Fr. Edward Niesen, S.J.

By Fr. John Locke, S.J.
(From the Nepal Region’s 50th Anniversary Book, 2001)

Born in 1908 in Chicago, Fr. Niesen joined the Society in 1926. He came to India in 1933 and, after regency, completed his studies at St. Mary’s, Kurseong. After tertianship he joined Fr. Moran in the founding of St. Xavier’s School in Patna, becoming the vice-principal then principal when Fr. Moran went to Nepal. By 1954 the school at Jawalakhel had been opened for the primary students and Fr. Niesen came to Nepal to take up the work of principal of Godavari High School and superior of the Jesuits in Nepal.

It was above all Fr. Niesen who moulded Godavari School into the fine educational institution which it still remains today. He was a mathematics teacher and took up the task of teaching math in all the senior classes. But his expertise extended far beyond the classroom, the principal’s office, and infirmary. By the time he arrived, Godavari School was in need of more facilities, so he became a master builder, remodelling and reshaping the odd buildings left from the Rana days to include a new kitchen, a library, a science lab, more classrooms, etc., and the Jesuit residence at Nara Mahal.

He was a great sportsman and with General Nara Shamsher conducted the entire sports programme in Nepal that was organised to celebrate the coronation of King Mahendra in 1956. When Fr. Watrin became the principal at Godavari, Fr. Niesen moved to Jawalakhel to take over the junior school and built the “new” building at Jawalakhel, one of the first structures in Nepal using the then novel reinforced concrete pillars and slabs.

By 1968 Fr. Niesen’s health had deteriorated. He was a life-long sufferer of asthma, and as the years went on, it became difficult to continue at the altitude of Kathmandu. He was asked by the provincial to move to Delhi to take over the junior section of the new venture in Delhi where he put all his skills to good use to build up that school, a task he continued until his death in March of 1974.

Despite his return to India, Nepal remained his first love, and he paid one last visit to Nepal a few years before his death. It was at that time that his greatest gift became obvious as the teachers of the two schools, the carpenters, masons, and workers gathered round to greet him and recall the “old days.”

He always surrounded himself with people who were loyal and generous to the school and who emulated him in their labours. It was always easy to take over after Fr. Niesen because of the staff he had trained and left behind. With the students he was strict, but as many would later recall, he also loved them. He had a special soft spot for the difficult students – those who had difficulty in learning or were discipline problems.

One of his constant refrains to the young Jesuits in Nepal was that, above all, the students need encouragement. “A school,” he used to say, “is not judged by the number of First Divisions. The best students will do well, because of, or in spite of the school. A school is judged by whether or not it can get ALL the students through the exam with good results, especially the poorer and the middling students.”