Olurinde Ebenezer Lafe [SJC315 (1965-69)]
Chairman, The MIDATCO Group, Bentleyville, Ohio, USA
Former Director, Center for Renewable Energy Technology and Professor, School of Engineering & Engineering Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure.

The year was 1966. I was in my second year at St Joseph’s College (SJC). It was during one of the holidays. I was leisurely strolling on the road in front of our family home in Igunrin Street, Ondo. An old VW car drove by. The driver and I made full eye contact. It was Brother Thomas! He recognized me. He reversed to where I was. We chatted for a few seconds. He then asked if I would like to go for a ride. I enthusiastically responded, “Yes!”
I hopped into the car and had a ride of my life with Brother Thomas. We drove to Ile-Oluji. We talked about so many subjects under the sun. The 15-year-old me had tons of questions. For example, I asked him why our school uniform wasn’t the traditional Yoruba outfit. He calmly explained to me that our school uniform, as designed, was best suited for all the academic and vigorous extracurricular activities we engaged in as students. I was thrilled. I was on the proverbial Cloud 9!
The Snakes
A constant and perpetual wonder for SJC students was the boldness and dexterity with which Brother Thomas handled snakes. An open discussion came up in our class one day. Many of us believed Brother Thomas must possess some magical powers to pick up snakes without any fear. Our classroom teacher decided to chime in. He told us Brother Thomas had the same issues we had with snakes when he first arrived in our neck of the woods. Brother Thomas went back to North America and took it upon himself to read books on snakes. He educated himself and developed the uncanny knowledge to decipher between venomous and non-venomous snakes. The discussion opened my young teenage mind. Just like Brother Thomas was able to overcome the conventional fear by acquiring knowledge on the crawling, elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles, I too can develop mastery of obstacles by studying to unravel the mystery surrounding what we fear.
The Waiver
I was a day student in my last 3 years at SJC. Around the time of our WASC exams in 1969, a nighttime fire incident in my house had burnt the majority of my personal belongings including books and clothes. My school uniforms had also gone up in smoke. Some of my native “Ankara” native clothing escaped the fire. Undeterred, I put on a set of the Ankara “Buba and ṣokoto” that survived the fire and decided to go to school. I went straight to Brother Thomas to recount the story of the fire and why I was in traditional attire. He sympathized with me. He then chose to give me an unconventional waiver from the requirement to wear the school uniform. I enjoyed that waiver until the end of our school term.
The Affirmation
About a year after leaving SJC, a close senior relative and I traveled to Ondo from Lagos. We made a quick stop at SJC to check on his son who was a new student at SJC. Brother Thomas was on the school grounds. My relative shared with me later the private chat with Brother Thomas during the visit when my name came up. Brother Thomas told him, “He is a gentleman.” My senior relative was so impressed by that brief comment made by Brother Thomas. He repeated that story for years to scores of our family members. Learning about the opinion of Brother Thomas, my Secondary School Principal, about me was a major morale booster while embarking on my undergraduate studies in engineering at the University of Lagos.
The Lessons of Life
I recall Brother Thomas, with his long flashlight, going from dormitory to dormitory early in the mornings and late at night. He was dutifully checking that all was well with us. I marveled at his skill and fearlessness in handling those snakes we saw regularly in SJC. His selflessness, devotion, and dedication gave us a solid foundation and valuable lessons during our beginning years. I was highly privileged and enormously blessed to have been trained, mentored, and influenced by Brother Francis Thomas McCrea. Happy 90th Birthday, Brother Thomas!