It was a memorable evening and 30 alumnus from class 61 to 68 attended. Rev Martin changed it to a Thanksgiving service depicting the contribution of Mr.Eynon during his days in St.Paul`s . John Leung wrote a very appropriate speech worth sharing to all :
Dear friends, we come together today to honour with our recollections our old teacher, John
Eynon. Nothing that we can say or do today will be sufficient to express, much less requite, the
debts of gratitude that we owe to this man who has touched and made a profound difference
in all our lives. For some of us, it has been almost half a century since John Eynon taught and
inspired us with his mind and his words, but I trust that the years have not dimmed our memory
of him, nor even the tears that we shed today as we lament the loss of this dear teacher and friend
dull the image that we carry of him in our hearts.
Each of us may remember Mr. Eynon in a somewhat different way, for not all of us interacted
with him in exactly the same situations or conditions of mind. There are, nonetheless, a number
of indelible constants. John Eynon was, first and foremost, a man of great enthusiasm, high
spirits, and consummate passion, and this was evident, day in and day out, in his teaching. This is
an impression that emerges from many of our recollections, and David Faure, our one-time Head
Prefect, captured that best when he wrote:
“I count myself fortunate for having had good teachers during high school, people who taught me to
read and write, and to think as if I was reading and writing. In my sixth form, I had Peter Allan teaching
me History, Mr.Wells English, Mrs. Goulder English Literature, and Mrs. Speak Geography, and I learnt a
great deal from all of them. John Eynon didn't teach our class, but his presence was certainly felt. There
were occasions (I think before I was in Form Six) when he took over a lesson now and then, and what
I can remember is that he was always funny. I don't think he was frivolous; he just knew how to keep
students awake in class.”
There were moments when John Eynon’s passions carried into the realm of mischievous, perhaps
even iconoclastic, humour. Most of the time this happened in the classroom, but the most
unforgettable was played out on a different stage. Here are the voices of two of our schoolmates,
giving vivid description to that episode. Jacob Leung remembers it in the following way:
“Mr. Eynon taught us to appreciate Shakespeare's plays and organized a theatrical performance in the
main assembly hall or auditorium every year. The Principal and Mrs. Speak would always sit in the front
row to show their support. That was a debut for many of us who read English Literature under Mr.
Eynon. The Tempest was performed in 1966 or 1967. For a "still unknown" reason, the student who was
chosen to play the role of Ariel failed to show up for the performance. Nonetheless, when the curtain
was raised, there was Ariel, standing in the centre of the stage with his naked back facing the audience.
As Ariel slowly turned to face the audience, lo and behold, it was John Eynon wearing a costume like
a "mini-skirt". Everybody stared at the hair on his flushing red chest and broke out into roaring laughter.
We love John Eynon. He was such an affable teacher and truly adorable. We all miss him dearly!”
Once more, David Faure, who was founding president of the SPC Arts Association and worked
closely with Mr. Eynon on these productions, recalls the event with more of a “backstage”
perspective:
“The one episode I do remember well is his performance of Ariel in the Tempest, and the hilarious
laughter that greeted him when he came on stage. Those of us helping at back stage were the first to
see the hairy-legged Ariel being dressed in his skirt, and I recall what he said to me, which I am sure he
didn't mean: ‘I'll never do anything for you again,’ he said. Somehow, I thought he rather enjoyed the
role and to have had the chance to liven up the situation. He was directing the play, of course, without
knowing there was going to be a role for him on stage. John Eynon just wasn't like most teachers, but
you could learn so much from his unforgettable character.”
John Eynon had passion in abundance, in whatever way it may be manifested, but most crucially,
this passion has always been for people, and it has always been expressed for his students. In
passing along to Dr. Kennard and to the SPC alumni the sad news of Mr. Eynon’s death, our
schoolmate Roger Pang wrote the following:
“Mr. Eynon’s dedication to his teaching profession, care and concern for the welfare and well-being of
the students touched all, including the toughest and naughtiest among us. He came to Singapore and
taught in Dunman High School, and here he established the same reputation as a dedicated teacher that
he had at St. Paul’s. When he was due to retire in the early 80's to return to the UK, he made newspaper
headlines here by tearing up his plane ticket at the airport. He was so moved by the large group of
students and colleagues who were there to say farewell to him, he decided to stay on and continue
teaching in Singapore. All of us who had been taught and influenced by him will remember him fondly.
He is truly a Teacher Extraordinaire.”
John Eynon had a profound sense of aesthetics, particularly in the understanding of language.
He taught us to discover beauty in words and rhetoric, whether the art of double meanings in
Shakespeare’s soliloquys, the brooding narratives of Hardy, the oddities of social manners
in Bronte, the satire of Swift and Wilde, or the lofty verse of Shelley and Eliot. Yet he also
admonished -- and encouraged -- us to seek the deeper philosophies that lurked behind words,
and to strive for purer meaning and deeper inspiration in the literature that he taught and that we
read. To the end, like the Grecian Urn of John Keats’ romantic imagination, “when old age shall
this generation waste,” John Eynon and his words of teaching and encouragement shall always
remain a friend to us, a friend to man, to whom he still says:
“Beauty is Truth, truth beauty, -- that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
Besides passion and the sense of beauty, John Eynon’s teaching was also infused with his
ethics and integrity. He did not merely teach us subjects; he taught us values. He taught us that
if thought and knowledge are to have any meaning at all they must concentrate on matters of
eternal value and values that are beyond us ourselves. He taught us that: “Whatsoever things
are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if
there be any praise, think on these things.” We are not better scholars because John Eynon taught
us; we are, because John Eynon taught us, better human beings.
A piece of music that we learned during our years at St. Paul’s College was Ralph Vaughan
Williams’ Canticle:
“Let us now praise famous men
and our fathers that begat us,
such as did bear rule
in their kingdoms,
men renowned for their power,
leaders of the people
by their counsel
and by their knowledge,
such as found out
musical tunes and
recited verses in writing.
All these were honoured
in their generation
and for the glory of our times.”
These words are appropriate for our recollection of Mr. Eynon. He was in many ways our
intellectual forebear and we do well to ponder the ways in which he played his role in begatting
us. He was not a famous man. At least, he never set out to seek fame. Yet fame came to him in
the most natural way, as at that airport in Singapore, and when fame did come, he wore it easily,
and with the consummate grace of humility. It is the last part of these verses that applies best to
our memory of John Eynon:
“but some there be
which have no memorial,
who have perished as though
they have never been.
Their bodies are
buried in peace,
but their name liveth
for evermore.”
John Eynon had fought the good fight, he had finished his course, he had kept the faith. There is
henceforth laid up for him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall
give him at that day. John Eynon was full of life and the vigor of life. That life is now gone from
our midst to be at one with The Eternal. To us remain the memories of that Life, each memory
bringing forth life anew. In this chapel and in the world, in these halls and far beyond to the
corners of the earth, in each and every one of us, in our minds, our hearts, our words, our deeds,
there are as yet strong traces of that Life. We cannot pay greater tribute to this man than to lead
our lives, and teach others to lead theirs, as he would have wanted us to.
And so we commend to God, with thankfulness, the spirit and soul of this wise and wonderful
man who had once come into our lives and made an enduring difference. And to our beloved
teacher we simply say: “Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
May it be so.
References:
John Keats, “Ode On a Grecian Urn”
Philippians (St. Paul’s letter to the early church at Philippi), ch. 4, v. 8 (King James version)
Lyrics to Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Canticle: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” (also
Ecclesiasticus, ch. 44, and The Wisdom of Sirach, Apocrypha, ch. 44)
2 Timothy, ch. 4, vs. 7-8 (King James version)
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
.jpg)