Hiranya Jayalath, Founding Member and Past President of the Sri Lanka Chapter of Ikebana International (2014-2016) sadly passed away recently after a prolonged illness. Hiranya was one of the most positive, friendly and naturally cheerful persons one could have the privilege of knowing. She brought sunshine wherever she went and was a great strength to our Chapter. An able lawyer, Hiranya drafted our original Constitution. It was she who came up with the idea of having a Chapter song, thus establishing the tradition of joining hands at the end of each gathering to sing the words together. The lyrics express the beauty of friendship and flowers.
Members will never forget her humanity, capable leadership and unstinting efforts to raise funds for both women afflicted by breast cancer and children with cancer. She organised our first — and to date only — exhibition and demonstration outside of Colombo, in the hill capital of Kandy, in which our Senior Chapter Advisor Christopher Lim performed to a packed audience at the historic Queens Hotel. It was an unforgettable and highly successful event. Hiranya always worked hard and generously employed her creative talents to make each of our events a success. For our last Christmas party, in spite of her illness, Hiranya insisted on helping in decorating the venue.
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| Hiranya Jayalath doing an arrangement |
Even in her most difficult days, Hiranya never gave up the fight nor her natural exuberance. In her last days, during our annual exhibition in September, she remained interested and involved in the event, constantly telephoning her sister Chandi about how her things were going.
She was always the first on and the last off the dance floor at our Chapter events and was the life of the party. She could not be restrained from joining in the dancing, which perhaps besides flowers was her favourite past time. Hiranya will always be fondly remembered and missed by all of us in Chapter 262. We take comfort in knowing that her graceful light will somehow, somewhere, continue to shine upon us and all her loved ones. We send our deepest condolences to her husband, Sisira, children, Shyana, Sanjaya and Sujan, daughter-in-law Devani, grandchildren Aarya and Amaani and sisters, Renuka and Chandi.
(Ikebana International Chapter 262 Sri Lanka)
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