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No 166 - 2003
2. Fr Wilfrid Sollom OSB 1926 - 2003
FR WILFRID SOLLOM died in the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, shortly after midnight on August 1, 2003. He had suffered a massive heart attack the previous afternoon in his workshop and was airlifted to hospital, but did not regain consciousness.
Paul Harold Sollom had been born on May 31, 1926 at St Mary Cray in Kent. His earliest education was at The Abbey School, Ramsgate, whence he won a scholarship to Douai School, where he was a pupil from 1940 to 1943 and received the science prize. He was awarded a state bursary to Imperial College, University of London, where he gained a BSc in Engineering in 1946. From 1946 to 1949 he did his National Service in R.E.M.E., rising to the rank of 2nd Lt, acting Captain. He was posted to Ceylon to be put in charge of the Army Broadcasting Station in Colombo, and after leaving the army he remained there for another two years as chief engineer of Radio S.E.A.C. In 1951 he returned to Imperial College, London, to do research for a PhD, which he gained in 1954, by which time he had already been clothed as a novice at Douai, on October 10, 1954. First profession followed in 1955, solemn profession in 1958 and priestly ordination on May 11, 1961.
Wilfrid had a very high ideal of obedience. When he joined the community, he had intended and hoped to give up scientific work altogether. However Abbot Sylvester Mooney had other ideas and, saying this would be a waste of talent, told him to develop his skills in the service of the community. This caused him some pain at first, but in a spirit of obedience he accepted and indeed as he found his talents in engineering and communications technology were highly valued and of help to the community, he grew to enjoy the work. During his noviciate, he was asked to design a large open barn and tractor garage, and he supervised its building by the whole group of novices.
Then he was asked to plan and install, in conjunction with fellow novice Br Swithun McLoughlin, the first internal house telephone system, which served the community for some thirty years; for this he bought a large quantity of old fashioned telephones from the G.P.O. for five shillings each, which he painstakingly repaired or cannibalised. Later he created the electric bell system, still in use, and the first amplification system for the Abbey Church. He helped design and did most of the construction work on the Douai exhibition stand for the Vocations Exhibition at Olympia in 1965, as well as being part of the team manning the stall. He was always in his element when designing and building something, whether it was combined desk, bed and storage facilities for the school dormitories, the abbey church car park, the monastery website, or, just recently, the new heating system for St Mary's Parish Church. Indeed the happiest phase of his life was when he was assistant bursar with responsibility for buildings, from 1987 until his death.
right FR Wilfrid demolishing the former pump house, latterly used for apiary equipment, in 1963 to make way for the building of the monastery.
One of the ventures Wilfrid set up at Douai, under obedience to the abbot, was the amateur radio station. He had been a ham radio practitioner for many years, having the call sign G3GBL. When he was in Ceylon he had kept in contact with his mother by radio, since the postal service took a long time in those days. One of his correspondents wrote; "back in England he carried out research for the French research organisations on Radio Propagation across the English Channel. As a radio amateur, he was known across the world, especially in many Catholic Missions in remote areas where often the only means of communication was by radio." In August 1957 he erected a sixty foot aerial over his radio shack which, incidentally, enabled him to receive transmissions from the first earth satellite in November of that year. He made many friends and contacts on the air. When our monks were studying in Louvain or Rome, he enabled them to keep in touch by listening in to his broadcasts. When the monks of Worth Abbey were planning their foundation in Peru, Wilfrid suggested they install a radio in their monastery there to keep in touch, and he helped Fr Bede Hill acquire sufficient knowledge and skill to pass the
necessary exam to set up their radio station in the Apurimac valley; he was the first to be in contact when the station was up and running. Many of his radio contacts sent messages of condolence, among them former members of the Radio Society of Ceylon which he had been instrumental in setting up in 1949. Another was Fr Boniface Dinkel OSB of Peramiho Abbey in Tanzania, with whom he had a weekly conversation. Wilfrid was a member of Newbury Radio Society, who took charge of his log books and equipment after his death. He had over the years published many articles of research in the R.S.G.B. bulletin and other periodicals.
Fr Wilfrid in his radio shack.
Naturally, Fr Wilfrid's talents were required for teaching in the school attached to the monastery. He taught chemistry and physics until having to take over as head of the physics department in January 1966 upon the sudden death of Fr Paulinus Cunningham OSB, a post he held until becoming headmaster of Douai School in April 1975. One of the responsibilities he took on was running the school workshop. With his team of pupils he set about improving the electric system for the gymnasium and theatre, which included making a battery of stage lights from old biscuit tins. In addition, he constructed new stage machinery for moving and changing scenery. He always had an eye to the future; in 1970 or 1971 he obtained an old computer from the A.W.R.E. at Aldermaston so that Douai was one of the first schools to have one. Immediately he set about studying computers so as to teach and encourage pupils in their use. Many of the boys who were part of his workshop, or who had him as physics teacher went to on to pursue careers as engineers and in electronics.
It was only under obedience that he undertook the position of headmaster,
a role that was always uncongenial for him, but in which he had considerable success. He was never happier than when Abbot Gregory Freeman accepted his request to give up this position after thirteen years. Although he had been a successful headmaster, it had cost him a great deal, and sadly, shortly after relinquishing the post, he had his first heart attack. However, in the role of headmaster, Wilfrid had an undoubted presence, as boys under his care would be the first to testify; in fact the staff too were in considerable awe of him. His shyness made it difficult for him to be relaxed in the complicated network of relationships which the position demands. He was perhaps most at home in the practical aspects, whether in the ingenious improvements of rooms and construction of furniture or the construction of the timetable for which he wrote his own computer programme. This evolved over the years into a sophisticated and user-friendly instrument, which was remarkably flexible in accommodating the competing demands of different departments.
In the telephone exchange
Wilfrid made valiant efforts to be relaxed and sociable. He would invite the prefects to watch "Tom and Jerry" cartoons with him, and would happily eat chocolate cake with the resident matrons; it was not unknown for members of staff who wanted something to be dropped into Wilfrid's ear to ask the matron to slip it in between slices of cake.
As a teacher he had a great influence on many boys, as so many messages of condolence from past pupils gave witness. In an email, one past pupil wrote: 'he had a rather forbidding manner, but it didn't take long to see through to the kindly man behind the stern exterior'. The gruff exterior was the evidence of a great shyness, which he fought to overcome, but which made social contact difficult for him. Nevertheless, he would go to immense trouble to help someone solve a problem or repair a piece of equipment. Another former student wrote: "It was a real privilege to have met Fr Wilfrid. He had the sharpest mind I have ever encountered, and was extremely practical. Whatever the problem, he would think up a most ingenious and original solution, and then undertake the practical side of the job with breathtaking ability and speed. How he ever managed to acquire such a wide range of skills I will never know. But what really made the man was that his religious faith seemed as real as the tools and materials he used for working with his hands. His life and work, seemed to me, to be a continuous prayer in themselves. As a living example of a complete faith in the Almighty he was a real example to us all. Like many others, I owe a great debt to this shy but wonderful man. His intellect, his practical approach to problem solving, his steadfastness, and his faith have been a real education. Even the way he read the Gospel at Mass - although 'reading' doesn't do justice to his style of oratory."
For many years Wilfrid was a member of the abbot's council and he had served the community as its delegate to General Chapter and as Economus of the mission fund. He had been administrative secretary for the building appeal when the monastery was being built in the sixties. To facilitate the work of the appeal, he acquire a ciné camera and created the Douai films, which included the whole process of cutting and splicing and adding the commentary. These films are now important archive material.
For the EBC, he became a member and secretary of the Theology Commission which was established by General Chapter in response to the Vatican Council's request for religious to re-discover the charisms of their founders. One member wrote in a letter of appreciation, "with cheerful efficiency he saw through all the paper work and posting-out and it was largely due to his contribution that the proceedings ever reached their final outcome in the publication of the book Consider your Call".
With the advent of the internet, at the request of Abbot Finbar Kealy, Wilfrid designed and set up the monastery web site, and continued as webmaster until his death. The Abbot President appointed him as a member of the EBC Internet Commission. He took part in the two courses the Commission organised at Worth Abbey to help smaller monastic communities develop their own web sites. The prioress of St Bernard's Slough wrote in appreciation of the tremendous amount of help he gave in constructing a web site for the Bernadines, commenting on his great kindness 'putting himself out to be of service'.
Wilfrid was always an accurate and reliable if unrefined cantor. He had for a short time been choirmaster, at the period when English was being introduced into the liturgy. Indeed he composed the antiphons for our first fully sung English office, Christmas Matins, some of which are still in use. However as he was never able to master reading music on a five line stave and could not understand key signatures, he resigned when he realised that five line music was going to become commonly used.
Each year Wilfrid spent his holiday near Porthmadog in North Wales; it was during his stay there in September 2002 that he suffered a major heart problem and was hospitalised for three weeks, which left him with only a third of his heart functioning. He knew then that his life was limited and the doctors advised him that heart surgery was not an option. He took St Benedict's teaching 'to keep death constantly before one's eyes' to heart. Although weakened he never gave up; on the morning of the day he had his final attack he had attended a meeting of the bursar's team, and in the afternoon had sought to rectify an electrical fault. That very week he had returned from holiday in Porthmadog, which he had spent in company with Fr John Bolton OSB. He had enjoyed that holiday, and what was the last photograph of him, taken by Fr John, is printed here. It shows Wilfrid sitting in the Corris coach on a journey on the Talylyn Railway.
Wilfrid had a simple but deep spirituality. He was attached to his priesthood; during the last year of his life, when he was unable to rise early for Matins and conventual Mass, he faithfully celebrated Mass each day in the monastery infirmary for the elderly monks who resided there. He had great devotion to Our Lady; he claimed to owe his vocation to Fatima, whither he had gone on pilgrimage in 1953. He was a person of simple tastes. He had little understanding of sports or art; his recreation was limited to doing crosswords, solving jigsaw puzzles and enjoying 'Tom & Jerry' films. Wilfrid was always faithful to community prayer, to his daily rosary and meditation, to the common life and personal frugality. His death has left a big gap in the community who owe him a great debt of gratitude. May he rest in peace.
Index
Fr Wilfrid Sollom - Personal Tributes
The Abbey of Saints Adrian and Denis, Lamspringe, Germany by Abbot Geoffrey Scott
Spirituality in the Workplace by David Westcott
From The Douai Magazine 100 Years Ago
Douai Abbey Newsletter 19 including Community Notes
Go to index of Douai Newsletter.