Memories

HM Lowcock 90th Birthday 2020

On HM Lowcock’s 90th Birthday


Where does one begin to retrace the footsteps of a true giant?  For me, it all started on a fateful day in 1960. Headmaster Lowcock, vigilant as always in tending to his flock, took me into his confidence when one day I caught his attention during my participation in the “street running” group. In his gentle but authoritative tone, I was easily persuaded to join the School Cross Country Team as an active sporting member of the newly formed Goodban House. 1961 began an adventurous year for me. I failed to manage a passing grade in English mandatory for the School Certificate Examination and my only hope was to seek the approval of the Headmaster to repeat Form Five.  Even now, I still believe in second chances and apparently Mr. Lowcock did so too when he took me under his wings and welcomed me back as a fledging member of the boarding school so that I could consolidate my time for studies and athletic training. I was truly overwhelmed yet the shock came later.  Just before the start of the 1961/62 school year, Mr. Lowcock told me he was appointing me as the Athletics Captain and a School Perfect. I was totally flabbergasted. All I could remember mumbling at that moment was “Can I make it?” His words, which have forever remained with me, were simply “You can do it and I’ll be there with you.”

 
1961/62 was a challenging year for DBS athletics. With the graduation of practically the entire A grade team, we were left with a group of rookies (including me) who were charged with the seemingly insurmountable task to carry on DBS’ ownership to the much coveted title of Inter School Champion. Training and more training were all we did throughout the seven months prior to the 1962 Inter School Athletics Championship and true to his promise Mr. Jimmy Lowcock was always there. The DBS team only scored two relay gold medals but thankfully lots of silvers and bronzes in the individual events, just enough to edge out strong opponents such as KG5 and La Salle to retain our title as the 1962 overall Champion. 1962/63 was another story. The rookies had fine tuned themselves and many became the acknowledged superstars in sports. The 1963 Inter School Athletics Championship saw the DBS team scored a landslide victory in all A, B and C grades, achieving one of the few enviable grand slams in DBS history.
 
I left my beloved DBS in the summer of 1963. The great man whose words have so long ago guided me throughout my youth and adulthood is no more yet I know his spirit will always linger in the hallowed hallways of DBS, constantly keeping guard over his flock. For all of us who were so blessed and fortunate to be touched by him, his memory will live on as the cherished cries of “DBS, DBS” will always echo in the fields of champions. The many memories, thoughts and feelings written and shared by the old boys made me reflect on the privilege granted to me through Mr. Lowcock, to treasure the importance of motivation and uniting people on a common objective; to focus on doing the right thing so to maximize ones potentials. Borrowing my favourite line from my classmate Kenneth Wan—“It is really Mr. Jimmy Lowcock who inspired me to become who and what I am today.”   Like many of us, we are forever indebted to you, Mr. Jimmy Lowcock.  May you rest in peace in Paradise.

Patrick Choy Kwok Hung (Year 1961)

Beloved Headmaster – Samuel Hsu 79

He was our most beloved Headmaster; the trademark moustache, the cane, the stern look, the smile that could warm a young boy’s heart.  We owe him for the freedom of expression we enjoyed; the stimulating environment to learn, explore and discover who we were.

At DBS, I had schoolmates and teachers whose ancestries were American, Australian, Canadian, Chinese, British, Indian, Portuguese and Thai.  There were those who walked or took transit to school, and some who came in Rolls Royce or Porsche.  We all mingled together without any difference of class, creed, language, race or religion.  We were brought together under one roof – DBS and one umbrella – Jimmy Lowcock.

When we looked back, he was truly ahead of his time.  He brought us into a multi-cultural and diverse environmental setting when those phrases were not widely used yet.  He prepared us as young men to face the world ahead of us.  We were actually living in the future 38 years ago.

I would like to share an incident with you.  I think it was a Wednesday afternoon in the Spring of 1976.  Our teacher did not show up for class and no one came to supervise us.  Some of my classmates started going around removing others’ pants.  After they had done that to almost everyone.  They looked for something “more interesting to do”.  They started throwing things around.  At the end, the desks and chairs all piled up in a “heap of ruins”.  But still no teacher came, so we all went off to our last class – art with Mr. Y.T. Kwong ( 排骨佬 Spare Rib Lo).

Finally the news got out and Mr. Lowcock came and asked who were responsible for the carnage.  After repeated questionings by him, none came forward to admit it nor report the ones who did it.  So he gave everyone a good caning.  Somehow it seemed that he knew who were the ones who did it.  He gave some quite a lashing, but for most of us just one stroke.  After school, I went to the swimming pool with the freshly minted red stripe on my thigh and behind, covered only by a small Speedo.

He must have been upset by what the boys had done and disappointed that they did not “Do The Right Thing” by owning up to it, yet I think he took comfort in the fact that our whole class stood by each other through thick and thin.  None of us betrayed others for our own preservation.  That experience was well worth the temporary pain of the only caning I received at school.  It enriched my experience at DBS.

Thank you Jimmy, you will be greatly missed.

Samuel Hsu

Class of 1979

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

A Tribute to Sydney James Lowcock – Dr. Pau Wing Iu, Patrick

A Tribute to Sydney James Lowcock (1930-2012)

Headmaster, Diocesan Boys’ School (1961-1983)

Jimmy Lowcock first taught me when I was in Form 1 in 1955. He noticed something in me that I didn’t realise when he watched me running the 200 metres in the middle-boy heats event during Inter-House Athletics. I was then in Form 3. The field was wet and I slipped and fell at the start. I picked myself up and gave chase, ending in second place. It was not my speed but the determination to finish the race that caught his eye. He invited me to join the summer camp in athletics.

In my senior years during summer, in addition to athletic training, he also gave me books to read, such as Alan Paton’s “Cry, the Beloved Country”, George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, Graham Greene’s “The Power and the Glory” and Vance Packard’s “The Hidden Persuaders”, to broaden my outlook.

He had this intuitive ability to spot hidden potential in his students, and he used that to nurture their development outside the classroom. Mine was just one of many examples. It was years later after the students grew up that they came to appreciate his help, and they loved him dearly for it. As Headmaster, he considered the development of character, leadership, scholarship, extracurricular achievement and service as essential for DBS students.

JL Young Saye praised his intuitive ability in an article entitled “Our Headmaster”, in which he described how Jimmy turned two “old fashioned book-worms into top-flight athletes, who in time went on to capture all sorts of honour at the University”.

In 1967 I had an opportunity of joining the HKU Department of Medicine at Queen Mary Hospital to pursue an academic career; but as fate would have it, I ended up joining the Hong Kong Government as Medical Officer serving on Kowloon side and became a house guest at the Headmaster’s House for one year. The ground floor of the house became a common room for senior boarders, who came over after school for pastimes in art and music, or for brief chats. Jimmy was a father figure to many of his students even though he never got married, and I was one of his “favourite sons”. His mother Mabel was staying with him at that time, and she treated me as a member of the family. When she passed away, Jimmy lost a steadying influence at home.

Jimmy had a phenomenal memory which enabled him to recall the backgrounds of many of his students. Often he could see a problem in a new light, as though he saw that white light is not just white but a combination of seven colours through the prism in his mind. I listened to him talking about the student problems on many occasions after he came home, and opined if medical problems were involved. His generosity in offering financial help to needy students was legendary. These student problems were minor compared to the many problems he faced in education as Headmaster during office hours, which sapped his mind and body after more than 20 years.

I was aware of the deterioration of his physical and mental health in the early 1980s but I couldn’t think of the right remedy for him. One day in 1983 he called me by phone when I was seeing patients and asked, “Pau, do you think that I should retire?” I said, “I think you should,” and that was the end of our conversation, short and bittersweet. It turned out to be the right remedy.

Even when he was down, he had the foresight that he must buy a house for his retirement. He realised that his retirement fund could be drained in no time if he were to rent a place to stay and inflation came along. Without fanfare we found a house in Clear Water Bay that was suitable for him. In the quiet and peaceful surroundings, he utilised his inner strength, modified his life habits, and regained his health and wits. It was a miracle to behold.

Age, however, was catching on. He was well looked after by a panel of doctors who are old boys; but life is not infinite. He died of a sudden heart attack on the 26th of January 2012 at the age of 81. It was swift and peaceful as he wanted it to be.

St. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, 24-25 (The New English Bible): “You know (do you not?) that at the sports all runners run the race, though only one wins the prize. Like them, run to win! But every athlete goes into strict training. They do it to win a fading wreath; we, a wreath that never fades.” Jimmy fully deserved the wreath that never fades.

Dr. Pau Wing Iu, Patrick

Senior Prefect and School Athletics Captain (1960-61)

Distinguished Fellow, Hong Kong College of Cardiology

懷念別樹一格的郭慎墀校長 – 馮以浤（1955年校友）

懷念別樹一格的郭慎墀校長

郭慎墀 (Sydney James Lowcock) 校長五十年代是我的老師，六十年代是我的上司和朋友。此後我們一直保持聯繫。

學生年代，我受益於他的教學方法和專業精神；任教母校時，我贊同他那不落俗套的教育理念，特別是對課外活動的重視；作為朋友，我欣賞他那平易近人和坦率的作風。他對學生的關懷和愛護，深深地感染了我，成為了我日後在教育崗位上的指路明燈。

1953年，他初為人師，教我們物理。對我們中四生來說，物理是一門新學科，因此，上第一課時，人人都抱着興奮的心情等待老師的蒞臨。不一會，進來一位風度翩翩的年輕人。他舉止雍容而神態自若，語言抑揚頓挫且不徐不疾，很快就把我們的注意力全部吸住了。他的講解不但條理分明，而且生動活潑，獲得了「全場掌聲」。該年的教學重點在力學和熱學。我們日後回首當年，都忘不了他教授熱學時的情景。

五十年代中期，中六生一般修讀七科，中七生三科。升上中七時，我表示希望選修數學、地理和中文。這是一個很不常見的組合。中七是文、理分班的，數學屬理，地理和中文屬文，因此必須跨班上課。但這沒有難倒負責編時間表的郭老師，他二話沒說便答應了我的要求。

他1961年升任校長，同年列偉瑜、黃兆傑和我回校任教。郭校長一上場就有驚人之舉：不管我們的本科是數理、中英還是地理，都要兼教中文，理由是當年拔萃的學生對中文教師有欠尊重，因此必須利用舊生來「收拾」他們。他認為：在當時的情況下，中文教師的首要工作是管，先管後教。他又認為：如果學生對中文產生興趣，肯學，那麼，就算教師「無料」，他們也會自學。他任內拔萃學生在中文學習上的表現的確有所改善。

其實拔萃歷任校長都很重視中文，都想方設法促進學校的中文教學工作。葛賓和施玉麒兩位校長聘用有實學的教師，郭校長則另闢蹊徑，試圖闖出新天地。除上述新猷外，他又積極游說我們引導學生參加朗誦比賽和籌劃中文話劇活動。經不起他的「苦苦哀求」，我們身為弟子，只好「勉為其難」。結果幸不辱命：隊際朗誦比賽參加了，中文詩劇也公開演出了，而且都取得了可喜的成果。這些活動，加上《阰報》的出版，肯定有助於提升中文科在拔萃的「社會地位」。必須感謝郭校長，《阰報》的出版得到了他的大力支持。

他跟我們的關係在工作上是主從，工餘則是朋友。我家位於學校附近，我的汽車就停在拔萃路口，因此晚上常常回教員室備課和批改學生作業，以及跟住校同事聊天。郭校長偶爾會在教員室或個別同事的宿舍出現，但更多的時候是我們到他的住所喝酒和「吹水」。人較少的時候，他會提及個別學生的問題，包括個性上的、學業上的和經濟上的。我們知道，他的收入，差不多全都用在學生身上。當他感到力有不逮的時候，也會建議我們協助，但多年來，這情況只出現過兩三次。

他的為人，為我們豎立了良好的榜樣。

馮以浤（1955年校友）

Goodbye, Jimmy – Hanson Y Huang ‘68

Goodbye, Jimmy

Hanson Y Huang ‘68

Senior Prefect

Boarders’ Senior Prefect

Arthur House Captain

Jimmy left unexpectedly, far too early, but mercifully very peacefully, even serenely. The last time we talked, during his 81st birthday party last December, he had asked me to bring him a book after the holidays; and I had some good news for him, as if he didn’t know already, about the SJ Lowcock Foundation. But that was not to be.

I first met Jimmy on a sunny Saturday morning in September, the weekend before school started, over 50 years ago. I had just entered Primary 5 as a boarder and after running around in the school field, was resting under the huge ficus tree near the old high-jump pit when a tall gentleman with a distinctive moustache came over, took my pulse, and told me to continue running. Two days later I found out he was the new Headmaster who was destined to lead DBS through a difficult period of rapid socio-economic change, riots and short-sighted Government micro-management.

The next nine years, my formative years, were spent in this extended institution and family, and Jimmy became a figure to learn from, to emulate and to rebel against.

This was how he described his role when pleading my case, in a letter to Deng Xiao-ping in 1985, when I was battling certain evil forces in China:

“Huang Yin is well known to me since 1961. When his father passed away at an early age and his mother had to work as a journalist, he and his elder brother were placed in the boarding school at which I was headmaster.

“Since then I have acted virtually as their parent for the nine years they were in school. I know the two boys extremely well as they spent most of their time with me.”

That was an understatement, in classic Lowcock style. And many will recognize this low-key approach as he was wont to offer help without publicizing it, give advice without being overbearing, and spot potential and spend an inordinate amount of time trying to bring the best out of individuals without the beneficiary ever realizing it.

My nine years went by in a flurry, highlighted by a non-ending stream of exciting and challenging activities and, frankly, not much schoolwork; perhaps he saw my greatest potential was last-minute cramming for exams and getting away with it.

Jimmy’s emphasis on regular extra-curricular activities such as sports, music, drama, time-keeping, etc., is well known. But it was how he handled extraordinary events, such as riots, student strikes (not the first in DBS history), and the nascent urgings of democracy (he allowed all students to vote on the design of the School badge as well as the length of lunch-hour) that best exemplify his positive and delightfully iconoclastic attitude towards life, the School and, above all, his faith and trust in his students and prefects.

Lesser known aspects of Jimmy: he was proficient in Latin; he had a taste for Danish blue even before the cheese was readily available in HK; he loved ties, and I am the happy recipient of a few; he used to smoke, not the garden-variety cigarettes but Du Maurier in an orange box, turning a vice into a style; he could be caught sitting on the living-room carpet listening to the MJQ, Take Five, Joan Baez, Buffy St. Marie, Miriam Makeba and taped sessions of DBS on RadioHK Quiz competitions.

He also tended his resignation to Goodban not once but three times, all brushed off by Goodban with a: “Don’t be a bloody fool!” Years later, when I tended mine to him, he brushed it off by turning TS Eliot against me, and we privately memorialized the affair by selecting Eliot’s Complete Poems and Plays as my Special Prize for Senior Boarders’ Prefect.

Even less known, but of great importance to DBS, was the influence of his mentor, Bishop Hall. We never found out when they first met. The Bishop was a remarkably open-minded person, with an aversion to pomp and ceremony. What Jimmy learnt from him was simple: there should be a healthy balance and separation between church and school that has been a hallmark of success for DBS, namely: to produce good people, regardless of race, religion, creed, or background. I also had the good fortune of meeting the Bishop and hearing this from him. When the Bishop retired, Jimmy, on behalf of the School Committee, presented him with a token of appreciation for his 30 years of service as Chairman, an oil painting of DBS that I painted in P5. Yes, Jimmy even held impromptu painting sessions at the HM’s House; he brought the paint and brushes, the canvas and even a bit of inspiration.

The Bishop visited Beijing in 1956, in the midst of the cold-war, as the guest of Premier Chou En-lai, and subsequently arranged for a group of DBS and DGS teachers, including Jimmy, to visit China the same year. He was therefore not a bit surprised when I visited Beijing in 1972, which led, indirectly, to the letter quoted earlier.

The Chinese connection ran even deeper. To promote education for working class children, the Bishop supported the Workers’ Children School, knowing full well it was a front for the leftist and defended them when the Government tried to close the school in 1949 after the PRC was established; George She also became their Supervisor in 1947. During the Leftist riots in 1967, the Workers’ Children School not only was our arch-rivals in athletics, but also was implicated in the violence. Yet Jimmy still invited their athletes to practice at our school field. That was magnanimity of a spiritual level.

Bishop Hall also sent Jimmy, while HM-designate, on an extended tour of the US and UK to visit various theological seminaries and schools to broaden his perspective and meet with old boys. Only in the last few years, and after much coaxing, did he start talking about that period, when he crossed paths with, but never met Paul Tillich whom he had admired and read extensively. In the sixties, we only knew he had many books by Tillich, de Chardin, Barth and Eliot. On that trip, he also met an old boy who became one of the biggest donor to the School.

At our last meeting, the conversation again drifted to Bishop Hall, who eschewed but never intervened in some of George She’s more ritualistic approach to faith (GS, who was from an earlier generation, headed the last Anglican congregation in HK that sung the liturgy by Merbecke, with gusto!) Jimmy became quite animated when relating the elaborate efforts to implement some of these schemes. When he became HM, he aligned school ceremonies along the design of Christ Church, the first church built under the auspices of Bishop Hall: sparse but spiritual. This was also reflected in his design for the RO Hall Chapel (now converted) under the New New Wing, and the crucifix he designed for the School Chapel: elegant and not unduly elegiac.

In time, relations with him inevitably reach a critical point, a rite of passage: when to call him Jimmy, as opposed to Mr. Lowcock, Headmaster, or the generic “you”. I guess he sensed some unease on my part when I first visited him upon my return to HK in 1992 after 20 years in the US and China, so not too long thereafter, on the flimsiest of excuse, he sent me a letter by telex, signing it with “Jimmy”. So it cannot but be Jimmy from then on.

So what will Jimmy make of all the arrangements for his funeral and memorial? I think I know him well enough to second-guess him: he will, with a brush of his hand, say it is all a fuss and a bloody waste of time. Yet I think I also know him better: he will see some good reason and agree to what his boys need.

So it was with the SJ Lowcock Foundation. When the idea of starting a Fund in his name to support the needy at DBS after the School went DSS was first raised, he thought it was a bit ostentatious. But over time, he saw a clear need and agreed. Of course, in true Lowcock style, in a letter he wrote me about the decision, he only modestly referred to it as “a Trust Fund”. The Foundation now supports deserving students through their first year of college and he quite liked the idea. And I had planned to see him after the holidays to report a rather exceptional fund-raising auction.

So it will be with his Memorial Service. It will be a kind of end-of-term service to refresh and share memories of time spent with him and to give thanks for all he did for so many. It will not be mourning over a tragic loss; it will be a celebration of a life well-lived. That will do wonders for his boys. I believe he will play cool but agree, and even smile ever so serenely.

Goodbye, Jimmy.

Mr Jimmy Lowcock – Sum-Ping Lee (class 1963).

I will always have vivid and fond memories of Mr Lowcock.  He was a genuine and sincere man. He was generous, and very supportive of the students around him. His positive attitude and ‘can do’ spirit which so effectively radiated from him were rarely equalled.

One is remembered in this life not by how much you know, nor how much you own; but by one’s character and integrity, and by how one has touched the lifes of other human beings. I know of very few people who have taught, nourished and inspired so many young minds in a most profound way.  I think Mr Lowcock must also have felt greatly rewarded. For the one who has brought sunshine to so many cannot but himself also shared a dose of the warmth and light. He has lived a full and wonderful life.

Sum-Ping Lee (class 1963)

Lacrimosa – Ho Chi Ping Patrick (66)

Lacrimosa dies illa
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus.

Huic ergo parce, Deus
Pie Jesu Domine
Dona eis requiem, Amen

Goodbye, Jimmy,  you have always been the Wind beneath my wings

Ho Chi Ping Patrick (66)

A Great Man and a Great HM – WJ Smyly

Reminiscence of Ha Kao – Thomas Liang (66)

Reminiscence of Ha Hao (Jimmy Lowcock)

The Headmaster’s House – Peter Kwok (65)

In Memory of Mr. Sidney James Lowcock – the Headmaster’s House

Where was that special “classroom” in which extra lessons were taught and learned on Hill Kadoorie?   The Headmaster’s House.

The House had served different headmasters through the years.   For my years, it was Mr. Sidney James Lowcock.   There could be many reasons why Mr. Lowcock had chosen to continue with the tradition.   One of the reasons could be that he preferred to be close to the school and his students.   After all, it was only a pleasant few minutes walk to school each morning across the field, a good warm-up with a healthy pre-load of fresh air for a long day at the office.   However, the more important reason perhaps was: Mr. Lowcock wanted to make himself and his 2-story old house accessible.

To me, Mr. Lowcock had made our headmaster’s house an integral part of our campus on Hill Kadoorie.   I may have learned my academics in many different classrooms in the main school building, my practical skills in the laboratories in the New Wing, and experienced that added dimension of school life on stage in the Assembly Hall with the orchestras.   However, when I became a boarder in my U6 year, my horizon widened.   As a senior boarder, hence free from all lights-out restrictions, I was able to stay at the headmaster’s house until late.   It was there, given those additional after-school hours, through the many days and nights in my Upper 6 year, that I was privileged to both know Mr. Lowcock better and above all, learn about my “self” much more.  

DBS had been known for offering a rounded education to its students.   Being active on the music-arm in our DBS tradition, I thought I was “rounded”, meeting the challenges in time-management between the demands from academics and extracurricular activities.  Little did I know that to be “rounded” in music, I needed to open up my tunnel vision, extend my understanding and involvement in music beyond the classical.   Still could remember how captivated I was when first introduced to jazz by Mr. Lowcock, listening to the body-moving, finger-snapping sounds by MJQ, the Modern Jazz Quartet.  Mr. Lowcock was holding a drink in his hand, with his body gently swaying to the rhythm and the syncopated thumps of the double bass.     “That’s the way to enjoy music!” I said to myself that night.   Not body-stiff, neck-tied and sitting still in the etiquette-laden concert hall!    I was amazed by the fact that despite being called “Modern”, the jazz group actually followed such old classic musical forms as baroque counterpoints, something I was familiar with and could therefore appreciate the new sound almost immediately.   At that moment, the boundary between the almost aristocratic classical music and the people-friendly music, such as jazz, began to blur; the wall separating them began to tumble as I began to realize the more important purpose and true meaning of music.   I finally unlearned my biases, and thereupon became open to question the meanings of not only music in particular, but also life in general.   It was Mr. Lowcock who had shown me the way, just as he had enlightened many others, both before and after me.

Mr. Lowcock had made his residence into an open “class room”, an extension from the main school across the field.   During his years, Mr. Lowcock had made his house an “open” facility, a “House of Discoveries” for all who came through the door.   The Prefects, the boarders, the day-boys, our school’s budding artists, painters, achieving athletes and the musically inclined… each would have his own unique encounter and story to tell.   David Sung (Class’65), my Upper 6 roommate, had told his.   It was also where my other artistically gifted roommate, late Victor Yeung Charn-hung, was finally able to verbalize his deep-seated fear of the unknown and uncertainties, in dealing with his health and financial problems as he contemplated on applying for college in the US.   Mr. Lowcock challenged Victor with more than a token stipend, but more importantly also with a lesson to learn in successfully completing a project.    So night after night, Victor would disappear from our dorm room, working overtime on his project when our remaining days on Hill Kadoorie were numbered.  There were times he hinted he could not make it, but he also expressed how important it was for him to start and be able to finish the project.   He eventually overcame his self-doubts and went on to finish his drawings of our headmasters’ portraits, now lining up the walls of our Assembly Hall.  [To this date, I still ponder what pain and sufferings he must have gone through after his DBS days before he finally took his own life.]

The headmaster’s house was a popular haven where we were encouraged to not only challenge the established with courage and determination, but also our self.  In the process, many would discover our own “self”… in our innocent nonage.  Mr. Lowcock made it happen.

…………………………………………

Headful of memorable flashbacks
Heartful of deep gratitude
Heavy indebtedness

Mr. Lowcock, thank you for being there
You touched and changed my life
You gave me my first instrument

[My first verse from “Joy in Heaven” (with attached mp3 audio track), a parody on Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven”:]

You would know our names
If we saw you in heaven
It would be the same
If we saw you in heaven…

We must be strong
And carry on
’cause I know
How you would have
Joy in heaven…

Good-bye, Jimmy…
One of your many who had received,
Peter Kwok, (Class ’65)

..