Because of his sense of fun, Bernardino d'Assumpção was from an early age universally known as "Riri" (from rir = to laugh in Portuguese). He always loved sport: hunting especially with his lifelong friend [PERSON:H:10546] Leonel Carvalho (there were still wild pigs and deer in the New Territories then), soccer, swimming, running in an "unbeatable relay team" with Leonel and Alvaro Carvalho, Hugh and Tony Braga and fishing with Marcus Gaan.

He developed a unique technique for sack races: he would hold the sack tight at waist height, push his toes into the corners, and move rapidly with very short steps. This proved so successful that gymkhana organisers would penalise him with a handicap of many metres, but even in middle age he would leave far behind men 30 years his junior.

Riri always regretted that he had never been given the opportunity to pursue a tertiary education (his older brother Joãozinho was the only sibling sent to Portugal to study), and later improved himself through correspondence courses in commercial law and accountancy. Before World War II, he had a clerical job at a firm called Dodwell in Hong Kong. When the Japanese invaded in 1941, the family of five, with their loyal amah Ah Yee, moved as refugees to Macau and lived for a while with his father-in-law António Luiz, and then in a tiny rented apartment. After the war, Riri set up a small company trading in imports and exports.

He and his wife Alzira made sacrifices to send their two older sons Carlinhos and Quito to be educated in Adelaide, Australia. The post-war sons, António and Marcus followed later, and the rest of the family migrated to Adelaide in 1964. Riri produced three unpublished works: a brief autobiography, a set of anecdotes about old Macau and a family history, which he distributed privately to family and friends. Some of his anecdotes are reproduced on this website. In his old age he suffered from emphysema, the result of many years of smoking, and died of cancer at the age of 88.

Henry d'Assumpção .