Orlando Francis Xavier deSouza was born in Goa, India to Tito Fermin and Alina Maria deSouza on the second of December 1928, the day before the feast of Goa’s patron saint—St. Francis Xavier. His early life was spent in Uganda, where his father was a medical general practitioner. He was the third of 6 siblings, one of whom died in childhood. At the age of 14, during World War II, he made the harrowing journey across the Indian ocean from Africa to India in a dhow, a small sailing boat with 40 others crowded on board.
Orlando had a very logical and analytical mind, which suited his chosen career in engineering. He excelled at a prestigious engineering college in Poona, India. Following graduation, he saw the benefits of working within a booming oil industry and joined Caltex (the international arm of a Texaco Chevron partnership). He met his wife Frances Sequeira through a group of College friends. They were married in 1956, and remained happily so for 63 years.
In 1956 Orlando was assigned to manage the refinery in Calcutta, India where the family was expanded to include two daughters (Nandita and Roxana) and a son (Romualdo). In 1964 they moved to Bombay where Orlando worked until 1970, interrupted by a sabbatical year at the University of Detroit, USA spent obtaining a Masters in Engineering. During this time the family was blessed by the addition of the youngest daughter, Shana. With the Middle-East oil boom, Orlando was posted to Dubai to set up the refinery there, as the city rapidly grew from a desert landscape into a thriving international metropolis. All through this, Frances remained an immense support in raising the family while teaching at St. Mary’s Catholic school.
In 1975 Orlando was re-assigned to the New York office of Caltex, and the family moved to Fairfield, Connecticut, and in 1981, when Caltex moved its headquarters to Las Colinas, Dallas, Orlando transferred to Dallas and settled in north Dallas. Over that time he was blessed with three sons-in law (Stephen, Vince and David) and one daughter-in-law (Kelly), 8 grandchildren (Sean, Stephanie, Camilla, Sophie, Katrina, Zarya, Claire and Natalie) and three great-grandchildren (Nina, Alban Francis and Luca) all of whom loved and cherished their time with him, his many words of wisdom, insights, jokes and stories. He and Frances worshipped at All Saints Catholic Church for nearly 40 years and were involved in many parish activities. After he retired, he regularly attended daily mass and led the rosary. He had a strong Catholic faith, which he passed on to his children and grandchildren.
On his retirement from Caltex in 1991, Orlando worked for Mobil as a consultant and moved to Hong Kong for four years where he designed and implemented the aviation fuelling systems for the new Hong Kong airport. This project was a career capstone achievement of which he was very proud as it involved not only technical challenges but many difficult government negotiations.
The last two and a half years were spent initially at Christus St. Josephs Village in Coppell, where he lived independently with Frances, and then at Signature Pointe nursing facility. Although contact with the family outside Dallas was severely impacted by the Covid19 pandemic, regular Zoom calls allowed the family to gather together frequently and spend precious time with Orlando until the very end. He went peacefully and joyfully to eternal life on January 13th 2022.
He is predeceased by his loving wife Frances and his three brothers Romualdo, Wilfred and Michael. He leaves his sister Noemia, four children, eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
May he rest in peace.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18