Tony celebrated an unforgettable reunion with classmates
at the Jesus College GAUDY in 2006.
He enjoyed chats with this classmates of 50 years ago. Jesus was the
first to go co-ed. Tony was placed on the High Table with guys who ran
the Bank of England and the Scottish Health system and others.
Jesus College GAUDY: They ate in style, the 5-course meal in their tux. No wives allowed. Sansan waited outside the dining room eating a sandwich on a bench. Later she was able to sneak into his room where he occupied as an undergraduate to spend the night. They had a super time.
Straight after the Gaudy in Oxford, Tony and San went off to Granada where Tony gave a paper at the International Conference on Comparative Education. Professor Mark Bray was a prominent organizer of that 3-day event. There were visits to the magnificent Alhambra Palace and a classy dinner where they entertained the group with authentic Flamenco dancing. Tony enjoyed many congenial chats with conference chairman, Professor Bob Cowen, from the University of London Institute of Education.
The happy discovery was that, going slowly enough, Tony could walk 2 miles from the hotel to the conference venue without taking a rest. He had osteoarthritis for some years. Too much rugby in the early days. Granada was very hot. Tony and San enjoyed the large variety of tapas in the day time and candle lit dining outside the Cathedral at night, Spanish style, at 9.30pm, when normally, he would be asleep. It was another romantic honeymoon, amongst many over the 33 years.
Whenever possible, Tony and San went off to Cebu -- sometimes the children joined them, often they went alone. They usually have the Coral Point resort where they have a condo, all to themselves, swimming in the salt and un-salt pools and reading all day long. Rolf and Alice Hess, their good friends would take them to scrumptious dinners in Cebu city in the evenings. Coral Point is a self-contained paradise aflame with bougainvilleas and fragrant frangipanis. Here, San worked on her HK projects while Tony read under shaded palm trees. It was a wonderful get-away place for a few days.
In the summer, the Sweetings lived in Oxford for two months. Tony and San spent many happy hours in Blackwell’s and other bookstores on the Broad. Their children and grandchildren would join them at pub lunches and family visits to Bannister Close. Every summer, they would go to Wales to visit Tony's Welsh brothers and sisters, often driving through the Forest of Dean and the Wye valley to look at Tintern Abbey and the silvern River Wye -- 25 times in all now.
Tony told one story after another as he drove San through England, Wales, Scotland and Greece on their various trips. Usually about historical kings and queens, battles, beheadings, intrigues, with full details of dates and places as the car sped past them. In Hong Kong, Tony would regularly pack the family into the car at 3am when Hong Kong was still sleeping, to drive all over the New Territories and the beaches on Hong Kong island -- they did more miles than taxi drivers do in a day. Here the stories would be about historical HK and China, no less enthralling and always filled with colorful embellishments to scintillate and move the imagination. At intervals when one story came to an end and another about to start, he would sing Cole Porter songs -- like, "in olden days, a glimpse of stocking was looked on as shocking, now heavens knows... anything goes!" Story-telling and singing went on until three years ago when he became ill. His breath decreased and his speech was sometimes difficult.
The highlight this year was the invitation to take part in Emeritus Professor Eric Hoyle's Festshift, in celebration of Eric's long years of contributions in the education field. Friends and colleagues around the world gathered to dine at Pembroke College, and the next day, for the launching of the celebration book, "Teaching: Professionalization, Development and Leadership", edited by David Johnson and Rupert Maclean. Tony was honored to be a chapter author along with other leading international scholars in this work. All through that second day, guests enjoyed high quality paper presentations given by Professor Sir William Taylor, Professor Paul Morris, Dr. Marion Myhill, Professor Thangavelu Marimuthu, ending with Reflections by Professor Eric Hoyle, with concluding comments from Professor John Furlong. Tony was able to chair Paul Morris’ paper. Both he and San felt a great privilege to be amongst this distinguished group of academics.
The 2-day Festshrift, followed by a week-long stay with family in Wales made this summer the happiest one for Tony. He was an energetic participant in every activity, including making a strenuous trip to see the bookstores in Hay-on-Wye in Wales. He did all the driving, and all the shopping to set up home for the summer.
Had we overdone it? Two weeks later, Tony understood that he was at the end stage of his illness. He said quietly to Sansan, "I've had a wonderful life!" He prepared to write the monograph for the Grants Schools Council. He had promised Sr. Margaret Wong, the Head of St. Paul’s Convent School, that he would have it done it in a couple of months, intending to use the Public Records in Kew and Rhodes House in Oxford. The stuff was all in his head, ready to go on paper. He wanted to add an interview with Dr. Kay Barker. She was a leading educator in Hong Kong, the former head of St. Stephen's Girls' School, who now lives in Cambridge. Tony was about to make contact with her. A week later, it became obvious that he could not leave the house any more. Another two days after that, it was obvious that he would not be coming downstairs again. The next evening, God took Tony home.
Tony Sweeting, fondly known as "Hob", had elegant sufficiency in his life and he didn't ask for anything more. He left with the dignity and grace that he had desired.
And he had no regrets.