<div dir="ltr">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><a name="_GoBack"></a><span>With great sadness we announce the death of John Okell (b June 1934, d 3
Aug 2020) after being diagnosed with a brain tumour at the end of June. He died
peacefully and painlessly surrounded by his family. His brief illness took everyone
unaware, initially manifesting as drowsiness. <span></span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span><span> </span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span>John was Lecturer
and then Senior Lecturer in Burmese at SOAS from 1959 until his retirement in
1999, after which he started running annual short Burmese courses in Chiang Mai
and then from 2009 in Yangon. John also taught at the Southeast Asian Summer
Studies Institute (SEASSI) held in the US for several summers during the 1980s
and 1990s.<span></span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span><span> </span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span>In 1969, John
wrote an extensive two volume <i>A Reference Grammar of Colloquial Burmese</i>,
the first of its kind in its comprehensiveness, and later with his SOAS
colleague Anna Allott, co-authored <i>Burmese/Myanmar Dictionary of Grammatical
Forms</i> in 2001. In between, he developed a four-volume course for learning
Burmese with sound recordings<i>.</i> John
researched several Burmese dialects (Rakhaing, Intha, Tavoyan and Yaw), which
culminated in a major publication in 1995. Through his work, John encouraged
the study of one of Southeast Asia’s less taught languages, one for which
relatively few resources had existed. <span></span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span><span> </span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span>Anyone who worked
with John or had him as a student will remember him for his patience and gentle
humour, and his great skill as a teacher. He brought a great depth of knowledge
and enthusiasm to the classroom, which his students appreciated. John always
seemed interested in helping students learn, whatever their aptitudes or
abilities. After retirement, John stayed immersed in Burmese, listening to
broadcasts and reading widely. In the digital age, he picked up on new expressions
on social media. <span></span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span><span> </span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span>John leaves behind
his wife Sue, their two children Tom and Lucy, and five grandchildren. He will
be missed by a huge number of colleagues, students and friends. Due to Covid 19
restrictions, the family plan a small private funeral on August 18<sup>th</sup>,
and John will be buried in the Chiltern Hills not far from their home in North
Barnett. <span></span></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span> </span></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span>Justin Watkins and Patrick McCormick</span></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span><br></span></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span>PS for those interested, I attach the obituary of the Britain Burma Society, which mentions John's OBE, and a link to an essay one of his students wrote in his memory.</span></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span><br></span></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><font size="4"><span><a href="https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/john-okell-remembering-a-gentle-giant-of-burmese-teaching/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/john-okell-remembering-a-gentle-giant-of-burmese-teaching/</a></span></font></span></p>
</div>