occasion to release his book Once Upon a time that tells about his life’s experience. Former students — Ramesh Sonpal (CFRI, 1964 batch), Sanjeev Beotra (CMRI, 1990 batch) and Mayank Singh (CMRI, 1998 batch) — read out excerpts from the book while another alumnus, S.K. Sinha (CMRI, 1971 batch), presented a shawl and a memento to the former principal.

“Education reached new heights under the supervision of Father Hess. He steered De Nobili School-CFRI towards the success path almost single-handedly when he joined in 1963 as he was the lone teacher,” said Somnath Pruthi, a student of the 1982 batch, during the welcome address.

“It was because of his encouragement that all the 80 teachers of the school had secured BEd degrees from Loyola College of Education, Jamshedpur, when he quit in 1979,” he added.

Shedding light on Father Hess’s life, Pruthi said he had graduated in science from Georgetown University, US, in 1943. He bagged an MPhil degree from Woodstock College, Maryland, in 1944 and completed masters in teaching from the same institution in 1945. At the age of 32, he set out for India in 1952 with the aim to serve the people and contribute to the academic milieu.

Father Hess, who was initially associated with Loyola School, Jamshedpur, arrived in Dhanbad in 1963, where he worked as the principal of De Nobili School, CFRI. Thereafter, he went on to serve as the principal of Loyola College of Education in Jamshedpur. Hess also worked as the professor of communication at XLRI, Jamshedpur, and at Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, till 2001.

In a short speech, the 92-year-old walked down the memory lane, talking about the golden days he spent in Dhanbad. Later, he paid a visit to the blind school of De Nobili Group.