After obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nairobi, Victor embarked on a career with the Kenya Government. His career progressed, and he entered the Kenya Army, attaining the senior rank of Colonel by the time he retired.

In addition to a successful career, Victor had a rich personal life. He courted and married Maria Rosita Ursula Cardozo and together they had 4 children - Dolcette, Dwen, Derwyn & Darryl. As loving parents they raised their children to respect God and other people. In addition to his active involvement with the local social clubs in Kenya, Victor invested a considerable amount of time and effort in other charitable organizations. These included the Edeval homes, the Society for the Blind and a number of educational institutions including Parklands School. He especially enjoyed his involvement with the Kenya Amateur Boxing Society. This active desire to help others would continue for all his life.

In 1982, he immigrated with his family to Canada and embarked on a new chapter of his life.
Starting afresh in a new country was a daunting task but Victor, with his wife Rosita, continued to guide their four children, encouraging them to succeed in their education and carrier. He took great pride in seeing his children mature into adults and celebrated with them as each got married, welcoming their spouses - Andrew, Cora, Velda & Kelly into the family. His joy was further increased with the birth of each of his 9 grandchildren; Ashlin, Palma-Rosita, Brice, Shea, Alex, Cara, Antonia-Victoria, Luke & Marc-Anthony. One of his favorite pastimes would be to sit on the beach playing in the sand with his grandchildren and then take them for ice cream.

Victor continued to share himself with the larger community. His compassion and energy led to his involvement with many causes and organizations. The Knights of Columbus played a large role in his later life, and he took pride and satisfaction in his involvement. He was invested as a Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. While Victor received recognition for his good work, it was his quite efforts for which he should be noted - from having an ear to listen, a voice to advise, and a helping hand to assist who were people in need.

At his death Victor was at peace with his God and loved by his family and friends.

Thank you most sincerely Rosita and all members of your family for giving me this opportunity to pay tribute to Victor who I had the unique privilege of knowing for the past 60 years.

Dear friends, we are all gathered here to pay our respects and to also say goodbye to a great Goan who made Canada proud during the past 22 years in this country and whom we have known in many different ways. Some of us knew him as a relative, others as a good friend, yet others for humanitarian services he rendered to this country as a member of the Knights of Columbus.

My relationship with Victor started one generation back with our respective parents being very close friends. In fact, I had the honour to be one of the pageboys for his parent’s wedding. Victor was born in Tanga, Tanganyika, (now Tanzania, East Africa), and was the first child of the late John and Maggie Cardozo. He grew up in Nairobi, Kenya with his two brothers, the late Anthony and the late Walter and his sister Philomena who now lives in Bombay, India. Unfortunately, Philomena is not able to be here with us today due to circumstances beyond her control. During Victor’s early childhood, his family used to visit Goa frequently and that is where I met him for the first time when he was just 5 years old.

It is during this time at our early age that we developed a fond liking for each other. As our respective parents were good friends we naturally visited each other’s house frequently. Victor, his brother and I played all sorts of games but one that Victor always remembered and talked about was football, otherwise known as soccer in this part of the world. Victor claimed it was I who taught him how to play soccer. Our soccer ball was made of old stocking and pieces of discarded clothing. What I remember most is that I taught Victor to make the Star of David out of bamboo sticks during Christmas, as he was always eager to learn new things from that young age. These happy memories remained in our hearts and we reminisced whenever an opportunity arose. Unfortunately, Victor remained in Goa for about 2 years when his father decided to take them all back to Nairobi, Kenya. We therefore parted our ways and as fate would have it our paths crossed again in 1956 when I went to Kenya. Ever since then we maintained the bond, which we began as little boys and continued to be good friends.

Victor did his schooling in Nairobi after which he joined the Kenya Government in the Ministry of Education in the personnel department and later in the Ministry of Labour. He worked his way up through hard work and dedication and rose quite fast to become the senior personnel officer. Victor then moved to join the Kenya Army as a captain. Here again, through his hard work and perseverance he rose to the senior rank of Colonel. He was the first Non-African to attain this high rank in the hierarchy of the Kenya Army.

Victor married his childhood sweetheart, Rosita in 1962. Together they were blessed with 4 special children - Dolcette, Dwen, Derwyn & Darryl. He was always so proud of them and used to always say that he felt blessed to have such good children. I know that he loved them very much and would do anything for them. Above all, Victor was truly a family man. To him his wife Rosita was the love of his life; his darling daughter Dolcette was the apple of his eye; his outstanding sons, Dwen, Derwyn and Darryl were his pillars of strength. He was very fond of his handsome son-in-law Andrew and his pretty daughter- in- laws, Cora, Velda and Kelly. His beautiful grandchildren Ashlin, Palma-Rosita, Brice, Shea, Alex, Cara, Antonia-Victoria, Luke & Marc-Anthony made his life complete. He would spend a lot of time with his grandchildren and would spoil them by giving them whatever they asked for. Even though Victor had a great future in Kenya, he decided to migrate to Canada, which he did in 1982 in order to give his children good education and a stable future. Indeed his sacrifice paid off as his children are all well settled and are doing very well for themselves.

Victor was well known for his involvement in various social clubs and organizations both in Kenya and in Canada. In Kenya he was the only ex-student to become chairman of the board of governors of his Alma Mater, Parklands school. In Canada, in recognition of his humanitarian work he was knighted by our Holy Father, Pope Paul the second in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He has also received the sovereign order of the Knights of the Order of Malta for his services to Canada and the third world.

Victor was remarkably known for his fear of God and for his positive spirit that attracted many people to him. This was very much evident during his illness as he was the one giving all of us the strength as he fought his battle with cancer courageously. He would always say that his fate was left to the Will of God. Victor was an obedient servant of the Lord and we trust that he is rejoicing in Heaven. He will be dearly missed and will always be remembered for his warmth, kindness and for his generosity. On behalf of me, my family and all of you gathered here, I offer to Rosita, Dolcette, Dwen, Derwyn, Darryl and their families, our sincere heartfelt condolences. Please know that your loss and pain is shared by all of us here and many others who were unable to be with us today. May God comfort you and give you strength at this difficult time.

I would like to end by dedicating this poem to Victor:

God looked around his Garden and found an empty place.
He then looked down upon his earth and saw your loving face.
He put his arms around you and lifted you to rest.
His Garden must be beautiful, he always takes the best.
He saw your path was difficult, he closed your tired eyes,
He whispered to you "Peace be Thine" and gave you wings to fly.
You've left us precious memories, your love will be our guide,
You live on through your children, and you’re always by our side.
It broke our hearts to lose you, but you did not go alone.
For part of us went with you on the day God called you home.

Adieus meu amigo, rest in peace. Until we meet again.
Your everlasting friend,
Tony