By Pamela Francis Kiehl ’66, Everett-Pomeroy Trustee
Catherine Sweeney and the Wilson-Sri Lanka Connection.
Between 1972 and 2010, 35 young women from Sri Lanka came to Wilson College. The story of how Wilson became a higher education destination for young women from the island nation in the Indian Ocean begins with Catherine “Kay” Hauberg Sweeney (1914-1995).
Nelu Senanayake de Silva ’75 and Catherine Sweeney.
In 1972, Sweeney fully funded the first Sri Lankan student to attend Wilson, Nelu Senanayake de Silva ’75. Over the next 20-plus years, Sweeney would fund seven more students. At the same time, other young Sri Lankans began to apply. While word of mouth and the College’s reputation surely played a role in attracting them to Wilson, the story of the “Sweeney Scholars” is largely one of friendships and family relationships.
Botanist and gardener, philanthropist, writer, patron of the arts, world traveler, Wilson honorary degree recipient, and Trustee Emerita, Sweeney packed a lot into a lifetime. In addition to these accomplishments, her remarkable Wilson-Sri Lankan legacy epitomizes her foresight, kindness, and generosity.
Sweeney didn’t set out to fund deserving students. This expression of her philanthropy began while on a visit to Sri Lanka. There she was introduced to many prominent families by Christobel Weerasinghe, wife of a former Sri Lanka ambassador to the U.S. and a very close friend of the Sweeneys. Weerasinghe introduced her to the Senanayakes and their daughter Nelu who hoped to study in the U.S. At the time, the Sri Lankan government had imposed currency restrictions that limited the amount of money that could be transferred out of the country. In effect, Nelu and students like her couldn’t study abroad. Sweeney, recognizing the young woman’s potential, offered to fund her education at Wilson College, thus introducing the College to Sri Lanka.
From left to right, standing: Cheika Lakdini Hewagama ’04, Chethika Hapugalle Ratwatte ’95, Rita M. Dibble, director of Alumnae Relations, and Chaitri Hapugalle ’92. Seated: Dr. Natasha Peiris Fernando ’93, Premali Wijenaike Munasinha ’81, and Nelu Senanayake de Silva ’75.
Nelu’s mother, Nalini Senanayake, later influenced at least three of the other Sweeney scholars to apply to Wilson: neighbor Chandi Amarasinghe Kadirgamar ’79, niece Premali Wijenaike Munasinha ’81, and daughter of family friends Natasha Peiris Fernando ’93. Natasha believes Senanayake arranged her scholarship. Premali received a letter from the College granting hers. (Ayoma Fernando, ’82, daughter of other family friends, applied on Senanayake’s recommendation.) Chandi and Premali’s parents were also family friends of the Weerasinghes. While there are no written records of how students were selected, I assume that Sweeney considered these two women’s suggestions to select those she supported in consultation with the College.
Natalie Gudewardene-Palleros, ’85, knew Sweeney as a child and received her scholarship due to the “good offices” of her uncle Larry Schokman, Sweeney’s colleague. Ranmali Hapugalle, ’89, was brought to Sweeney and Wilson’s attention by another friend. Sweeney later met the Hapugalle family in 1988 while Ranmali was a student at Wilson and directly offered to pay for sister Chaitri’s education and later younger sister Chethika’s.
At One Grand Reunion, from left to right, Ayoma Fernando ’82, Pamela Francis Kiehl ’66, and Premali Wijenaike Munasinha ’81.
Although the girls all attended private schools and could certainly have attended university in Sri Lanka, Sweeney clearly saw the advantage of an international education for them which was also their preference. Wilson, a women’s college, appealed to their parents. And by the 1970s, Wilson needed students as enrollment was declining. Sri Lanka’s civil war (1983 to 2009) made Sweeney’s assistance even more important to the girls who attended Wilson during that time.
It is also important to note that assigning motivation to Sweeney’s efforts in all her endeavors is largely speculation. Unfortunately, many of her private papers, which may have revealed her thinking, were destroyed following her passing. Very few who knew her well remain other than her children, and the girls she funded are our best source.
Who was Kay Sweeney?
Interviewees described Sweeney as intelligent, insightful, kind, friendly, generous, and self-effacing. She often donated to charitable causes anonymously. She preferred action to discussion, and accounts of good works shed some light on her personality.
The Sweeney scholars, who visited her Florida home during holidays, attest to all the above qualities. They were in awe of her wealth (“she was the humblest millionaire”) but even more so of her ability to interact with them as young women far from home — preparing meals, taking them Christmas shopping, and introducing them to the custom of filling Christmas stockings with unexpected treats. Sweeney was exceedingly modest, often describing herself as “just a lady gardener.”
Catherine Hauberg was raised in Rock Island, Ill., and studied botany at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and graduate-level zoology at the University of Arizona. She was heiress to the Weyerhaeuser lumber fortune (the company was co-founded by her maternal grandfather Frederick Denkman with his brother-in-law Frederick Weyerhaeuser) and was reportedly one of the wealthiest women in the U.S. when she became a Wilson trustee in 1967. Her father had instilled a sense of curiosity and her mother an obligation to help others. She was the mother of five and a widow at the young age of 53.
Her New York Times obituary and a Kampong publication describe her achievements (she is best known as ‘The Savior of The Kampong’) and include her honorary doctorate from Wilson. For Wilson, however, her support of the Sri Lankan students had far-reaching value and lasting impact — a demonstration of her insight and vision.
She married Edward C. Sweeney in 1938. He (Williams College, Northwestern Law School graduate and professor, U.S. Navy Air during WWII) became a successful aviation lawyer in Washington, D.C., after the war. He was also president of the Explorers Club of America for two years and funded the Sweeney Medal awarded by the club. He died in 1967 at 61.
Philanthropy
The Sweeneys’ shared interests led to promoting many causes supported primarily by Catherine’s fortune. One example was financing several expeditions to Antarctica led by Finn and Edith Ronne in the 1940s (Ronne, a Norwegian-born U.S. citizen, was earlier part of two Richard E. Byrd expeditions to the South Pole), and thus the Antarctic’s Sweeney Mountains were named, with five peaks named for their children.
In 1963, Sweeney was approached by Elva Fairchild, who was familiar with her philanthropy and interest in gardens. Fairchild asked her to help save her father-in-law David Fairchild’s Coconut Grove, Fla., home and tropical garden from developers. Fairchild was a famous botanist and international plant explorer who introduced over 30,000 species to the U.S. The Sweeneys had visited The Kampong years earlier, so she was intrigued and agreed immediately, thus preserving the property, which later was designated part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden.
Interest in Sri Lanka
Sweeney visited Sri Lanka at least three times — in 1967, 1971, and 1988. The 1963 purchase of The Kampong tropical garden — a natural extension of her interest in botany and gardening — could certainly have piqued her interest in tropical parts of Asia. Soon after purchasing the garden, the Sweeneys became friendly with Oliver Weerasinghe, Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) Ambassador to the U.S. from 1965-70, and his wife, Christobel. Also, one of Sweeney’s sons, Edward, had a connection to the island nation. His mother-in-law, Elizabeth Stoen, was serving a tour at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo. These factors likely influenced her decision to travel to Sri Lanka, where she further developed her interest in tropical plants and the country.
On Sweeney’s first visit in 1967, Stoen asked her friend tea plantation manager, horticulturalist, and rugby player Larry Schokman to host Sweeney at his plantation. He did and escorted her around the island to share his tropical flora expertise. Schokman and Sweeney developed a close friendship and exchanged subsequent visits. Schokman married Colleen Sheridan, an American assigned to the embassy. They relocated to Miami in 1974, where he became superintendent and, eventually, director of The Kampong. He passed away in 2017.
Commitment to Wilson
Sweeney, a wealthy Presbyterian who served on many national boards, joined Wilson’s Board of Trustees in 1967 at the invitation of Rev. Edward L. R. Elson, a Wilson Trustee, her minister, close friend, and later U.S. Senate Chaplain. Donation records prior to 1983 are not available, but Sweeney contributed $50,000 in the 1980s, a very significant amount at the time. From 1972 to 73, she was a member of the Wilson College Society of Donors and was honored at the annual Donor Dinner in 1993. Paying all expenses for eight Sri Lankan students over the course of 23 years (31 years of tuition/room & board/travel) ended when she passed away.
A point of interest is that there was no formal mechanism that established funding for a scholarship. Sweeney simply paid expenses directly, including travel. In addition, she funded a junior semester in Italy for Natalie Gunawardene-Palleros ’85 and offered to continue paying education costs elsewhere for Premali Wijenaike Munasinha ’81 if the College had closed in 1979. That Sweeney was not an alumna made her commitment to Wilson even more dramatic.
Although Wilson was close to peak enrollment when Sweeney joined the board, the higher education landscape was changing, with most single-sex colleges and universities going coed. As a viable choice for women seeking a women’s only education, Wilson struggled to maintain enrollment at an adequate level. Sweeney was a board member when the vote to close the College took place in 1979. She and other Trustees had written a letter requesting a special board meeting to discuss the situation. She attended this March 10, 1979, New York City meeting. Voting records are embargoed until 2029, so we do not know her position. She did accept a seat on a reconstituted board for a year under the leadership of Nan Clarkson, however, and continued to support the College and the Sri Lankan students financially until her death in 1995 of heart failure.
Lasting Legacy
President Gwen Jensen visited Sri Lanka in 1993. Sweeney intended to meet her there but was too ill to travel. Jensen’s trip was nonetheless quite successful. Despite the ongoing civil war, the Jensens were able to travel to much of the island. Jensen met alumnae, their family members, and other influential Sri Lankans. Gayani Fernando ’99 reported that she applied after seeing an article about Jensen’s visit in a local newspaper. Chethika Hapugalle Ratwatte’95 is credited for Gwen and Gordon Jensen venturing there by convincing her that tacking Sri Lanka onto a Chambersburg sister-city trip to Gotemba, Japan, would be a minimal expense. On that trip, Pres. Jensen said she realized the power of Sweeney’s philanthropy as she saw for herself the results of those efforts and concluded that giving should be undertaken to achieve a desired goal — purposeful philanthropy. In this case, the lasting benefits for the women Catherine Sweeney supported, for other women who followed, for Sri Lanka, and especially for Wilson in broadening its diversity and international scope, are immeasurable and an excellent example of the impact of a single individual.
Acknowledgments
Without the enthusiastic assistance of Premali Wijenaike Munasinha ’81, I doubt the other seven Sweeney scholars, or many of the others we’ve found, would have cooperated so readily for this article. Premali’s relentless personal and social media skills helped expand Wilson’s list of 21 Sri Lankan alumnae to 35. Amy Ensley, director of the Hankey Center, provided considerable background and research. I am deeply grateful to both.
Katie Shank in Alumnae Relations also helped search for former students, as did my husband, Bill, who spent several hours at the Hankey Center pouring through old yearbooks. There are many others to thank. Past presidents Donald Bletz, Mary Linda Meriam Armacost, Gwen Jensen, and Lorna Edmondson, former Alumnae Relations director Rita Dibble who visited Sri Lanka in 2011, and former board members Nancy Besch ’48, Ellen Van Looy Reed ’53, and Martha Baum Walker ’69, gladly spoke with me. Chief of Staff Melissa Imes helped reach out to many. Outside the Wilson network Colleen Schokman, widow of Larry Schokman, Sweeney’s son-in-law Eric Fraunfelter, Deb Kuntzi, Executive Director of the Hauberg Estate, and The Kampong staff contributed.
The Kampong
The Kampong was the home and garden of David G. Fairchild (1869-1959), U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher and plant explorer. Fairchild was responsible for importing thousands of tropical plants to the U.S. for propagation as Director of the Office of Seed and Plant Introduction and brought Japanese cherry trees to Washington DC. In addition to developing an experimental government facility in Miami’s Coral Gables (now the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden), he built a home, The Kampong, inspired by Indonesian design and created a personal garden in the Coconut Grove area of Miami. The Sweeneys visited once. After Fairchild’s death, his wife Marion Bell Fairchild (daughter of Alexander Graham Bell) maintained the property. Upon her death in 1962, her children, unable to assume the responsibility, put the property on the market. Unfortunately, only developers were interested.
Daughter-in-law Elva Fairchild knowing of Sweeney’s philanthropy and interest in gardening brought the property to her attention. Sweeney purchased the compound without hesitation in 1963 and devoted herself to retaining and enhancing Fairchild’s vision, working hard to preserve its integrity as a tropical retreat. Eventually, it became part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden.
Saving The Kampong is Sweeney’s most notably recognized achievement.
Pamela’s Story
Researching this story has been a fascinating journey connecting me with Sri Lanka alumnae, Wilson past presidents, staff, and Sweeney’s family and friends. It also piqued my curiosity about The Kampong leading to a visit there in November. Also, in November, Premali and Chethika arranged a free-flowing Zoom for seven of the eight Sweeney scholars (all but Natasha on hospital duty) and me stretching over several time zones — Bangalore/Colombo; Singapore/Perth; and NYC/Sarasota — a distinct highlight of the project.
A week after arriving in Colombo in August 1975 (my husband was the US Embassy Press Officer), Bill and I were invited to Kandy to visit the American Cultural Center, attend the annual Perahera (a magnificent procession featuring Kandyan dancers, Buddha’s “sacred tooth,” and 76 ornately decorated elephants), and dine with the local Lions Club. To my right at dinner was a charming gentleman, Chandra Wijenaike, who took great interest in my story, soon learning that I’d attended a small women’s college. After a good deal of probing (“you’ve never heard of it”), I told him where. His response: “I knew it! My niece just graduated from Wilson.” Soon after, I invited Nelu Senanayake ’75, her mother Nalini, and their neighbor, Chandi Amerasinghe ’79, for tea. Nelu left shortly for graduate school at Cambridge, and Chandi for Wilson. Forty-some years later, I’m following up.
Other Sri Lankans attended Wilson over the years, so when planning a trip in 2006, I asked Alumnae Relations for a list of those in Colombo. Six or seven attended a party hosted by Embassy friends. At dinner, the next evening, a former Sri Lankan cultural assistant at the US embassy remarked out of the blue, “It’s wonderful what that Wilson College has done for the women of Sri Lanka.” She didn’t know I was an alum.
Later I tried to learn more: I met student Mariza Cooray ’10 and Chaitri ’92 (when she received her AAWC award) and arranged to meet Premali at a reunion, not knowing she was the daughter of my dinner companion of decades earlier. I also heard about a woman who provided scholarships to Sri Lankan girls. Finally, in March 2020, Chaitri posted a Facebook tribute commemorating Sweeney’s passing 25 years earlier. I began researching and, with Hankey Archive Director Amy Ensley’s help, learned enough about Sweeney to think her story and that of the Sri Lanka students was worth pursuing.
Meet The Sweeney Scholars
There are many similarities among the students Sweeney supported. All attended private schools (five from Ladies College, Colombo) and, as excellent students, were destined for university. They were engaged Wilson students who enhanced the intellectual life of the College, fully participating
in the experience. They were also on campus during years of Wilson’s lowest enrollments.
They, and many Sri Lanka students who followed, recall with gratitude religion Prof. Harry M. Buck and his wife as friends and mentors to foreign students and supporters of Muhibbah (international) Club. Others mentioned fondly were Elizabeth Boyd, Eleanor Mattes, John Applegate, Helen Nutting, and Chambersburg host families.
Nelu Senanayake de Silva ’75 graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude in biology and chemistry. She received the Wilson College Fellowship for Graduate Studies and went on to King’s College, Cambridge, where she was awarded a Ph.D. in biochemistry. Before retiring, she was a research officer at the Ceylon Institute of Scientific & Industrial Research and a Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry at the University of Sri Lanka Medical Facility. A devoted mother of two, she lives in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Chandi Amarasinghe Kadirgamar ’79 majored in English literature, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Among her most vivid Wilson memories are traveling to NYC in March 1979 to protest the Trustees’ decision to close the College. She earned a master’s in public administration at NYU and spent 37 years as a program evaluator for the United Nations. During the later years of her career, her emphasis was on gender and women’s empowerment and disability rights. She is the mother of two adult children.
Premali Wijenaike Munasinha ’81, Nelu’s cousin, is the only Sweeney scholar from Kandy, Sri Lanka. She never met Sweeney. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a major in fine art and a minor in mathematics and took an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, where she was hosted by the late Mary Lou Kerfoot Wells, ‘65. An accomplished professional artist, she briefly taught art and math in Kandy and folk art in Australia. Both her children attend college in Australia, and she holds dual Sri Lankan and Australian citizenship. She credits the College with teaching her independence and the ability to think for herself.
Ranmali Hapugalle ’89, the first of the three Hapugalle sisters sponsored by Sweeney, majored in fine arts and received two service awards and the Melahan Award for excellence in art history and studio art. She obtained a master’s in art education from the University of Cincinnati and earned an MBA in general administration from the Postgraduate Institute of Management of Sri Jayawardenepura. Throughout her career as a K-12 visual arts teacher, she has served primarily at international schools. Following the 2004 Asian tsunami that devastated parts of Sri Lanka, she established a fundraising effort with friends to build a school for girls near Galle.
Natalie Gunewardene-Palleros ’85 knew Sweeney since childhood through her uncle, Larry Schokman, whom she recently learned had asked Sweeney to support her education at Wilson. She played hockey, sang in the choir, and helped establish the international club, Muhibbah. She majored in creative arts and geography. She has combined teaching university-level landscape architecture with therapeutic horticulture — helping the disadvantaged and mentally ill through gardening. She currently works in the General Court Intervention Program, which attempts to keep people, especially Indigenous Australians, from incarceration. She is the mother of three adult children and grandmother of two. She has lived in Perth, Australia, for 25 years.
Chaitri Hapugalle ’92 majored in business and economics, graduating Cum Laude with honors in economics and other recognitions, including an alumnae scholarship. She served as president of the Muhibbah and Business clubs and was a South Hall R.A. She is grateful to former Alumnae Trustee Ellen Van Looy Reed ’53 for sponsoring Wilson’s participation in the Center for Study of the Presidency that she attended twice. She earned a master’s in public policy in international trade and finance at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In 2014 she was honored by the AAWC with the Distinguished Young Alumna Award. She is the founder of the Peace-Led Climate Friendly Sustainable Development Forum, an NGO promoting connectivity, healthcare, and environmental projects in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific region.
Natasha Peiris Fernando ’93 received a first-year award for mathematics and graduated Cum Laude in biology. She was permitted to take extra credits each semester, graduating in three years. She is grateful to professors Brad Engle and Deb Austin for their part in making her lifelong dream to become a doctor a reality and fondly remembers South Hall friends. She earned a degree in general medicine from the University of Southampton, U.K., continued her post-graduate education in the U.K. and became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians. She obtained a fellowship from the Royal College of Edinburgh. For the past 17 years, Dr. Peiris has been a specialist in internal medicine at Arts Surgical Hospital, Colombo. She and her attorney husband have one son.
Chethika Hapugalle Ratwatte ’95 was the last Sweeney Scholar (Sweeney passed away during her senior year). She majored in history/political science, minored in studio art, and received a distinguished service award her senior year. She got a master’s in international relations from Istanbul Bilgi University and then spent nine years as head of regional marketing and communications for Alpha Asia Airports Group. For the past 12 years, she has served as regional general manager for a Sri Lanka paper company, Double A Pulp & Paper. A passionate political activist, she is married and lives in Colombo, Sri Lanka
The Other 27 Wilson Students From Sri Lanka
Including the eight Sweeney Scholars, 35 women from Sri Lanka attended Wilson. Note that we do not have contact or other information for all of these alumnae.
Iromie De Silva Wijewardena, 1981, Colombo, Sri Lanka, artist
Prebja Thanjaratnaam, 1981
Malathi Jayawickrama, 1981
Ayoma Fernando, 1982, Colombo, Sri Lanka, Principal/Co-Founder, ABC Montessori School
Sriani Gunawardena, 1984
Sivadarshini (Darshini) Pathmanathan Lacey, 1984 or 85
Janitha Dias Bandaranyake, 1985, Mt. Lavinia, Sri Lanka, retired teacher, B&B proprietor, and cancer helpline volunteer
Lilamani de Soysa, 1985, Lausanne, Switzerland, independent sport consultant/executive; board member interagency working group for women in sport
Sharline Adams, 1988
Sonali Kuruppu Jayasinghe, 1989, Colombo, Sri Lanka, senior VP for human relations, DFCC Bank PLC Colombo
Avanti Moonesinghe Esufally, 1991, Colombo, Sri Lanka, economic analyst, entrepreneur, web content developer
Sepalika DeSilva, 1991
Danthika Wickremesekera Borst, 1993, Atlanta, GA/San Antonio, Texas, associate broker/realtor
Eshani Wijeyawardana Kalpage, 1994, Johannesburg, South Africa, clinical social worker/psychotherapist
Soshana Wijeratne Austin, 1993 or 1995, London, U.K., owner, Rasai Ceylon Restaurant
Shaemali DeZilwa Sumanatilleke, 1996
Nikula Fernando, 1998, Chantilly, Va.
Prashanthi Tehanee Ratwatte, 1999, Colombo, Sri Lanka, higher education administrator
Pushpakala Sinnathuray, 1999
Gayani Fernando, 1999, Pennington, N.J., neuro researcher, Bristol Myers Squibb
Himanthi Wanninayake, 2000
Sharmila Wickramasooriya, 2000
Indunil Ranaviraja, 2001
Aruni Liyanage, 2004, Potomac, Md., director of partnerships & development, University Research Co. LLC
Cheika Hewagama, 2004, Sydney, Australia, stay at home mom, former senior economist, Central Bank of Sri Lanka
Charmain Fernando Johnson, 2008, Oklahoma, post-doctoral fellow in cardiovascular research, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
Mariza Cooray, 2010, Canberra, Australia, consultant/economic adviser for Pacific countries, Asia Development Bank, part-time graduate student
