Fr. John Blanchard, S.J.

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

Born in 1916 Fr. Blanchard entered the Society in 1934. He completed his entire training in the U.S. After coming to India he joined the “Mission Band,” group of Patna Jesuits who went all over India preaching parish missions, a task he was eminently suited for with his booming voice and his skills as a speaker and story teller. ln 1954 he to came Nepal. He immediately went to Godavari School where he taught English Literature and Scripture (which at that time was one of the Cambridge subjects). John was always a rather unorthodox teacher with a relaxed style. His classes were a sort of general education, not just English and Scripture.

He ranged over all subjects and current events. But he was at the same time an effective teacher. Year after year, the boys attained the highest marks in his subjects. John left Nepal in 1967 to take up different works in a wide variety of places: he was a parish priest in Ohio, a parish priest in Australia, and in his later years one of the pioneers of the Jesuit Refugee Service working first among the Cambodian Refugees in Thailand and then among Latin American refugees in Florida where his skills as an English teacher were once again put to good use.

Ill health forced him to retire to the Jesuit infirmary in Colombiere where he remains today, totally disabled by Lou Gehrig’s disease.