MY MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER, LAETITIA KATHERINE PIENAAR (BORN DEMEILON) WAS DESCENDED FROM AN ARISTOCRATIC FRENCH FAMILY WHO ESCAPED TO ENGLAND FROM FRANCE DURING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION SOME TIME IN THE YEAR 178O. THE FAMILY SETTLED IN ENGLAND WHERE THEY LIVED FOR CLOSE ON A HUNDRED YEARS. PART OF THE FAMILY EVENTUALLY EMIGRATED TO SOUTH AFRICA WHERE SHE WAS BORN. SHE MET AND MARRIED SOLOMAN JOHANNES PIENAAR IN 1874 AND EVENTUALLY BECAME MY MATERNAL GRAND PARENTS. THEY BOTH DIED IN 1929 WITHIN A MONTH OF EACH OTHER, OUPA FELL AND BROKE A HIP AND OUMA DIED OF DROPSY, THEY HAD BEEN MARRIED FOR FIFTY FIVE YEAR THEY HAD AND REARED SIX CHILDREN, TWO SONS AND FOUR DAUGHTERS.
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JOHANNES LODEWYK.
His friends all called him ( Lood) a name which stuck for the rest of his life. After leaving school he worked in the Addo Railway Station and was later transferred to Sandflats as Station Foreman. There he met and married a Knoesen girl (I do not remember her name) He married her much against his parents wishes, she was a very jealous and also a very cruel person with a vile temper. Why Oom Lood ever married her only goodness knows, as he was a quiet person who never lost his temper. She was just the opposite. If she got annoyed with him she would ill treat his pet dog as she knew that hurt him the most as he was terribly fond of his pet dog. She even went so far one day that she even poured boiling water on the dog just to hurt Oom Lood. Oom Lood had a very unhappy life married to her and he died very young. The family always surmised that she had something to do with his death, but I suppose to prevent a scandal no one ever did anything about it. One blessing was they never had any children.
HERMINA ALETTA.
She was known, to us children, as Aunty Minnie. We all loved her very much as she was indeed a very nice Aunty to us kids, I never once heard her raise her voice to any one. She also married against her parent’s wishes, why she did so, no one knew but she married Oom Lood’s wife’s brother, Ewert Knoesen. He was a very big man with a big brown beard that covered his whole face and spread right down over his chest. He was as lazy as ever anyone could ever be, all he ever did was sit and drink coffee, read his Bible and go hunting. He had a small farm at Sandflats there was a very nice fruit garden quite near the house. Aunty Minnie also had a very, unhappy marriage, as he treated her like a slave, but she never complained. Not only did she have to do all the housework and the food that had to be cooked with out the help of a maid. When all was done in the house she had to go out and help with the farm work as well, while he sat in the house drinking coffee and. Reading his Bible, people said that he nearly knew the Bible off by heart. The only pity is, he did not practise the principles that he read in the Bible. My Dad always said you could not carry on an intelligent conversation with him without him referring to the Bible and then quoting chapter and verse. Dad did not like Ewert Knoesen, but none of us did. Well that was the life Aunty Minnie had until she died quite young too. She had three daughters, they were Hester, Minnie and Susan Aunty Minnie and Aunty Babe were very much the same, quiet patient people like Ouma. My Mom and Aunty Toek were different they were impatient and quickly upset like Oupa was, they did not let others push them around. Aunty Minnie was heavily pregnant with her fourth child. It was harvest time and she had been busy all day in the land helping to load the bundles of wheat onto the wagon that rode the wheat to the threshing floor, that night she had a miscarriage and her son was still born. She haemorrhaged to such an extent that she died the next day. She and her baby boy were buried, both in the same coffin.
MARGARET ISABELLA.
Known to her family and friends as Bella, she married Robert James Newcombe, on the 4th July 1900. They were my Mom and Dad. Mom celebrated her twentieth birthday ten days after her wedding day, her birthday was on the 14th.Ju1y. Dad had turned twenty-nine on the 8th.April. They were married in St. Luke’s Anglican Church, at Addo where Mom was born and grew up. The Pienaar family were all Anglicans they were all baptised and confirmed in. St. Luke’s Church Mom and Dad spent their honeymoon at a hotel in Port Elizabeth. After the honeymoon they went and lived at Devonshire Park with the rest of the family. This arrangement did not please Mom at all as she did not get on with her sisters in law. The eldest one (Ann) was the worst one, she was the eldest and ruled supreme in the home and did her best to make Mom’s life as difficult as possible. She kept referring to Mom as that Dutch woman. Aunt Ann disliked Mom because Mom was the only one who did not knuckle under to Aunt Ann, and, of course this displeased her immensely as everybody else all bowed to her every wish except Mom.
This unpleasantness prevailed until the house on Dundonald was built and Mom and Dad moved out of Devonshire Park and went to live at Dundonald. There they spent the rest of their married life together (Fifty years and two months), when Mom died two months after they had celebrated their Golden Wedding. Mom had not been feeling too well so the doctor put her into St. Joseph’s Hospital for observation and tests. She had been in hospital for about two weeks when she had a heart attack during the night and passed away. We were notified only the next morning. That was in September 1950, Dad followed her in May 1952.
Mom and Dad spent 50 happy years together. They did have their tiffs like any other married couple, but their differences soon used to be ironed out and there were no grudges held against each other. Very often a row would start because of a misunderstanding. One must remember Dad was very deaf and often misunderstood what had been said, but when he had the correct view explained to his he would apologise and laugh it off. One must remember too that on account of his deafness, he also had a short temper, but I must say he kept it under control, when he had to. But, beware when it got out of hand, you made sure you put a good distance between you and Dad. Dad never punished any of us kids, that was Mom’s job. She never hesitated if she thought one deserved a caning, he got it no matter what or when, you got it! Mom never threatened, she did it, and when it was done it was over, she was Mommy again. As I said before there were no grudges held.
Dad never handled any finances, that was Mom’s job. If Dad sold sheep or cattle he would hand the money over to Mom. Mom used to cash the Market cheque at the shop. The Market cheque was for the butter, eggs, ducks, and fowls, which were sent to Templer & Co. Market Agents in Port Elizabeth.
Oh!!! What Joy we had when we got our first Motor Car, it was a 1928 Chevrolet tourer. It was second hand, we got it in 1929 it had done 12000 miles when we got it. What a pleasure it was to be able to just take it out of the garage and drive off to where you wanted to go, without first having to go and catch horses, and then inspan them to the cart before you could go anywhere. Then the same when you got back, first you had to outspan the horses and then put them back in the camp. Whereas now all you did was put the car back into the garage. Of course when we got the car it was like rubbing salt into old Aunt Ann’s wounds. The Dutch woman riding in a motor car when she still had to ride in a horse cart. The old Chev did us very well but it was such a nuisance when the weather turned bad and you had to put up side shield to keep the rain out, so in 1931 we the Chev in on an Overland Whippet Sedan. Now it was a real pleasure motoring because if the wind became unpleasant all you had to do was turn up a window. We had very good use out of the Whippet with its fingertip control. (The finger tip control worked like this. There was a button in the centre of the steering wheel, you pushed it sown for the hooter, you pulled it up for the starter, you turned it to the right for the headlights, and turned it to the left for your parking lights.) We had very good use out of the old Whippet, we even had a trip up to Johannesburg with it, and we had absolutely no trouble, there and back. In December 1934 Mom suggested that we should trade in the old Whippet on a new car. We went to William Hunt & Brook in Port Elizabeth, and traded in the old Whippet on a brand new six cylinder Standard Chevrolet Sedan. What a pleasure it was now to drive a six-cylinder car after having had a four cylinder for five years. A week after the new car Mom, Dad, Aunty Kit Morgan and I went to Cape Town in her. We spent an enjoyable three weeks in Cape Town, went a saw all the places of interest before motoring home again.
We still had the old Chevvy after Mom and Dad had passed away. By then she had done over a hundred and eighty thousand miles. Some years later I sold her to a chap who restored old veteran cars. When he had finished restoring her she looked like the car I drove out of Williams Hunt and Brook’s showroom in December 1934. I sold her in 1965 for R100,00.
I said somewhere else in these pages that Mom and Dad had fifty years of happy married life together they were not the types who showed their emotions for all the world to see but we knew it was there. Even we children were not shown affection but we knew it was there, that we were loved very much by our parents, and we were a very close family. Mom and Dad had five children.
LAETITIA KATHERINE.
She was named after our Granny (Mom’s Mother) she was known as Rene. I have not been able to find her date of birth. The inscription on her tombstone reads – fell asleep 25th. Oct. 1902 aged I4 months and 25 days, so I presume she must have been born on 1st. June 1901. Rene died of measles with complications. She is buried in the old cemetery on Devonshire Park next to Grandpa and Grandma Newcombe. I have not been able to find her date of birth. The inscription on her tombstone reads – fell asleep 25th. Oct. 1902 aged I4 months and 25 days, so I presume she must have been born on 1st. June 1901. Rene died of measles with complications. She is buried in the old cemetery on Devonshire Park next to Grandpa and Grandma Newcombe.
KATHLEEN SAUNDERS.
Was born on 3rd January 1903, Started school at Kinkelbos. The Teacher was a Miss Knoesen. Kathleen finished her schooling at Riebeek College in Uitenhage and then went to the Teachers Training College in Uitenhage after passing her Matric at Riebeek. After she qualified at the Teachers Training College, she got her first Teachers post at Aberdeen at a farm school. The School was on the farm DePoortjie belonging to Mr. F. J. Simpson. The farmhouse was very big, and Kathleen had the school in one of the rooms. There Kathleen taught the Simpson children as well as some children from neighbouring farms; Kathleen started off with nine Pupils ranging from. Std. 2 to Std. 5. Kathleen taught at DePootjie farm school for four years and then the school closed on account of a lack of pupils. I also went to De Poortjie for a year. Kathleen taught me in Std. 6 and I passed, I then went to Marist Brothers College in Uitenhage for Std. 7, but that is another story I will tell later.
When De Poortjie had to close, Kathleen saw in the school gazette that Green Bushes school committee was advertising for a teacher so she applied for the post and was accepted. The school building was on the farm of a Mr. Boje, after about a year the school room was too small to accommodate the pupils so a new school was built, which I believe is still being used Kathleen was principal of Greenbushes school for some years, and then the Nanaga School committee advertised for a teacher, she applied for the post as Nanaga was near home so she would be able to live at home while teaching at Nanaga. She got the post and taught there until Mrs. Reed who had been principal of Kinkelbos School for many years retired on pension. Kathleen applied for the post and was accepted. So Kathleen’s life cycle had made a complete circle, she had returned to Kinkelbos School where she started school as a little girl to be the Principal of that very same school thirty years later.
When Kathleen came to teach at Nanaga she lived at home, she bought herself a Shetland Pony, so she used to go to school every day on horse back, a distance of about five miles, and she never missed a day, rain or sunshine Kathleen never missed a day.
When Kathleen lied at home on Dundonald after coming to teach at Nanaga she took over playing the organ in Church from Mom who had been the organist for a number of years at St. Peters Church. Dad’s sister Aunty Ann had been the organist right from the time when the church was built she had even given her old organ to the church, that old organ is still there, that organ is over a hundred years old, St. Peters was built in 1910 So it has been in St. Peters Church now for eighty nine years. Mom had a very strong clear singing voice, so she used to lead the singing in church, and when Aunty Ann’s health gave in (she developed some sort of nervous complaint, her hands and arms used to shake and so did her head, like one with Parkinson’s Disease). Mom had to take over playing the organ, as there was no one else who could play the organ and Mom still led the singing as well, she knew all the words of the hymns by heart. Mom took over from Aunty Ann about 1922 and was organist till Kathleen took over from her in 1933. Kathleen was organist at St. Peters for forty-seven years and was terribly hurt when she was gradually eased out by the younger members of the congregation, to be replaced by a young woman who was living at Colchester. Her Father was the minister at Hermitage Addo. This woman (I could be wrong but I have an idea she was a Mrs. Scott) she was a divorcee only played in church for about a year and then went back to live in Port Elizabeth again. So there St. Peters was without an organist once again but Kathleen refused to help, she just carried on with her Sacristan work which she had taken over from Aunty May (Uncle John’s wife) in I962 when she took ill she had cancer. Aunty May had taken over the Sacristan work from Dad’s sister Aunty Maud who had been Sacristan right from when the church was built until the and old aunt Ann moved to live in an old age home in Port Elizabeth in 1953 .
Dad’s brother Uncle Will and his old wife (she was known to us as Aunty Annie Willie to distinguish her from the other Aunty Ann) lived on their farm Sea View, which was right next to Dundonald. Uncle Will died in 1948 and Aunty Annie Willie lived alone on the farm with her old servant girl Emily who slept in the kitchen. This went on until Edna and I got married in I962. Then Kathleen was living alone with her old servant girl Nosistjie at Dundonald. Then Aunty Annie Willie asked Kathleen if she could come and live with her at Dundonald, Kathleen agreed and Aunty Annie Willie lived there with her until she died in 1966. Kathleen nursed her to the end. After Aunty Annie died Kathleen lived alone again. In the meantime Nosistiie had also died so Kathleen had Hetens wife sleeping there, her name was Lizzie. Kathleen carried on with her Sacristan work at the church until she took ill with Shingles in 1984. The Shingles nearly killed her, she had it all over her face and head and the top part of her body. She was in St. George’s Hospital for two weeks. After she came out of Hospital she lived with Edna and I at 0akhill for two months, but as soon as she found she could do things for herself she said she wanted to go back to Dundonald, which she did.
We sold the farm Dundonald in 1985 and Kathleen came and lived with Edna and I at Oakhill. We bought a Mobile Home for her to live in, as she said she wanted to feel independent, we put up the caravan (as we called it) in the front garden and Kathleen lived and slept there but had meals with us in the house. The Mobile Home was very comfortable to live in, there was a bedroom with two built in cupboards, and there were two windows and a little dressing table with drawers under one of the windows. Then there was a dressing room with toilet and a shower, and next to that was the dining room kitchen combined, in it was a sink, a dresser with cupboards and for crockery and cutlery, a stove and refrigerator. The cupboard had a vinyl tabletop. Then there was also a small table with two seats. Next to this was the little lounge where you came in. The whole set up was very comfortable indeed, it was wired throughout for electricity so I just connected it to our farm power.
Kathleen lived in the Caravan at Oakhill for a year, but then she decided to go and live with a niece in Uitenhage where she stayed until she passed away very suddenly on the 20th. April 1987. She is buried in the family cemetery at St. Peters Church Kenkelbos. Kathleen never married. She was a teacher all her life you can say. She was pensioned in 1963, she had been a teacher for forty years.
RICHARD JOHN HECTOR.
Known in the family and to all his intimate friends as BOET, This is actually what Oupa used to call him. The name of Boet stuck to him for the rest of his life, very much to the disgust of the Newcombe aunts who all called him Hector, which was really his last name but Aunty Poll’s son who was born before Boet was also christened Richard after Grandpa Newcombe. He was known as Dick, so to prevent confusion Boet was called by his last name Hector, which was actually a name Mom had chosen for him. Boet was a very tiny and a very frail baby when he was born and was not expected to live. So Dad got the Weslian parson to christen him when he was only one day old. Mom went to Oupa’s sister, Aunt Maggie who was married to Uncle Bill Dansey, they lived at Sandflats, Uncle Bill’s sister Aunt Emma Dansey was a Maternity nurse and she attended to Mom with the birth.
Well as I said Boet was very tiny and was not expected to live but he survived, Mom told us that he could have fitted into a shoe box when he was born, but Mom never told us if he was a premature baby or not. He grew tin to be a very healthy robust boy. He was Oupa’s favourite as he was his first Grand son and also was named John after Oupa’s name Johannes.
Boet grew up a real farmer he was always busy doing something, he was also very fond of animals. Dad got Freek Grassmann to make a wagon for Boet as he said he wanted to train two goats to pull it. Well, when he got the wagon he did train two goats to pull it and he used to go all over the farm with his wagon pulled by the two goats. He often took the Seed to the 1and on his wagon pulled by the two goats for Dad when he was doing the sowing. Mom always said that he used to do all sorts of other jobs for her as well with his little wagon pulled by the goats. I have a photo of him with his wagon and goats, with Kathleen sitting on the wagon. You will find it in one of my books.
Hector was a very clever little chap at school too, his teacher, Mrs. Reed said she had never had a pupil before who could work things out in his head as fast as Hector could. He was very good in all his other subjects and excelled in arithmetic, he passed standard seven at the age of fourteen, and as standard seven was considered well educated in those days he left school and went to work for Mr. Harry Naylor who had the shop at Kinkelbos. He worked for Naylor for a number of years for only f5‑0‑0 a month. So as Naylor said he could not afford to pay Hector more he left and went to help Dad on the farm. Mr. Tom Smith who had the shop at Colchester suffered a lot with Asthma, so he often used to send for Hector to go and help him in the shop. As I said d before Hector always kept himself busy, he hired a few blacks to chop wood for him, block labour eras very cheap those days. A black man got 10 shillings a month plus a bucket of mealies a week as rations. Hector rode the wood to town and sold it for a shilling a bag. A wagon load consisted of one hundred bags, but Hector always put on about ten more bags to pay for outspan fees. A trip to town and back took about three to four days. Hector did the trip mostly in three days. He saved the money he got for the wood and bought heifers wherever he could. At that time you could buy a weaned heifer calf for one pound. After a couple of years he had quite a nice herd of cattle as the first heifers he had bought had now calved already.
Early in 1926 Harry Naylor told ‘Dad that on account of his health he could not carry on with the shop anymore, so Dad advertised the shop and a Mr. Herbert Smith, who had been farming at Coega came and hired the shop from Dad. The Smith family were Herbert, his wife Hilda and their two daughters Edna and Phyllis. Mr. Smith ran the shop for just under a year. About a week before Christmas Mr. Smith and Edna took ill with a type of flu, Edna got better but Mr. Smith died on the 26th. December 1926. This caused a terrible upset to the family but Mrs. Smith decided to carry on with the shop as that was their only income she could have. Mrs. Smith then asked Hector if he was prepared to come and manage the shop for her, which he did. After about a year he moved his cattle down to the shop and started. farming there as Well as running the shop for Mrs. Smith. He built a small milking shed to milk the cows in, he had already bought a separator so he separated the milk and made butter, which he sent to market. After some time he stopped making butter and then: sent the cream to Chelsea dairy which was then owned by a Mr. Whitehead. Mrs. Smith retired in 1933 and then Hector took over the shop. He and Edna (Mrs. Smith’s eldest daughter) became engaged and they were married in January 1934. Hector was made Justice of the Peace in 1937 he was only 32 years old. Edna and Hector’s second child Denise was born in July 1938. They now had two daughters the eldest one Barbara was born in March; 1937.
Everything was going well then the war broke out in 1939 and Hector signed on. Those who had signed on were liven a bit of training here in Port Elizabeth a few times but were suddenly called up in May 1940 they were sent up to a camp near Pretoria called Sonderwater.
Now this is where I had to come into the picture. Before he was called up, Hector had made no arrangements about the running of his business and his farming. I knew nothing about running a shop, all I knew was to serve in the shop which I had done when Hector and Edna had gone on holiday. I knew nothing about keeping books and also nothing about doing the buying for the shop, so he gave me a, sort of crash course on running the shop. Gave me two chequebooks of signed cheques and said there is my shop look after it for me. I am also leaving my wife and children in you care, please look after them for me, I know you can. So what could I do? I just said alright Boet I promise to do my best. He just said Aubrey I know you will. He managed to get leave a month later and then he arranged for Edna to have his power of attorney, so that she could sign the cheques. He did come a few times after that and they were sent north to join the other forces in Kenya before being sent to Somaliland and Ethiopia where the Italians were waging the war against the Abyssinian Emperor Haile Selassi.
When the war ended in Ethiopia they were sent North to Egypt. Hector was up the North African coast as far as Tobruk. A lot of South African Soldiers were taken prisoner by the Germans at Tobruk, but Hector was among the lucky ones. They managed to get out of Tobruk before the Germans over ran the place. He was writing a letter to Edna the night that the battle of Allemein began. He said it was like a terrible thunderstorm when the big cannons started, with the flashes of light and the terrible explosions of cannon fire. I said some where further back that Hector used to keep shop for Mr. Torn Smith at Colchester. Mr. and Mrs. Tom Smith’s son, Jimmy was killed that night in the battle of Allemain.
In the mean time things were going very well in the shop and on the farm. We had had very rood rains and reaped a very good crop of mealies in I942, over two thousand bags. This gave the business a very good boost and I was very pleased for Hector’s sake, and then tragedy struck. On a Saturday afternoon 11th September I942, Edna’s Mother (Mrs. Smith) had a stroke, went unconscious and passed away the next evening. This event now caused a hell of a to do in the family. Mrs. Smith had been living at the shop ever since Hector had left, so now that she was gone, the family said Edna and I could not live there alone. So after the funeral Edna, was taken to go and stay with her uncle Harold Worraker on his farm Bloemhof until such time that they could get Hector out of the army. Edna and Cecil Newcombe who had now become Justice of the peace, went to the Magistrate at Alexandria as well as Army Head Quarters at the Eastern Province Command but could get no satisfaction. Hector only came back from Egypt in 1943 a year after Mrs. Smith’s death and then he was stationed in Durban for some months censoring letters before he got his discharge in 1944.
Edna and her children stayed at Bloemhof with her Uncle and Aunt for a month. She then said she was not staying there any longer as she felt it was unfair to be sitting there doing nothing, while I was doing all the work of running the shop and the farm all by myself. She said it was not fair to do all the work for Hector while she was sitting on the farm there doing nothing. She said she did not care what people would think or say but she was going back to the shop. So Edna phoned me and I must come up on the Sunday to fetch her and the children as was coming back to live at the shop. Hector did get a months compassionate leave after he came back to South Africa from Egypt in 1943, but he did have to go back to the army until he got his discharge in 1944. In the mean time Edna and I lived alone at the shop without causing any trouble. We just minded our own business, if people did speak we never heard anything.
It took Hector quite some time to adjust from army to civilian life again. I never realised that the army could change a person to such an extent in a few years. He had become very impatient. Hector had always had a. temper but it had now become very short and he would rant and rave for no reason at all. This caused upsets with the staff and there were times when they threatened to leave. I then had to intervene and smooth things out.
Eventually he got his old personality back and settled down and I went back to Dundonald to help Dad. I then started building the milking shed at Dundonald.
After Hector had settled down and became his old self again, he ran his shop and did his farming as he had always done before he went to the army. The only thing he could not get over was the way prices of shop goods had increased during the few years that he had been away in army. Hector was injured in a motor car accident in 1958. He was driving his cows home along the road one Sunday afternoon, when Harry Reed and his sister were coming from Port Elizabeth. Harry’s sister was driving, and she rode into Hector from the back. His right leg was broken and he sustained other internal injuries. Hector was never the same person again. He was in and out of hospital a number of times and in the end he died of an aneurysm of the aorta which Dr. Stirton said was a result of the accident he had had when the Reeds ran: into him. Hector died during the night 13th. December 1960. Edna and I were at his bedside when he passed away. Mr. Richards was with us, he had come all the way from Alexandria to be there when Hector passed away. Mr. Richards was the Anglican Parson at Alexandria. I suppose I should have said the Rev. Mr: Richards. Hector is buried in St. Peters Church cemetery at Kinkelbos. He would have been 55 on the 28th. December 1960.
AUBREY ROBERT CLARENCE.
That’s me, I was born on the 10th. September 1911 in Port Elizabeth. I was the fourth child. Hector was nearly six years old when I came along. So when I was old enough to be able to play games I had no one to play with. Boet was too busy riding around with his goat wagon and Kathleen could not be bothered playing with a three or four year old little boy. So I grew up very I lonely, I only had the little blacks on the farm to play with so they became my playmates, and that was how I learnt the Xhosa language. The same happened to Gwynneth when she was born. I was eight and a half years old and going to school already, so she also grew up alone like an only child.
I was always around when Kathleen and Boet were busy doing their school homework. So to keep me out of their hair they used to give me things to do. They taught me to write my name and also to read. So when I was seven years old and started going to school I was put into standard one straight away, therefore I missed doing the sub A and sub B, classes.
When I passed standard four Kathleen was teaching the Simpson children in Aberdeen, so I was bundled off to Aberdeen to be taught standard five by Kathleen. I cannot remember how or why it happened but when we went back after the June holidays Kathleen said that she was going to try me with standard six work. I did so well doing the standard six work that she just left me doing standard six, When the School Inspector came to examine the school children before the school closed in December, Kathleen told him what she had done, putting me into standard six in July, he said it was quite in order he would give me the standard six test, which he did and I passed, which meant I had gained another year by doing two standards in one year. I thanked Kathleen for letting me do it.
In 1926 Mom and Dad put me into the Marist Brothers College in Uitenhage. I was very happy there. There we had other things to do, such as sports. I was in the Cricket Team, we had Gym twice a week, as well as Rifle shooting which I loved, I suppose because I was a Farm Boy. Then we also had to drill as cadets, all of which I never had to do before.
As I said I was very happy at Marist Brothers Standard Seven work was not too difficult but then I was lucky too in this way. There was girl I had made friends, with who lived quite near where I was boarding. She was Edna Hammond. Edna was a very nice girl , very pretty and also very clever. She was a pupil at the Convent in Uitenhage, also in standard seven and used to come over to where I was boarding nearly every afternoon and we would do our home work together As I said she was very clever and helped me a lot when I got stuck with something. You will read what I had to say about Edna Hammond in another of my books. I was doing very well at the Brothers but in November Just before we started writing our exams I developed a cough which got worse and worse. So I had to go to the Doctor, he was Dr. Brawn, he could not say what the cause of the coughing was so he sent me to a Dr. Kohlberg, who in turn sent me to Dr. Neser. The three doctors had a meeting and between them decided that I had galloping consumption, a very serious form of TB and they told Mom and Dad that I only had six Months at the most to live.
This caused a terrible upset in our family and all members of the family were informed of what was taking place. Mom’s Uncle Bennie De Meillon who lived in Jagersfontein in the Orange Free State wrote to say that there was a German doctor there who was so good in treating any one with chest complaints so he advised Mom to bring me up to see him. Uncle Bennie said they would be glad to have us stay with them while we were there. This really surprised me because it seemed so strange that Uncle Bennie was prepared to take me into his home with the sickness I had, when I had to get out of college the moment they heard what was wrong with me. So I never had the chance to even write the standard seven exams, because I could contaminate the whole class. Aunty Maud said old Aunt Ann would not even read Mom’s letter in case she picked up a germ, so the letter had to be put into the fire and burnt straight away. Yet uncle Bennie was willing for us to stay in their home. Well the whole business ended like this. The German doctor said he could do nothing for me. All he did was make me drink more cod-liver oil. The most horrible stuff I have ever tasted. It was only when we got back Aunt Emma Dancey, who was at Sandflats when we arrived said the doctors are all mad the boy has got whooping cough and she was right.
I refused to go back to college and do standard seven all over again. I knew I would have passed if I had been able to write the exams I was not allowed to do because doctors could not diagnose a simple Child’s Ailment. So the next year I went and got a job in Port Elizabeth and worked at General Motors where I did Duco Spraying motor cars. The masks that we were issued with to protect us from inhaling the paint were so useless that they did not help much and soon I was coughing. Doctor Oats told me to give up the work and rather go back to the farm, which I did.
I then took on a black who did all the ploughing and we worked on a, share basis, I supplied the seed the lands and the plough and David Mali and his family did the work. We did very well for both of us, but that is s another story you will read elsewhere.
In I939 war broke out and Hector enlisted, and when he was called up I had to take over and look after his business and farming but you have already read all that. After Hector got his discharge a in 1944, he took charge of his farming again. I then went back to Dundonald and started building the Cow Milking Shed down by the windmill. When the building was finished and passed by the Health Department, Dad and I started sending milk to Chelsea Dairy ire P.E. Life was now back to normal again and every thing was going fine and then the drought struck us hard. When all the cow food was used up the milk dropped to almost nothing, cows became so thin and weak that when they calved they could not get up, they just lay where they were and died. With these conditions prevailing I realised I could not carry on for very much longer. I had heard that the Nanaga Transport Company were wanting a driver as one of their drivers was sacked for being drunk. I went to Mr. Reuben Hill and asked him for the job, he took me on and I started work the very next day. The wage was very small but at least it was money I could use to buy some cow, food and milk powder to feed the orphan calves, I worked there for six months before I got a rise, the increase was only five pounds a month. Eventually the two other drivers left to go and work in P.E.. I was then alone with two black drivers, Boesman and Jackie. They were two reliable chaps, neither of them smoked nor drank. They were very careful drivers and particular about the servicing of their trucks.
I was now solely in charge of Nanaga Transport Co. Mr. Hill handed me the staffs wages every month and I paid them. I had the power to hire and fire, and was answerable only to Mr. Reuben Hill. I worked for the company for seventeen years. You will get that story in another book.
I joined the FreeMasons in 1946, and was an active member of the Brotherhood for twenty years. I received honours twice from District Grand Lodge, first as District Grand Steward and later as District Grand .Standard Bearer. I was installed in the chair at Forest Lodge two years in succession as Worshipful Master. In my twenty rears as an active FreeMason I progressed from an ordinary Master Mason to the Most Wise Sovereign of the Rose Croix in the 18th. Degree in FreeMasonry An achievement of which I am very proud. I was very happy in FreeMasonry and made many true friends.
After Hector’s accident when the Reeds rode into him he was in and out of Hospital a number of tines, each time he was in Hospital Reuben Hill gave me time off to attend to his farming until he was able to get about again. I think it was on account of this that brought Hector and I very close, so much so that a few days before he died he made me promise him that I would marry Edna and look after her and his children after he was gone. He said that I had looked after her during the time that he was in the army, and that I was always there when they needed me. When I promised him that I would marry Edna if she would have me. I would look after her and his children as long as I lived. He then said he would die happy as he knew that his a family would be safe with me. Hearing this made me feel very proud to be his brother. Hector passed away on the 13th December 1960.
Edna and I were married in St. Peters Church, Kinkelbos by the Rev. Edwin Richards, on the 24th. April 1962. We were married for thirty happy years. Edna passed away on the 29th. August 1992. Today it is the 14th July 1999 (my Mom’s birthday) It will soon be SEVEN years since Edna passed away and I still miss her so much. Not a day goes by with out me thinking of her. I can quite honestly say that when Edna passed away, part of me also went into her grave with her. The thirty years that we were married were the shortest thirty years in my whole 1ife.
UNA GWYNNETH
We all called her Baby for a long time, but only until she be came old enough to object. Then she said, from now on my name is Gwen and every body must call me Gwen, Mommy and Daddy too. They must not call me baby anymore. I felt sorry for her, because I knew how she felt, I had had the same trouble when I was the baby. I was over eight years old when Gwen was born and I was also called baby by every body, blacks included, until Gwen came. Then I objected and demanded to be called Aubrey, the black kwedins used to tease me by still calling me baby at times but they soon learned not to do it any more after many of them got bloody noses from my fists.
Gwen was a very bright child, she was very fond of music, and would sit and listen to Kathleen, playing the piano for ages at a time and she would soon be humming the tunes Kathleen was playing. Kathleen used to teach her the words of songs and in no time Gwen would be singing them for any one who asked her to sing them. Her favourite song which she loved and was always singing was “Wont you buy my pretty flowers” It was a song Kathleen taught her taken, from the old Globe song brook. I can still see her sitting playing with her dolls and singing her song.
Gwen had a pet cat, she gave him the a name of Timmy. She used to dress Timmy in her old baby clothes, and put him into her doll’s pram, and push him all over the house, while he lay sleeping in the pram. Timmy did not seem to mind being treated like that. In fact he seemed to love it when he was dressed up, even to the bonnet which he had to wear. Timmy looked just like my cat Charlie that I have now, only Timmy was a Manx cat he had no tail, not even a trace of a tail.
Gwen was very advanced for her age, although she was only fourteen years and nine months old when she was killed in that motor car accident. She always acted like an adult, I think that was the influence of our sister Kathleen who was seventeen years older than Gwen, and they grew up very close. They both worshipped each other. Gwen was terribly fond of children, wherever there babies around there you would find Gwen, nursing, and playing with them and amusing them by talking and singing to them. But Gwen was no softy, she could stand up for herself anal defend herself in any argument. She was a no nonsense person, I suppose she got that from our Mom. Gwen was very fond of sport and when the Boyer boys used to come and spend the school holidays with us on the farm they used to bring the cricket bats and wickets with them and we used to play cricket. Gwen always used to join in the game with us boys. George Boyer was a tall chap arid he could bowl a mean ball at times, Gwen said she did not mind if he bowled any of his mean balls at her she would hit them for a six, and she did on a number of occasions.
Yes Gwen could be quite a tomboy if she wanted to and did not mind joining in a bit of rough fun. I had a big black station that I used to ride and she loved riding him too. Then I bought a young horse from Uncle Reg, also a black stallion that hadn’t been trained yet. He had never had a halter put on him so he was as wild as you could get as he had just been running wild in the veldt with his mother and he was nearly three years old when I bought him. So I had to start training him from scratch. He did not only need training, he had to be broken in as he was wild. When I first caught him he nearly went berserk. He bit and kicked and chopped at us with his front legs. I was afraid he would hurt himself, or even hurt one of us, so I stopped and let him go. I then went to Peter Newcombe and asked him what I could do. Uncle Peter had trained heaps of horses using the GALVAYNE method, which he had studied. Peter said to me the first thing to do was to tire the horse out. He said I must put a long rope on its neck and make him run in a circle until he did not want to, or could not run any more. Then to put the saddle on him when he had rested awhile. Then make him run again with the saddle on his back. Well I did this and Rocket (that was his name) nearly went mad again. He kicked and bucked like mad, even went right down and rolled to try to get rid of the saddle I suppose. So, when he went down, I whipped him and made him get up and run in the circle again, until he nearly dropped from tiredness. Gwen was there and watched all this going on, and then said to me, you must hurry up with Rocket, because I want to ride him.
The next day things went very much better. We were able to handle Rocket, and I was riding on the fourth day. I had been riding Rocket for only about a week. One day I came from the back veldt after collecting cattle for dipping. When I got home, I tied Rocket to the pole in the yard fence while I went inside to have a cup of tea before going to the dipping tank. When I came out, I looked for Rocket and he was missing. I thought he had broken loose and I was looking around for him, when I heard a galloping horse coming up the hill. It was Gwen on the horse I was still training. She came to a sliding stop, just jumped off, put the reins in my hand and said, here is you Rocket you are training, I don’t think much of him, I’ll ride him to a standstill. She was walking away before I even opened my mouth. That was Gwen Newcombe alright !
Gwen was always with Kathleen when she was playing the piano, so Kathleen started teaching her to play little tunes, which she learnt in no time. Aunty May (Uncle John’s wife) had been a music teacher, so Mom asked her if she could give Gwen piano lessons. Aunty May said she would, but Mom had first to get certain books so that Gwen could be taught the proper theory of piano. Mom got the books and Aunty May started giving Gwen piano lessons. After a few years, Aunty May told Mom that she could not teach Gwen further. She said Gwen needed more advanced teaching and she was not able to give her that sort of tuition. Mom the spoke to Grace Webb who lived at Nanaga. Grace had a Licentiate Degree in Piano playing and was also a teach of the piano. I used to take Gwen to Nanaga twice a week for her lessons. In the end it got to the stage where Grace also said Gwen had reached the stage where she could not teach Gwen anything more on the piano. By now Gwen had passed standard six and was going to Victoria Girls High School in Grahamstown. Mom knew a Mrs. Morgan in Grahamstown. She was the wife of the Rev. Voyle Morgan. He used to be our Minister when he was the Anglican Parson in Alexandria. Mrs. Morgan was also a music teacher with high degrees in music, she was a music teacher in Wales before they came to South Africa. When Mom spoke to her about Gwen she was only too pleased to take Gwen for piano lessons. She was shocked when she heard Gwen play. She said this girl should be sent overseas to be taught by the professionals in England or on the continent. Mrs. Morgan even got the organist at the Cathedral to hear Gwen play. He was also a Professor of Music. All he could say was, this girl is a genius, I have never in all my life, seen or heard such talent before.
He was quite correct, Gwen was a genius at the piano. She could read music as easily as she could read a book. She could pick up any sheet of music and hum the tune just by looking at the music notes on the paper. Gwen played all the classical pieces you could name, composed by all the old master such as Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and many others. Kathleen had heaps of sheets of classical music, which she got when she was taking lessons with a Miss Silk at the Riebeek College in Uitenhage. Kathleen also played the piano very well. She also played the organ very well. Kathleen had a light touch at the piano, a sort of light and shadow style of playing. She may have developed this style from playing the organ. But Gwen had a more masculine touch, just like Grace Webb. Gwen seemed to get more sound out of a piano, (not a noisy sound), a harmonious sound, than any other pianist I had ever heard. I would have loved to hear her playing a real concert Grand piano.
Gwen was also a very hard worker at her lessons at school. She was always in the top Five in her class and was often first. She did very well at sports and was an excellent athlete and swam like a fish in spite of only learning to swim when she went to Grahamstown.
Gwen also loved dancing. Kathleen used to dance with her when she was still quite small. Whenever she came home during the school holidays she would teach Gwen the new dance steps she had learnt, so that when Gwen was about thirteen she was a very popular dancing partner and never sat out a dance. Some of her friends were very jealous of her at dances, but it is as I said somewhere before, Gwen was very. advanced for her age. She was tall and well developed, people often thought she was older than thirteen, she was a very beautiful girl too. When she was home for the September holidays, there was a Masonic Ball in Alexandria. This was an annual affair and was a very special occasion. Gwen was so keen to go, so I said I would take her. Kathleen dolled her up in one of her evening dresses and we went. What a lovely time we had. Gwen said she had never enjoyed a dance so much before, I have often thought about that night, I still am so glad I took her where she enjoyed herself so much because she was killed less than two months later.
Yes that was Una Gwynneth Newcombe. A young girl who lived life to the fullness thereof. Not only for her own pleasure but to be able to put happiness and pleasure in other peoples lives as well, because a that is what she really did. So why did she have to die so young?
I often think of old Aunt Anne (Dad’s sister) Who always had such an obsession about the English. Whenever her English nieces and nephews, the Hills, Willie Muscott, or uncle Reg’s two, Sheila. and Neil, old Anne would say “oh your Dutch cousin was here”. When they asked her what Dutch cousin? She would just say, oh you. know Gwen. The thing is it was always told to us at a later stage. I have often thought what pleasure does one get out of that sort of thing. surely you get a nicer feeling where you say something nice about another person than you would when saying something nasty about some one else. To me it just does root make sense. Gwen who brought happiness to all had to die so young, but old Anne who only spread misery and ill feeling wherever she went lived to be an old woman. WHY? WHY? WHY?
The evening we got the news of Gwen’s death, we, Mom and Dad Kathleen and I were having supper when Hector arrived with the news. It was hard for him to get it said, but he did. Mom and Kathleen just went berserk with shock. They both ran inside to the bedroom. Dad of course being deaf, did not know what had happened, and wanted to know what was going on. What a, terrible time. Hector and I had to tell him that Gwen had been killed in a motor accident. When we eventually got it across to him, he just would not believe us. When we convinced him, he just walked away from us and went and sat in the old armchair in the dining room. There he stayed until the Monday. We had got the news on the Saturday evening. He just sat there in the chair. He never said a word and he never had anything to eat or drink in all that time. The cups of tea Mom had put on the little table next to his chair just remained there he never touched it nor did he speak to anyone. I have often wondered what had gone through his thoughts during all that time. Hector and I went to GRAHAMSTOWN that night to he at the mortuary the next morning to identify Gwen’s body. It was too terrible to go into that room and see the three girls who were killed lying next to each other in death. Something I never hope to experience ever again, there are just no words in any language to describe that feeling to see three young girls lying stiff in death right before your eyes. It is unforgettable. Gwen’s death broke both Mom arid Dad’s lives, they were never the same after Gwen’s death. She was killed on 10th November 1934. She was only fourteen years nine months and six days old.
Gwen was the first to be buried in the new cemetery at St. PETER CHURCH Kinkelbos, and it was also the biggest funeral ever held at St. Peters. Canon Hewitt (from the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. George in Grahamstown where Gwen was confirmed and where she attended every Sunday also came to assist at the funeral service. When. Gwen’s funeral was over everybody went over to Nanaga to Doreen Broadbent’s funeral. Doreen had been killed in the same accident. My thoughts also went out to the farm Alwyn Gate in the Somerset East district where Amy Webster ( the 3rd. victim of the accident) was being buried at the same time. What a tragedy
(I have the original documents)
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