...cont'd from ORWELL & JURA GRANDFATHERS VICARS

This past spring, in April 2024, my sister paid homage to our great-grandfather's memory by travelling to the island of Mauritius, off the east coast of Madagascar, where Walter Ruthven Pym was the bishop from 1898 to 1903. She said they were on holiday and went there specifically "to look for the cathedral where Great-Grandad was Bishop of Mauritius" and found it in Port Louis.

"...It was 35-hours of travel: Vancouver to Istanbul took 11-hours (after a 3-hour wait in Van to start the trip); a 9-hour layover in Istanbul; 12 hours to Mauritius; hour-and-a-half to the Airbnb just south of Grande Baie. We were delirious from exhaustion..."

My sister, who was accompanied by her husband, daughter, grandaughter and twin great-grandsons, sent the pics to document more family history: "It was such a cool thing to see the church and his name on the plaque next to the altar."

After being tourists in Mauritius for a few days, travelling around the island to the beaches and swimming in the ocean, they "continued on their journey to Thailand then onto Vietnam."

I very much appreciate my sister having made that incredible pilgrimage to Mauritius in quest of family lore -- a place where very few people have ever gone.

All the best,
Jackie Jura, August 21, 2024

PS - I recently learned that the flightless Dodo bird (of "going the way of the Dodo bird" fame) originated in Mauritius which is the only place in the world where Dodos lived until becoming extinct.

PPS -- In sorting through old newspaper clippings (looking for something unrelated) I came across this beautiful 2-cent Canada Postage stamp which depicts the British Empire. Notice the tiny island of Mauritius is on the map. Godcidently, the year the stamp was issued -- 1898 -- is the year my great-grandfather began his bishopric in Mauritius.

VISITING BISHOP OF MAURITIUS'S CHURCH

ORWELL & JURA GRANDFATHERS VICARS

ANIMAL FARM COMIC IN MAURITIUS

SPAINS HALL 2001 VISIT REMINISCENCE

SPAINS & HAZELLS HALLS 2004 VISITS

POONA & MOTIHARI ORWELL MEMORIES

ANCESTRAL BOOKENDS TO ORWELL

GRANNY BLUE WILLOW DISHES POEM

ORWELL'S TYPEWRITER MY GRANDFATHERS

GRANDPARENTS HORSES & HOMESTEAD

ORWELL STATUE IN MOTIHARI