Jose Manuel Noronha
I first met him sometime in 1988 when he was transferred as Procurator from Mumbai to the Agnel Ashram campus at Verna, soon after our then Director, Fr Proto Rodrigues , passed away tragically at Bhopal.
Fr Peter was easy going and friendly and in his earlier years at Verna kept to himself and discharged his duties from the confines of his office. In those years, the campus of Agnel Ashram comprised of a Polytechnic, an ITI and a school, including a higher secondary school with a vocational stream attached.
At every institutional meeting he attended, he was well prepared and asked the right types of questions to make us realize that he was observing the developments at Verna closely.
In 1997, Agnel Charities obtained permission from the All India Council for Technical Education to establish ‘Padre Conceicao College of Engineering’ and Fr Peter was nominated as the Director of all the Technical Education Institutes in the campus.
This was the beginning of a journey that will go down in history at the Verna campus. As soon as he took charge of his new position, we would meet often and talk of the endless possibilities that we could get into in the field of education and very specially Technical Education. At that time, I headed the Department of Production Engineering (now Mechanical Engineering) at Agnel Polytechnic and also taught ‘Operations Research’ and ‘Quality Management’ to the students of PCCE.
Fr Peter involved deeply in every issue concerning the campus and would always explain to me that if we were to establish ourselves as a top class Institution in India, we had to have world class infrastructure, as also draw the best faculty.
To those of us who worked closely with him, we realized that Fr Peter only wanted to be a catalyst in the growth process of the campus and once a decision was taken on the implementation of a project, he would not interfere.
He would dwell on new developments in technology at the weekly meetings. It was through his encouragement and constant support that our team of dedicated individuals established the Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Agnel Institute of Food Crafts and Culinary Sciences , Agnel Vocational Training Institute, Agnel Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Centre for Innovation and Business Acceleration and implemented two international projects in SKILLS (Skills and Knowledge for Improved Livelihoods and Living Standards) with the UNDP and HELP (Health Education to Lessen Poverty) with the Canadian International Development Agency, besides a host of state and central government sponsored schemes.
As the campus at Verna was nearly complete, with every dream of Fr Peters in place, we set our sights on Assagao and established a Vocational Training Institute in the year 2009. Soon thereafter, the process to introduce the first engineering college in North Goa began and Agnel Institute of Technology and Design was born. The campus at Assagao will have a state-of-the-art tool room and an innovation centre attached to the engineering college.
These Institutions at Verna and Assagao cater to the needs of more than seven thousand students annually and most of the credit for this development goes to Fr Peter, who, in a short span of fifteen years, achieved what many individuals will not achieve in a lifetime. This was possible only because of his humility and honesty, coupled with the faith he had in his people.
For those who knew him well and worked closely with him, he will be greatly missed.
For me, I have lost a true friend, philosopher and guide and will end by quoting Mae West: “You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough”. May God grant his soul eternal rest!
