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A6 colour photo of staff

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Interview with Rick Wilson – 2013– Farewell speech by Willy Castle
Mr Rick Wilson a summary of 18 years.
I am one of those(probably unusual) people whose favourite part of any function is the speeches.
Normal conversation ceases, times becomes momentarily suspended and people are joined together
to listen, laugh, cry and share in a personal story.
I have 3 goals for this speech
1 Not to cry
2 Make Mr Wilson cry
3 Make sure all of you know how important Mr Rick Wilson’s contribution of 18 years at St David’s
Marist Preparatory School has been.
How do you condense 18 years not easily so sit back and relax because it is going to take a while.
Mr Warwick BruceWilson was born in Zimbabwe......Married to Gerry and has two grown up sons,
Bruce and Andrew. We all know that Mr Wilson is a lover of dogs and now has two dogs, he loves
the Kruger Park and we have some great days in the park together, a brilliant golfer and now a keen
mountain bike fanatic. Oh yes and Pizza and chilli are Mr Wilson’s favourite food, just ask Col Chetio
at Blue Bird shopping centre.
Good evening to all you special guests who have gathered here to celebrate the life of a man who
has had a remarkable influence on all, our lives not to mention 18 years as headmaster of this
wonderful preparatory school which would equate to teaching approximately 1500 new pupils
entering St David’s.
To try and find out what Mr Wilson headmaster does all day we hired the heavies from Gr0 and
asked them what Mr Wilson does all day and here are some of the answers...
“He works on his computer all day and drinks tea”
“He’s ticking work”
“He watches the children on camera”
“He does gymnastics in his office”
Just before leaving my house this evening I phoned Linda who unfortunately cannot be here as she
is in America and said to her “Lin did you ever think in your wildest dreams that I’d be standing
before hundreds of people making a speech” and I could hear a giggle and she said “Wily you don’t
appear in my wildest dreams”
It was on a chilly day in August 1995 when we were busy with our annual inter-house cross country
on the College rugby fields when Mr Edey came down the dreaded First rugby team stairs with a
gentleman in tow wearing a green jacket. We all thought he was going to introduce us to the recent
winner of the Masters in Augusta but no such luck, we were introduced to Mr Rick Wilson our new
headmaster.
My first memory of Rick was on the side of the football flled in East London when he was teaching
and coaching St Stithian’s . Little did he know that he would still go on football tour to East London
for another 21 years and fall among thieves on and off the train. Mr Sinclair or Captain Morgan as he
was known on these trips will remember them as the highlight of the year. What happens on tour
stays on tour.
It is not widely known that on Saturdays Mr Wilson wears red underpants not in case he has a bad
golf game but o support his favourite football team which at the moment the name escapes me. Rick
also, unbeknown to most people won the “Cow and Gate Beautiful Baby Competition”, when he was
months old. I leave it to your imagination whether he looked like the cow or the gate! By the way it
was the girls’ category!
In no time at all we were as staff introduced to SWOT analysis, new strategies and the effective use
of technology in education. During this time we embraced technology, our teaching methods
changed and we came to understand that schools don’t in fact exist for the sake of teaching, but for
the sake of learning.
During this time Rick guided us through this most exciting phase of growth and development. Rick
has assembled a great team of professionals and sees hi srole as one of servant leadership where we
are rigorous, but not ruthless.
Rick’s own claim to technological fame is winning the staff technology award for shredding his tie in
the shredding machine while Mrs Donaldson and Mrs Mackenzie were overcome with emotion.
We all know how important assemblies are to Rick and how without fail, a dog comes into the story
– which reminds me of a story....
One evening after Mass a priest was just about to leave the church, noticed a man with a dog. He
went up to the man and asked him “What are you doing here with a dog?” The man replied “The
dog has come to pray”. “Dogs don’t pray” said the priest. “This one does” said Rick. “I don’t believe
you” said the priest, “It’s absolutely true” said Rick. “OK” said the priest, “Then show me what the
dog can do”. “OK” said Rick and the dog got into the pew, knelt down, took a Missal from under his
collar and started praying. The priest shocked listened for a full 15 minutes, speechless and so
impressed with the dog and the quality of the prayer. When he regained composure the priest said
to Rick “I have never seen anything like it; do you think your dog would consider joining the
seminary?” Rick, throwing his hands up in disgust said “You talk to him, he wants to be a doctor”.
We all know Mr Wilson is a prankster of some note – always interfering in equipment and switching
off sound systems and hiding diaries, keys and anything just to stir with someone.
He has however been caught out himself. A few weeks after Rick and Gerry had moved onto the
school property, Linda and I were walking past Rick’s driveway next to the back of the Music room.
They had just come back to the house because they had left something behind and needed to get it.
Their car was parked outside the gate with the keys in the ignition – what an opportunity! I climbed
into the car and drove it around the front of the now Music room. We waited until Rick came out of
the house and then it started: “Gerry the car is gone! I told you we are now living in Gauteng!! Beep,
beep, beep!” Rick ran up to the gate to speak to the guard to see if he had seen his car drive out. The
guard looked at Rick as if he were on drugs. By this time we could not be quiet and Rick heard us
laughing and discovered his car parked own by the tennis courts.
On another occasion Rick had just lit his Weber braai and put the meat on when I happened to pass
the gate. I saw that it was unattended and nipped in and wheeled his braai out to the road and
waited for him to go crazy when he came out to turn the meat.
When my Combi was stolen during Mass at Rosebank one Sunday, I walked back from church
straight to Rick’s house and said to him “Okay where’s my Combi?” I am still looking for it.
Gerry you took the pranks in your stride and also gave us Rick whenever we needed him at school
functions. We thank you for giving up your family time and sharing the many school occasions with
Rick and supporting all the different activities including feeding the geese, ducks and birds. We
would like you to accept this small token of appreciation from all of us.
We would also like to thank Rick’s school wife , tea girl, file finder, and someone who helped us on
many occasions into getting off campus when we needed to get him away. Mrs Coleen Donaldson,
please come and receive a gift on behalf of Rick and all of us. Good luck, for I believe the headmaster
for next year is quite a difficult pain in the neck!
We all know Rick enjoys a good party, loves his music and is very knowledgeable about different
genre of music. After one of our pub crawls through the property (we used to start at the pavilion
and then go to Mac’s flat, then Fr Brewer’s and a few other houses), on returning home after a pizza
fight at my house, Rick slipped and fell in his house. Gerry called me and off we went to Sandton
Clinic for Rick to have 38 stitches in his head. The next morning when Rick went into a Grade 5 class
one of the boys said “Good morning Sir, you look like a baseball”.
Rick is well known for his assemblies, Grade 7 luncheon speeches are legendary and each year the
boys look forward to him including all of them in his story.
Mr Wilson has given unselfishly of his time to support the boys and parents in all the activities in
which they participate, namely academics, cultural and sporting. Your presence has really been
appreciated by all of us.
On behalf of the pupils, parents and staff, we would like to thank you for your commitment and
dedication to St David’s Marist Inanda.
We all say thank you and wish you a fantastic retirement until you get bored and start the next stage
of your life. Our prayers go with you and Gerry. We are really going to miss you. Thank you.
Please will you all stand and join me in a toast to Rick and Gerry.
Willy Castle 2013

Interview with Carol Ansell – Staff – 1975 - 2016
Carol was interviewed by Brother Mario at the end of 1974 as there was a new grade 0 position
available and Brother Anthony (who was headmaster at the time), was on leave. In fact Br
Anthony had gone to see the Brother Provincial as he wanted to work in a less privileged
environment. Carol was John Jamieson’s sister, John had matriculated from St David’s, and she
was immediately appointed and told to start the following year – 1975 with no indication of
where she would be located. Carol recalls that she asked if she could see her classroom and if
she could please have a key. Carol and her family lived in the same road in Parkwood as Mrs
Kempster who had alerted her to the fact that this new position was available. Carol had initially
wanted to teach at Keps, which was her father’s old school and she was offered a job there but
decided to go to St David’s.
Mr Manolios was head of the prep school and Br Timothy was appointed head of the high
school in 1975.Carol’s classroom was next to the old swimming pool which had been filled in to
make a playground for the new grade 0 class. She was given free reign with the grade 0 class
with Br Timothy visiting her on a couple of occasions. Some of the boys were intrigued with him
and one asked him why he was so hairy and another, whether he was a boy or a girl as he was
perceived to be wearing a dress!
There was a large sandpit in the playground, which Carol used for some of her outside
activities. Sadly it had to be covered up as some cats began to use it as a cat box! She recalls
that the school, was very contained and she likens it to a village which has now grown into a
city. Carol had no supervision at all, everything was based on trust. She was only twenty years
old and in charge of 25 young boys. Carol visited other nursery schools and spoke to the
teachers to gain a further understanding of 4/5 year olds; she was also greatly assisted by Jack
Friedman of “Play and Schoolroom” who helped her a lot. It was quite lonely but the parents
were fantastic and supportive. There were two cousins in the class Brian De Decker and
Michael Luyckx whose parents took her under their wing and helped her. Michael Luyckx now
lives in Australia and Carol is still friendly with the mothers. Parents in those days didn’t
challenge teachers at all and tended to have a huge respect for them.
At the end of 1975, the grade 0 class was declared a tremendous success and the school
decided to open another class. Mrs Carolyn Hughes joined her and became the other grade 0
teacher. They had a good relationship with each other and could feed off each other’s ideas and
support.
One of the parents pointed out to Carol that one of her pupils (eye) was larger than the other
and suggested she have it checked. It was discovered that she had a tumour on the pituitary
gland, which was operated on and she subsequently had to have three months leave. A feisty
boy, Fabio Morettino had told his mother that Carol had died; so on Carol’s return the poor
mother saw Carol and thought she was seeing a ghost. Marilyn Middlewick decided that she
would like to swop from grade 1 and Mr Manolious was fully in agreement so Carol moved from
grade 0 to grade1.
Carol, had a good relationship with Darryl Boswell, Heather Joseph, Trudy Elliot, Prue Johnson
and many others. Another headmaster she worked with, Mr Freilich was a good man. As for Mr
Murphy, Carol didn’t get off to a good start with him as, at his welcoming cocktail party, Carol
was laughing together with some colleagues and for some reason Mr Murphy thought they were
laughing at him. The next day she was called into his office where he reprimanded her. Murphy
was eventually found out to be a professional wrestler and vacated his position as headmaster
of the College.
Carol was married to John Ansell in her fourth year at the school. Some years later she was
sadly diagnosed with a second tumour and left as a full time teacher, although she stood in for
teachers on long leave etc, filling in for Sue Harwood, the remedial teacher, in 1985. When Sue
returned from leave she resigned and being concerned about having 3 different teachers in a
remedial class Carol was asked to return. Carol was pregnant with her son Nick and returned
when Nick was 6 weeks old. Andrew Castle was born in the April and Nick in the June and the
two maids looking after the boys would get together and have fun with the boys. The boys were
often seen in the back of Julius’ trailer behind the tractor. A space was made in a corner of an
office for Nick whilst Carol was busy and Nick grew up at St David’s going on to a play school
for two years then to Limber Lost in Rosebank.
Carol eventually came back full-time although she had in the meantime franchised the
“Bookworm Bookshop” in 1985 when Nick was born. She recalls Cynthia Hildyard advising her
to move her classroom to the warmer one where she remains now.
Carol remembers brothers such as Br Bernard who was very artistic, a photographer and
woodcarver and together with Carol and Heather Joseph had pottery classes with one of the
mothers, Mrs Heather MacLeroth every Friday afternoon. By the end of the class it was late
and Carol and Heather were very hungry. Br Aidan was in charge of the stores and had a
wonderful, dry sense of humour and would tempt Carol and Heather with a packet of marie
biscuits, trying to satisfy their hunger, giving them one biscuit at a time. Carol remembers Br
Aidan embarrassing Heather with the story that he was present at Port Alfred beach when
Heather lost her green crocheted bikini top at Kelly’s beach. Carol and John had been invited
there and Heather was also holidaying there at the same time. Br Aidan had in fact overheard
Heather recounting the story to Carol whilst they were in earshot of his office. Br Aidan also
nicknamed Heather “Queen of the Visigoths”.
There were good memories of Jackson the cook who cooked for the brother’s community. One
day a divine smell was circulating around the brothers kitchen and Carol asked what he was
cooking and managed to get Jackson to write his recipe for ox-tail stew out for her. Carol
forwarded this recipe many years later to Br Aidan. She still has the recipe today. The
groundsman Barney Erdis had a wife who used to cook/bake a variety of muffins or scones with
cream and jam at first break and then make mock crayfish and avocado or pumpkin fitters or
fish and chips for the staff to enjoy at second break.
JLE May 2013

Historical collection

Interview with Dave Smith – Staff – 1997 to date
Dave came to St David’s from Bryanston High School in 1997 as head of the Geography department. His
first impression of the school was that it was very small having come from a big co-ed high school with
1300 pupils to teach two matric classes with 5 pupils in one and 12 in the other whereas Bryanston had
three classes with 30 pupils in each. Currently 60 to 70 pupils take Geography as a matric subject which
shows the growth in the number of pupils attending the school.
Paul Edey was the headmaster and together with Kevin Brewer, chairman of the board, motivated the
development plan for the school. At the time the quad housed an ablution block and the pavilion was a
Zozo hut! The school wasn’t very competitive apart from cricket but is now very competitive and is in the
top echelon of the pantheon of boys’ schools.
The leadership programme has grown enormously. In 1997 Dave took all the matrics to a camp in the
Magaliesburg and now there are camps for every grade. The camp, specifically for the prefects with the
main focus on leadership has also grown and now any matric can get a leadership scroll other than
prefects. Thirty two matrics in 2012 received leadership scrolls.
Dave was appointed housemaster of College house in 2000 and senior deputy headmaster in 2003
overseeing student affairs and school administration. He is also editor of the school magazine and sees not
just the physical changes in the school but in the number of pupils and the range of activities on offer. St
David’s has become one of the top boys’ schools worldwide with the vision that was created by Paul Edey
and continued by Malcolm Williams. However the school does have an achilles heel, rugby.
Dave believes St David’s to be an incredibly happy school with the boys having their own identity. There is
a sense of tradition and what makes a good tradition. One regret Dave has is that he gave up mentoring
the matrics when he became deputy headmaster.
On the staff, the characters he has encountered include the likes of Rod Smith, Belinda Marais and Annika
Carter to name but a few. Malcolm William’s concept of “Presence” has been unbelievable and the energy
he put into everything he did.
JLE December 2013

Interview with Emma Sithole – Staff – 1982 to date
At the age of 28, Emma joined the support staff of St David’s as Head Cleaner. She was interviewed by
Willem Van Der Merwe and reported to him. She also used to cook for the brothers when Richard or
Mjomle were away.
In those days the committee room was the brothers dining room and the staff workroom was the kitchen
and pantry. The original walk in fridge is still in existence in the tuck shop kitchen. The tuck shop was the
mothers’ kitchen and catering equipment was stored there. The current administration offices were
originally the brothers’ chapel, kitchen and dining room.
The brothers’ lunch usually consisted of soup followed by fruit. Later when Julius was away Emma would
prepare sandwiches for the brothers and staff.
Emma didn’t live on the school premises as she had six children to care for and lived in Alexandra
Township. Life was not easy for her bringing up her children during difficult and different times.
In 1991 Emma took over from Julius, cleaning the tuck shop, helping the mothers and working together with
Enoch Mhlongo. Mrs Van Guilleaume ran the tuck shop and the ladies entertainment committee with Victor
Shibambu joining the staff later.
Over the years Emma saw a lot of changes with Shelly Watson coming in then Jon Jon Dry. The tuck shop
now not only caters for the staff everyday and for individual functions but also provides meals on a daily
basis for some of the boys. Emma still makes the sandwiches and some salads for the staff. She misses
Shelly who retired last year and regarded her as a friend and mentor who took care of her.
When Emma retires she would very much like to help and do the cooking for an orphanage near her home
looking after the children with no parents and some that have aids.
Emma retired in 2015
JLE 2014

Interview with Father Michael 1999 – 2007
At the end of 1998 Father Brewer had retired because of advancing lung cancer. Father Michael
had left Rivonia having completed a 10 year contract 1988 – 98 and was in London on long
leave in May 1998 staying at the Jesuit church, Farm Street when he was told that Father
Brewer had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. There were boys at St David’s whose families
were parishioners and he was sometimes invited to functions at the school. As he had always
liked the school, he offered his services and was accepted as chaplain.
He had taught in three Jesuit schools when younger and he prided himself that he never had to
use corporal punishment on the boys and always managed to subdue them with a look or a
tongue lashing. At St David’s he joined the RE department and taught RE to the matrics and
then to grade 8. It is difficult teaching a subject that is not counted for marks so this provided the
opportunity for some boys to misbehave. Also this teaching caused him to be regarded as a
teacher and member of staff rather than as chaplain and priest.
Father Michael considered that extra-curricular activities were important occasions to interact
with and get to know the boys, so he was involved with debating, public speaking and was time
keeper at the swimming galas and judged inter-house plays together with Julie Egenrieder. He
had a good relationship with Paul Edey.
After he had a knee replacement, he became rather unstable having no sideways movement
and boys like Greg Hammond would see him coming and clear a path for him. They were
spontaneous and protected him. He had a good relationship with a number of boys.
high school mass was held on Thursdays, before the chapel was built was celebrated in the
Champagnat hall on a table on the stage. There were volunteer teams to transfer the
requirements for mass to the hall and to return them to the sacristy afterwards. They were
faithful and utterly reliable.
He remembered Stuart Fould’s production of “Guards, Guards” by Terry Pratchett and felt
strongly that there really wasn’t any acting just a lot of shouting. Gareth Dry’s gift to the school
was instituting musicals of such a professional standard which revived interest and brought new
energy into the school. It was Paul Edey’s idea to get a musical component into the school and
the musical for 2006 was “West Side Story” with David Schneider taking the male lead role and
managing the aria when Maria is dying. It’s a very difficult aria and without, any musical
background, David pulled it off. Father Michael found it very emotional and was very involved.
In 2007, Gareth Dry approached him with the request to put on a musical “Jesus Christ
Superstar” and asked him if he would have any objection to such a controversial musical. Father
Michael said he would use the occasion to catechise on the gospel events to instruct the boys.
He and Gareth were on the same wavelength and at no stage did he have to say this is
inappropriate. However a former pupil, Deneys Williamson living in the States sent an email
complaining about the musical. Father Michael decided to ignore it and the irony was that his
younger brother Alex Williamson played one of the high priests in the show. Kylo Molefe played
Jesus Christ and found the part to be very emotional for him and for the cast. It was also difficult
for a boy like Kylo to be head boy but he had the support and the ability to handle it.
Father Michael is rather proud of the organ that was donated to the school for use in the new
Chapel of Mary. It is apparently one of the best organs in any school in Johannesburg if not in
the country. He thought it would be appropriate for it to be used for recitals and mentioned
Cameron Upchurch (St John’s) who is teaching a number of boys to play and also plays the
organ at the university church on a Sunday.
JE August 2011

Interview with Gareth Kolkenbeck-Ruh – 2003
Gareth came to St David’s in 1999 from Rembrandt Park Primary School. Gareth’s father was a devout
catholic and Gareth had had experience of the school when it hosted various primary school sporting
events, and he liked what he saw.
He remembers that on his first day he was collected from the “Thatch” by prefects and taken to the
amphitheatre, he was overwhelmed by both the size of the prefects and that of the school. As he was the
only pupil coming from Rembrandt Park he didn’t know anyone but by the end of the day he began to fit it.
The grade 8 camp was a great ice breaker and initiative where he got to know everyone. After three days
the grade 8 boys went off to camp during their second week at St David’s. Belonging to a specific house
gave you an immediate identity and Gareth was selected for Osmond.
Initially the jump in academics was quite a shock but the teachers helped to make it manageable. It was at
first strange coming from a co-ed environment into a monastic one but by the end of the first term Gareth
was enjoying the change. He now firmly believes it to be a good thing to be in an all boys environment
during high school. He grew not only academically but learnt how to be a man in today’s society which he
appreciated enormously.
The teachers he remembers in particular are Shane Gaffney, Graeme McMillan who was at times quite
scary, Rod Smith, Colleen Kennedy and Paul Edey. They were good role models and one of the reasons
why Gareth has chosen teaching as his profession.
His last year as head boy was an unbelievable year as far as the sport was concerned. St David’s won the
Johnny Waite Cricket, had an unbeaten soccer side, and the rugby team beat KES and Jeppe on their
home territories for the first time. Gareth believes that, especially in a boys school, if the sport is going well
then the general school vibe reflects that and is good and positive.
Gareth had heard that the position of head boy was a lonely one, however he had massive support from his
peer group and, so far it was the most enjoyable year of his life. He had a good relationship with Paul Edey
and Malcolm Williams who took over the headship in 2003.
Gareth was captain of soccer and cricket teams and was awarded honours for soccer, cricket and general
honours.
He played provincial cricket U17 and U19 and had a professional contract with Wits University for one year
in 2003.
Academically, Gareth did very well and earned 3 A’s and 3 B’s in his matric. Dave Smith helped him to
catch up on the Geography syllabus in the matric year as Gareth needed the subject to enable him entry to
the USA. The teaching staff was always willing to go the extra mile for the boys. Gareth was awarded a
Champagnat Medal and won the Brother Edwin Award for Cricketer of the Year; the St David’s Marist old
Boys Soccer Trophy; the Desmond Schatz Trophy for Sportsman of the Year; the Old Boys Trophy for
Leadership and Promotion of the Marist Spirit and the Osmond Cup for study, sport and leadership.
After matriculating, Gareth went on a soccer scholarship to the US to Gannon University in Pennsylvania
for three and half years. He studied for a BA English and PGCE or Postgraduate Certificate in Education,
graduating Suma Cum Laude.. He was tempted to stay in the US but his family was still here in South
Africa and in the US the educational system is different and teachers don’t coach sport. He returned to
South Africa and taught English in the high school from 2008 -9 and went on to KES in 2010 and became
head of English there in 2012. He was appointed deputy head of the primary school at St David’s in 2014,
is learning a lot from Willy Castle with good systems in place.
Gareth was also instrumental in getting soccer up and running in the high school together with Shane
Gaffney in 2002 into 2003.
Gareth is an active member of MOBS .
JLE March 2014

Interview – Gary Norton – Staff
Gary was a member of staff at St David’s from 1989 until 1996 when he was acting headmaster.
He then went to Oakhill in Knysna before returning to take up his current post as headmaster of
Marion College.
He recalls that his sons Ryan and Shaun, together with the Edey boys started cleaning up the
reservoir adding fish and feeding the ducks.
In 1994/5 there was a combined Biology/Geography trip for the grade 9’s (then standard 7) that
he made together with Father Brewer to Groot Marico. They used a farm as their base, it was
very wild and the boys had to make their own toilets and wash their utensils properly. Gary told
the boys that they had to have a knife and to make sure that they didn’t get hurt as there were
no facilities or anaesthetic if needed. On the Saturday, early evening he and Father Brewer
were relaxing when Gareth Simaan, Robbie Tait and Murray White came to them. Gareth said
Murray had cut his hand. Thinking that the boys were conning them, it didn’t look real, they told
them to go away. However, when they had a good look at the hand they saw how serious it
was. They bandaged him up as best they could, got on the bus and, with Father Brewer got to
Ventersdorp where they got directions to a doctor. They had to open a gate and two large
alsatians came running toward them, they managed to get past them and find the doctor who
wasn’t impressed saying “You guys from town don’t know anything”. So the hand was stitched
up without anaesthetic just as Gary had warned the boys!
There was another memorable trip to Hoedspruit, Blydepoort, also a Biology/Geography camp.
On the Sunday the boys were playing touch rugby by the pool and Bradley Geldenhuys
managed to break his foot. During this camp an impala was shot and the boys had to cut it up,
bleed it and make a potjie. They also went hunting as a part of a culling exercise. One of the
boys was stung by a scorpion, very venomous with urotoxic venom; fortunately they managed to
treat it. Bradley Geldenhuys then disappeared, at 3am, he saw a zebra and went to pat it and it
promptly kicked Bradley on the head. On leaving they had a chicken parade, checking no
rubbish was left behind when Bradley called out that he had seen something in the grass – Gary
promptly told them all to get on the bus!
On another occasion, one of the teachers, Robin Henderson took the grade 8 boys to the
weather station; he came back in tears as they had been so badly behaved. Gary summoned all
the boys and asked them to write down who was really naughty. He then dismissed the boys but
told them that if they had been naughty they should come to his classroom. Out of 75 boys, 72
went to his classroom and when he asked one of the smaller boys why he was there to get a
hiding, he replied that he thought he had better come just in case his name was on the list.
Another pupil, Kieran Rowan was diagnosed with leukaemia and Gary remembers telling him to
think that, like Pacman, his cells were gobbling up the cancer – he survived and is still alive.
On a Friday afternoons Gary would take some of the boys fishing and many of the naughty boys
would come along. Gary recalls asking one boy why his father never came and fished with him,
he replied that his father did spend one afternoon with him but told him he had given up
R15 000 he would have earned had he been working instead. Needless to say the boy didn’t
ask his father again.
Gary’s wife Alison is a prep school teacher at St David’s
JE August 2011

Greg Royce 1989 to 1995 Greg was deputy head at St Martin’s until March 1989 before being appointed as
prep headmaster at St David’s. He and his wife Pam were very touched as staff held a welcome lunch at the
tennis courts.
Greg stated that the school was running well despite the lack of a headmaster for so many years. The only
problem he found was that each person was doing their own thing instead of sharing ideas with each other.
His first task was to formalise things and found that he got on well with the staff and that they accepted him.
He always got on very well with Willy Castle and, on one particular occasion Willy wanted a meeting with Greg.
A date and time was duly arranged but Willy didn’t pitch, Greg found out later that Willy and Carol Ansell were
having lunch together and that Willy had forgotten about the meeting!
Greg worked well with his deputy, David Spence. David had a flair for implementing Greg’s many ideas and
worked hard to implement the thinking skills and helped arrange for Dr Edward de Bono to visit St David’s.
Under Greg’s guidance St David’s became the first school to introduce Kumon in South Africa. The nursery
schools were also asked not to concentrate on table top activities but rather to concentrate on gross and fine
motor activities. Greg was also instrumental in introducing remedial therapy, occupational therapy and speech
therapy into the school. He also encouraged the reintroduction of music into the curriculum. Working with Paul
Davies proved difficult at times due to Paul being very dogmatic but on the whole they worked well together.
Paul introduced the house system and he brought more formality to proceedings. Greg felt that the prep
should be represented on the board and wrote a letter requesting prep representation. This was a slow
process and took about 2 years before Greg was allowed to attend and address prep issues.
Greg always found the parents warm and supportive but unfortunately they always compared St David’s to St
John’s or St Stithian’s. The one thing the parents didn’t take into account was that the fees were substantially
lower than these other schools so the school didn’t have the funds and thus it was difficult to compete with
them. The prep pavilion was built during Greg’s stay at St David’s. Greg had budgeted for a double garage to
be built to house equipment but once the parents saw the building in progress, they willing gave money and so
the whole project expanded and a concrete slab was laid to provide for a first floor. The school expanded into
3 streams per grade, which made St David’s more competitive and also provided more capital for projects.
As regards the board, Greg felt that Terrence Wilkinson was an excellent chairman. He brought
professionalism into the board and the school started to flourish under his guidance. The PTA also played a
huge part in school life. One major project was when they erected the roof over the stands surrounding the
pool under the chairmanship of Mike O’Shea. Greg decided to leave St David’s in March 1995 because he
was offered a very good package from St Peter’s and with a growing family this was important as was the fact
that Greg was an anglican and of course St David’s was a catholic school.
Greg has fond memories of St David’s as their third child, Liam, was born while Greg was headmaster here.
Liam enjoyed the life at school and a familiar sight was Liam being pushed around the campus in his pram.
Greg loved his time at St David’s where he worked hard and played hard! He started the potjiekos competition
which still takes place, as well as the staff christmas ‘thank you’ party. Greg enjoyed his wine but also loved
the bush and nature. He encouraged the school to plant indigenous trees and also took groups of boys on
camps into the bush. Greg loved animals and encouraged the staff to look after the birds and animals in the
birdcage in the prep playground. The guinea fowl on the property had chicks but one got isolated and was
struggling to survive so Greg put it in the birdcage for protection because he felt it would not survive outside.
He, unfortunately, had to release the bird due to huge pressure, but as suspected, the bird was killed on the
first day that it was released!
In closing Greg stated that he enjoyed his time at St David’s and has fond memories. He also enjoyed working
with the Brothers and meeting the other Marist Heads. January 2011

Interview with Heather Joseph – Staff - 1975 to 2019
Heather began her teaching career at St David’s in 1975 at the tender age of 19. Brother
Timothy who took over from Br Anthony as headmaster was a close family friend and offered
her a teaching post.
One of Heather’s fondest early memories is that of the staff celebrating her 21st with champagne
during break in the staff room and she remembers going back to the classroom to teach slightly
tipsy!
When she joined St David’s, the school was very small, the boarding had closed, the junior
school had its own staffroom and they were provided with a lunch in what is now the committee
room, formerly the Brothers dining room. There was unity between the junior and high schools
and Heather taught in both, through the grades up until standard 8. At one time she taught the
Art class from the junior school through to matric in the high school with talented pupils such as
Christian Zimelke and Gregor Schafer.
Heather remembers George Manolios fondly. He was junior school headmaster having taken
over when Mrs Kempster retired in 1974. He was a wonderful head, very kind, supportive, who
encouraged his staff and was well liked. Mr Murphy took over the headmastership of both
schools in 1982 and, once he was exposed as a wrestler was replaced by Mr Frielich, then
Darryl Boswell and in 1989 Paul Davies was appointed headmaster of the high school and Greg
Royce headmaster of the prep school.
In 1989 Heather moved to Durban and upon her return in 1993 she rejoined the staff and is still
teaching Art in the prep school. In the interim Annika Carter had been appointed as the Art
teacher in the high school and Heather carried on class teaching and with great determination
and motivation built up the Art programme in the prep school. She organises an annual art
exhibition for the prep school boys and produces some amazing work. Without her artistic skills
some of the sets for the prep school plays and musical events would not be so inspired.
Heather has always been actively involved in the school and was a class teacher for grades 3,
4, 5 and 6 and for standards 8 and 9 and Art for standard 10. At times she was very involved
with soccer and did a course in the game and in refereeing. She scored for cricket, ran the
school swimming galas and did the announcing, she also organised the compilation and
publication of the school magazine for ten years and organised the matric dances. She went on
several soccer tours and remembers the tour to Durban staying at the Maharani with Willy
Castle, Carol Ansell and Terry O’Mahony. Then another tour to East London travelling by train
and she recalled that Glenda Anderson always went along too.
Some sad occasions were when Father Plestus, Monsignor and chaplain died and when
George Manolius left.
Staff she remembers are Br Aidan the bursar who was very kind, Ann Carpenter, Audrey
Williams the secretary, Nancy Buckley-Jones the matron who had a doberman called Lola, Mary
Ryan the matron who followed her, Pru Johnson a secretary whose son Simon became head
boy and Gail McEwan.
When the Brothers ran the school it was unbelievable, the ethos of humility and simplicity was
strong, the staff very supportive and they respected one another. Heather also liked Paul Edey
and felt that he brought a new dynamic to the school.
Heather has taught so many boys and remembers many but some standout such as the
Dedecker boys, Lucykx boys, Stephan Andradie, Siphiso Ngwenya – the first black Head Boy,
Greg and Jason Zenopolis and Christian Zimelka.
Outside of school and her outreach activities there, Heather is involved with animal welfare, the
SPCA and the Irwin Dog Rescue Centre.
JE 2012

Interview with Mathew Schneider – 2002
Matthew came to St David’s from Grayston Preparatory in 2002 into grade 8. He was the first generation of
the Schneider family at St David’s.
He remembers lining up in the quad next to the smelly ablution block, the matrics seemed huge and he
knew only two other boys from Grayston. He knew no one in his class and his introduction to a boy’s school
was a fight which broke out between two boys during an English lesson.
Matthew went to the Grade 8 camp to Babanangu. It was an overnight trip with the boys sleeping on the
bus, some in the luggage racks and some on the floor.
Matthew enjoyed the sport immensely and was a member of College house with Yvette Snyman as
housemaster. In grade 8 and 9 he played cricket, rugby and athletics. At the end of grade 9 he moved from
cricket to water polo and was a member of the team up until matric. He was a member of 1st team rugby, A
team athletics, A team swimming and 1st team water polo. The U15 rugby team did really well and Matthew
recalled the first year that St David’s was invited to participate in the 10 Schools Gala which was held at
Wits University. He remembers the early morning training the friendship and camaraderie.
Academically Matthew was average as he was too busy on the sports field and didn’t enjoy studying. He
was awarded an honours blazer for leadership, sport and merit and was selected to be a prefect.
The teachers who really stood out were Phil Andrew, Yvette Snyman, Dianne Webb, Teresa Voorendyk,
Brad Ireland and Marius Buys.
Of all the camps that Matthew participated in the grade 11 camp at the “Spirit of Adventure Camp” in the
Magaliesburg was the most memorable. They were the first St David’s boys to go there and it has become
a regular camp ever since.
Matthew made some really good friends who he still sees on a regular basis, they are really deep seated
friendships.
Matthew is passionate about St David’s and loves coaching. He enjoyed his high school career and thought
that Paul Edey was a great headmaster.
After matriculating, Matthew went to UJ and studied for a BComm Sports Management. He continued to
play rugby for Pirates for another 5 -6 years which he thoroughly enjoyed.
After graduating he went into sales for 2-3 years which he didn’t enjoy. He contacted Shane Gaffney and
started his internship at St David’s in 2010 studying for 2 years through Unisa for his post graduate
certificate in Education. He loves teaching and is happy at St David’s. He currently teaches Accountancy to
grades 8 and 9 and Business Studies to Grades 10 – 12. His mentors were Shane Gaffney, Alan Redfern
and Alex Gitlin all who have moved on to become deputy headmasters elsewhere.
Matthew is a member of MOBS and plays in their water polo team.
JLE February 2014

Interview with Mike Greeff – Staff - 2006 to 2015
Before joining St David’s in 2006 as chief executive officer, Mike worked in the banking sector for 20 years
before running his own consulting company specialising in development finance mainly in South Africa,
Eastern Europe and Africa. Mike enjoyed his business which was very successful and identified NGO’s or
groupings that banks would not consider and, under the auspices of Shore Bank, (Chicago) would
guarantee loans with the backing of the US government.
Whilst in the banking sector, Mike ran leadership camps for grade 11 to matric boys through the auspices
of Rotary. As a matriculant and head prefect at Parktown Boys, Mike had attended one of these camps
himself and eventually his boss at the time asked him if he would get involved. Mike also saw this as a
form of outreach through his own company and also his old school. Some of the youngsters who attended
the camps asked him to come and speak at pupil development workshops such as the one he was involved
with at St David’s. Whilst running his own company he continued with this as a form of personal corporate
outreach. This extended to working with staff at schools and several strategic planning workshops.
In early 2000 Paul Edey and Kevin Brewer asked Mike if he would facilitate a staff planning session at St
David’s and look at a restructuring programme for the school management. In 2005 Paul Edey called him
again and asked him if he would do an intervention to assess the success of the restructuring programme
and at the same time told him he was resigning and suggested that perhaps Mike should consider applying
for the position of chief executive officer.
Mike then recused himself from the intervention process and recalls meeting with Tony Chappel, the then
chairman of the board on a Saturday in May 2006.
Mike was not a Marist pupil himself but was a practicing catholic and his grandparents had been managers
of the Maristonian club at Woodmead. Mike’s mother was brought up there and loved everything Marist.
Unfortunately Mike’s parents were not in a position to be able to send him to St David’s and he went the
public school route but always had a very strong association with the Marists. Hs mother sadly passed
away the day before Mike met with Tony Chappel and he regrets not being able to tell her about the
planned meeting. Mike then went through a set of interviews with Br Jude, Mrs Sealand and others and
eventually began his career at St David’s in September 2006 and has never regretted it.
Mike’s involvement with the Marist Brothers was key to his move into education and he qualified as a
teacher shortly after coming to St David’s; all his prior qualifications being commercial degrees. There were
many different issues he was tasked to deal with and, apart from the absolute strengthening of the Marist
link with the brothers and the rest of the Marist world; these included risk and governance; strategy and
ethos. St David’s was and still is a Marist catholic independent school. Mike’s dream is that boys currently
at the school will still have, in twenty years time a Marist school which is relevant to the times to which they
can send their children.
Shortly before he died Br Anthony expressed the opinion that St David’s was more Marist then than when
the brothers were running the school purely because the lay Marists running the schools are so acutely
aware of their responsibilities inherited from legions of Marist brothers who laid the foundations.
St David’s performance is being acknowledged in education and catholic education circles with many
members of staff being leaders in the educational environment having positions within the IEB, ISASA, the
Catholic Schools Office etc . Br Jude was instrumental and brave in his support and encouragement of lay
teachers and staff.
Mike is very proud of how vibrant MOBS has become with a combination of both younger and older MOBS
working together with Willy Castle in the chair.
The Foundation has grown with Chantal Ratcliffe being the right person at the right time followed now by
Lara Klement with whom the development has continued and flourished with a Marist perspective. Mike is
intimately involved with the running of the Foundation which is now far beyond where it started and has
moved to a different level of maturity. Lara has done an incredible job supported by Thierry Dalais, Rob
Smith, Tony Chappell, Gianni Mariano and with Br Jude at the very heart of it.
Mike is currently chairman of the African Law and Brothers Commission which covers the entire African
continent and he reports to Br Javier who in turn runs the secretariat of the laity in Rome. Br Joe originally
asked Mike to represent Southern Africa at the first meeting of this body.
Mike has set in place a good financial management structure with the school being run along business lines
but not as a business, with both schools being directed by the two headmasters and their staff. The school
is currently in a good place and Mike feels that Rod Smith summed it up well in his retirement speech when
he said, “On our day we will beat anyone but we are too small to be arrogant”. The school is in a healthy
space but that can change overnight, it has to be maintained and sustained. Its strength lies in the numbers
with people doing what they are good at, who are passionate about what they do and educating within the
Marist ethos.
Mike currently enjoys a little bit of teaching in guest slots with the grade 8’s through to matric, and is also
involved with staff development assisting with the induction of new staff and is fully involved on a pastoral
level with both headmasters.
2016, Willy Castle will be playing an active role and Mike is confident that what we celebrate in 2016 will be
celebrated in the same vein in another 25 years time with a golden thread running through it.
Mike feels that it has been a privilege for him to live at Maryknoll and to be part of the school for the past 10
years.
Mike has, as from 1 March 2015 been appointed director of the Marist Schools Council.
JLE January 2015

Interview with Pam Groenewald – Staff 1998
Pam came to St David’s in 1998 to work as the prep school headmaster, Rick Wilson’s PA. She found Rick
to be an unbelievably, kind and well organised boss and really enjoyed working for him. He was incredibly
supportive and was amazing when Pam went through her battle with cancer five months after joining the
staff.
Pam is a very focused, well organised individual who believes in doing everything correctly and has been
involved with schools for some time. Her parents were part of the struggle, a strong Methodist family and
they often had black ministers and ANC members stay with them which has given her a great insight and
empathy with people. This is essential as part of Pam’s job has always been to calm parents down when
necessary.
She remembers her first day very well and couldn’t believe her office, which was originally the brothers’
toilet and wondered if she would cope. To gain access she had to walk through Rick’s office and on one
occasion when he had a number of visitors and she urgently needed to get out of her office, Cheryl helped
her squeeze though a tiny window in order not to disturb Rick. Pam got on very well with Rick, Cheryl King
and Robbie Orr, they all had a good sense of humour and to this day Rick will still mischievously hide the
mouse to Pam’s PC.
Pam did all the admissions to the prep school which was a heavy load but she coped. Unfortunately Pam
needed to earn more money and left after 5 years only to return again after 3 months in 2003 to work as PA
for Malcolm Williams, the headmaster of the high school. Pam coped well with Malcolm and his flamboyant
style of leadership and found him to be a very private person. She found him to be highly intelligent with a
very good brain and good heart and has a lot of respect for him.
Pam’s children have also been associated with St David’s, Craig has been involved as swimming coach for
the past 15 years and Cathy worked in the pre-primary for 10 years until last year.
JE September 2003

Interview with Rick Wilson – Staff 1996 to date
Rick was appointed headmaster of the preparatory school in 1996, prior to this he had lived in
Botswana for 11 years and before that taught at St Stithians. The reason for leaving Botswana
was that his two young sons needed to go to high school and there was nothing suitable in
Botswana.
Rick didn’t warm to the architecture of St David’s, finding the face brick too Victorian but he
came to love it over the years and in every subsequent project a great deal of effort has been
made to match the existing style. His first assembly was held in the old hall where now the high
school library is. Fairly apprehensive, coming from a very rural and multi-racial environment he
introduced himself to the 350 boys, as they sat on the floor. He talked to them about himself and
his life and how he played in a rock band during his teens. He appeared to have broken the ice
and quickly won the boys over.
As St David’s lacked a suitable large facility, the first speech night was held down at the pool
with the lectern and dignitaries lined up by the baby pool and the boys and parents on the
grandstands. As Rick began his speech, three Egyptian geese flew in and landed in the pool –
Rick jokingly said that his reputation as a good speaker had gone before him and had even
attracted the geese to come and listen to him.
Rick recalls that he was handed the keys to his tiny office in the grade 1 block, now occupied by
a therapist. He saw a cricket clinic in progress on the playing fields and decided to take a look.
As he walked over he was conscious of fierce scrutiny by a short bearded man. He introduced
himself to a suspicious Willy Castle. It took Willy two to three weeks before he had weighed Rick
up and didn’t venture to offer anything in the way of help until he had accepted him as the
newhHead.
Over the years a strong friendship has developed between them. Rick originally lived in the
house next to Willem, the estate manager and one day he and Gerry, his wife were sitting
outside when they heard the most terrible noise which turned out to be Willy and his wife Linda
revving the engine of Willy’s pride and joy, a V6 combi. They had come to fetch them to go and
eat pizza at Panerotti’s which had a special every Tuesday. Both Rick and Willy love garlic so
their pizzas looked rather like a snowstorm of garlic had landed. Afterwards they would then go
and buy sweets at a local sweet shop with Willy buying a huge bag to satisfy his sweet tooth.
On another occasion Rick had decided to go and fetch a video but, on reaching the main gate
realised he had left his wallet behind, he turned around and went back home where he ran
inside leaving his car engine running. He returned to find his car had disappeared; He had
heard of the car theft in Johannesburg but couldn’t believe this was happening to him. He went
in search of his car only to find Willy and Linda sitting on the bonnet of his car grinning from ear
to ear. Another time his prepared Weber braie disappeared only to find it behind the library
where Willy had hidden it.
Rick recalled another rather sad occasion when late at night Willy came knocking on his door
begging Rick to confess that he had stolen his beloved combi. Willy had gone to mass at
Rosebank, parked the combi only to come back and find it gone. This time it had been stolen
and Rick was absolved of seeking revenge.
In 1996 Rick and Paul Edey in consultation with the then chairman of the board, Terence
Wilkinson, then CEO of the Lonhro Group, formulated a rigorous development plan . The school
needed to modernise if it was to become a leading role player in the northern suburbs. The
facilities needed to improve and technology needed to be embraced going forward. In 1997
together with Kevin Brewer and the board the development plan commenced with a grand plan
of all the things that were required to improve the school including a new hall, classrooms, D &
T and IT centres. First came the classroom block to the left of the hall followed by the hall which
was built on the site of the old basketball court. Rick and Paul visited many school halls in
Johannesburg before consulting with the architects. One thing Rick was determined to
incorporate was a steeped or sloping balcony which would afford everyone a view of the stage
together with underground storage. The IT department had been started by Steve Eilertson and
was originally located in a long thin corridor with 10 state of the art 486 machines, which were
totally inadequate. Aware of Rick’s desire to upgrade the technology, the parents started a
petition to the board in support of their headmaster. He undertook three feasibility and
justification studies which was accepted, Jean Rodell was appointed head of IT for the prep
school and the fibre optic backbone installed.
The grade 0 classrooms were where the current IT department is and their playground where
the after-care is now located. Rick’s plan was to initiate two grade 00 classes and house them
together with three grade 0’s in a separate building, The pre-school block eventually followed
and the grade 0 classrooms were converted into our current computer classrooms.
When Rick first arrived the high school pavilion was an asbestos shed with no change rooms
and the boys were forced to change in the open in full view of some admiring mothers!. Rick
had built a state of the art D&T and IT centre at his school in Botswana and was determined St
David’s should have the same. He put together a justification for a D & T centre which was
approved by the board. Darryl Webb, deputy prep headmaster was given the job of overseeing
the project together with the new Music centre and high school Art centre.
Parents at St David’s have been extraordinarily generous with their donations and Rick was
never afraid to approach parents on behalf of struggling families for financial assistance when
needed. One parent who was leaving the country gave a donation of R2 million which with his
approval was used to build and refurbish the prep and high school libraries. When the hall was
built there wasn’t enough funding for a clock or stained glass windows for the tower. Rick
requested help via the school newsletter and the money came pouring in. There have been
some extremely kind benefactors who wish to remain anonymous.
Rick’s relationship with Paul Edey was an exceptionally good one and they used to spark each
other off. He enjoyed working together with him on much of the early development. He found
Paul to be an inspirational influence in his life.
Rick also feels that he has been blessed during his seventeen years with a stable, happy and
settled staff. This has been a source of great strength in the prep school with teachers who have
bought into the Marist philosophy resulting in the grade 7 boys being fully prepared for the
challenges of high school. The power of Marist cannot be underestimated and Rick also
believes strongly in the circle of contentment whereby, if the teachers are happy - then so are
the boys and if the boys are happy then so are the parents. Usually about 8 to 12 grade 7 boys
leave the school. Some win scholarships to prestigious boarding schools whilst some boys are
victims of the “Spud effect”. Rick always follows up on these boys and they always do
exceptionally well in their new schools having been given the foundation by St David’s prep
Rick believes he has been the longest serving headmaster at St David’s and, when he retires at
the end of 2013 will have served the school for 17 years and he observes that with the
exception of one year he has seen a new building development each year.
One of the aspects of his time at the school, which he values highly, is the role he has played in
staff development especially with interns. Many teachers have gone on to be heads or deputies
of other schools of which he is justifiably proud.
JLE January 2013

Interview with Teresa Voorendyk - Staff – 1997 to date
Teresa joined the staff of St David’s in 1997 together with Dave Smith and Stuart Foulds. She was
appointed as librarian and English teacher by Paul Edey, the same position she had with her former
employer KES. She recalled being interviewed by Paul Edey, Gary Norton and the head of English, Richard
Girdwood.
In her first year she taught two English classes and MUG (media user guidance) to the grade 8’s and 9’s.
Teresa shared the library facility together with the prep school librarian, Mary Clover. With the different
teaching hours and timetables, the conditions were not ideal however she enjoyed the freedom to buy
books and encouraged her library monitors to select books within an allocated budget she set them.
Teresa eventually moved into teaching English full-time and was peripatetic for a few years until she
inherited her present classroom from Liz Sheratt.
Teresa has filled a number of roles in her time with the school being, head of English, housemistress of
Benedict, mentor to the matric group and now being head of Life Orientation, she has enthusiastically run
the long distance running activity at the school and also takes the boys on corporate relays and other runs
outside of school.
She has seen people come and go with many changes some good some not so good. She has so many
memories of events, individuals, matric groups, and the long distance runners and now some of the pupils
she taught are colleagues such as Matthew Schneider, Richard Carey and Kyle Biller. She recalls the
matric group of 2005 as being very special, they were an odd ball bunch of characters but she had a close
bond with them. She still sees some of “her” runners, many of whom have continued to compete after
leaving school.
Teresa has been very happy at St David’s. It has become a very busy school and initially she and other
colleagues were able to attend all the events and functions but now there are too many to cope with. In
1997 there were 42 boys in matric which are now 112 and with 610 in the school. Previously there was time
to talk to each other and the boys, now it is not quite the close knit community it used to be. The school is
competent in so many areas and so many things. Teresa knew not only the names of the boys she taught
but of all the boys in the high school, now there are far too many. She realises that St David’s has to move
with the times and has to compete with other schools.
Teresa prides herself on being the only high school teacher who still has a blackboard in her classroom.
This doesn’t mean that she doesn’t use technology and is not IT illiterate but she prefers the old way of
teaching.
For sometime Teresa was responsible for the school’s trophies, taking over from Father Brewer when he
became ill. This has now been taken over by Karina George and Teresa is grateful that she no longer has
to track down and ensure the return of the many trophies, ensuring they were in good condition and
engraved every year in time for prize giving.
Teresa always enjoys seeing the old boys and there are very few of whom she has negative memories.
She helped many of the boys without charge, some appreciated this and others took it for granted.
Of her colleagues she remembers Paul Edey who made people believe in themselves, he was warm and
kind and made her feel special and she valued that she mattered. Although she initially didn’t get on with
him, she ended up teaching grade 10’s with Rod Smith and he was immensely supportive when she was
made housemaster. She regards Willy Castle as very special and she would run through a brick wall for
him. During her bleakest year in 2005, he encouraged her to run the Comrades marathon and she hasn’t
looked back since. He has been her mentor, friend, running partner and has the ability to make people
believe in themselves.
Teresa has changed direction in her career and is happy to remain at St David’s until she retires; she
regards St David’s as her home. St David’s is a special place and the pride and tradition doesn’t just belong
to the men and the boys and old boys. She was greatly affected by the “bus incident” and how it impacted
on the school and finds it difficult to understand the mentality of the matrics and their expectations of how
they want to treat the grade 8’s.
Teresa believes that the school needs staff that understands and relate to what the staff actually do here
and are prepared to contribute. One has to believe in what one is doing and that not every day is going to
be fun.
JLE February 2014

Willem
Good evening ladies and gentlemen, the Marist Brothers who are present here, Mr
Greeff, Mr Wilson, Mr Williams, members of the board and PTA, staff, Vaughan and
Matthew (Willem’s sons and other family members) and all the friends of Willem J van
der Merwe. In Marist school culture there is a Marist style based on presence,
simplicity, family spirit, love of work and Mary’s way. Willem’s love for the Marist
Brothers is evident with their presence here and he really appreciates you coming to
share this occasion with him. Willem was born in Cape Town and went to school at
Northlea in Rhodesia and he is the only South African citizen that I know that has two ID
books with different dates of birth and I leave it up to your imagination as to what he
uses them for.
How do you summarise a lifetime? Well, it will take a while so I suggest you make
yourselves comfortable and pay attention.
Willem arrived at St David’s 32 years ago and I still recall my first meeting with him
when Brother Anthony introduced me to a Texan smoking, ex-Zimbabwean soldier,
cement factory builder, farmer, handyman, steel worker, grass grower, builder, plumber,
welder and fixer of anything but unfortunately Willem couldn’t swim. Willem and I took
swimming lessons at the Eskom swimming pool and I had to pretend that I couldn’t
swim so as not to embarrass him as he was training for Iron Man.
When Willem first arrived at St David’s it was very simple, there was no tractor, there
was no bakkie, no tools and there was definitely no golf cart. There were no fences
around St David’s and keeping people off the property was a huge nightmare. Pupils on
motor bikes were the worst especially when they chose to ride on the cricket pitches.
One such person, who shall remain nameless proceeded to do a victory lap down
Rivonia Rd after destroying one of the pitches and with the help of Brother Aidan’s X-ray
vision, we got his number plate and the rest was history.
Years ago the school still owned the four bottom rugby fields and additional oval that
bordered on Rivonia Road and on one of our excursions down there to see what was
happening, we found a shebeen buried in the ground. On one cold morning we had to
remove a dead body. This person had obviously succumbed to the cold weather. The
police were called and order was restored.
One weekend, on a trip to the Rugani farm, we brought the old tractor back to St
David’s where Willem fixed up Rugani 1 and that is the red tractor that you still see
driving around the school nowadays.
I see Louis, Willem’s brother, John Williamson and Alex Chemaly and a few other
friends here who attended a bachelor party at John’s grandmother’s house where we
needed to bring in a full cleaning company to restore the house to it’s former glory, after
the party. I still think Louis and Willem are traumatised by that event as they had just
arrived from calm Zimbabwe.
We all remember Willem’s big foot Ford bakkie that was used for pulling the
lawnmower, carrying building supplies from the hardware, and giving kid’s rides on their
birthday parties. Willem loved custom made vehicles and fast bikes. Every three
months the latest, fastest motor bike was heard driving out of his house on Sunday
mornings to the breakfast run.
My first recollection of Willem’s sporting ability was when we were sitting in Willem’s
lounge in January 1980 and we were watching television and Willem said how great it
would be to run the Comrades marathon that was advertised on TV. My immediate
comment was to tell him that the first thing he needed to do was to stop smoking. He
then picked up the last pack of Texan Plain and threw it in the rubbish bin and the next
10 Comrades were history.
Willem has toured the world and been to places that we would only dream of. After
returning one holiday from a trip to Tokyo and having arrived at home at 2 in the
morning, he was rudely awakened by Tom McFadden and I as we had not yet qualified
for Comrades and had to run the Benoni Marathon that morning to qualify.
Willem’s claim to fame after Comrades races was that he was always dehydrated and
had to be taken every year to hospital to have drips put into him to rehydrate him. Two
incidents that really stand out were on one of our Comrades races, at 62km, I was going
to stop with ITB. Needless to say, on sitting down on the pavement, I received a quick
smack on the side of the head and was told to get my A into G and reminded that this
was my fault and he would be dragging me all the way to Durban.
Another incident I recall was on a flight to Two Oceans with George Ndlovu, Willem’s 2
IC on the support staff. There was a bomb scare over Bloemfontein. The plane
dropped out of the sky, the chutes came out, and Willem and George had to run from
the runway to the airport. He did have quite a job to get George back into the plane to
get down to Cape Town as George had never flown before.
I’m sure Willem remembers these trips to Cape Town where we used to sleep in the
sick bay at St Joseph’s and our long chats with Bro. Benedict and Brother Lawrence in
the evenings.
Willem has, apart from Comrades, Two Oceans and Iron Man also completed numerous
94.7 and Argus Cycle races, Fish Canoe Marathons and over 20 Duzi’s. I will never
forget the day when he asked me to second him on one of his Iron Man escapades.
Needless to say that, I was more broken than he was at the end of the event.
One night when Willem and I were on a training run down Fricker Rd. All the cars were
parked on the pavement for the cricket test at the Wanderers. On running past one of
the cars, we noticed someone lying on the front seat. We decided to turn back and see
what was happening. Someone was trying to steal a radio out of the car so we decided
to play policeman and immediately hauled the chap out of the car. We managed to get
some wire and tie him up to the door until the police arrived to take him away.
When Willem arrived at St David’s, his first workshop was part of the old stables which
also doubled up as a shebeen for Osborne, next to what today is the Astro. His love of
work was pushed to the limit as the area adjacent to his workshop, the present car park,
was a huge hole where parents would drop and fetch their kids. Willem went about
filling the hole turning it into a prep school playground with grass and irrigation. It took
over 200 loads of sand to level that area.
In his first few years at St David’s, Willem’s love for family was demonstrated by
extending his involvement in school activities. Willem used to help coach rugby and
accompanied tours especially our trips down to East London where he had a fine
reputation of dancing all night in the Numbers Discotheque. He then started the canoe
club which went from strength to strength and a number of boys that he coached have
represented the country and our boys have done exceptionally well in SA championship
races particularly our prep team who, for the last three years have won the South
African prep school championship sprint awards.
If it wasn’t for Willem, I would probably not still be at St David’s, so you can blame him
for me still being here. He built my house on the property from scratch and he also built
the swimming pool roof with help and prayers from Father Brewer that makes our pool
the best school pool in South Africa. Not many of you know that Willem laid out the
piping for the clinic in Slough that Brother Anthony was building. He assembled it on
the service road and then took it apart and took it to Slough to fit into the new clinic.
Our prep pavilion was also one of Willem’s building projects. When Mr Royce, Willem
and I decided to build this we had no permission from the brothers or school to build this
facility. We had trucks delivering in the middle of the night and laid the roof between 2
and 4 in the morning so when Brother Timothy saw this building going up, he
immediately challenged us and some very smooth talking took place to allow us to
complete this building. Willem also revamped his present house which was the old
brothers quarters and sick bay and was also our fourth pub on the property on our pub
crawls. At this point the usual procedure was to drink out of the ladies shoes before
heading off to the next house. No more will be said about these escapades.
The Roxy Rhythm Bar in Melville with Brother Vincent as our handbrake often turned
into very late nights and very quiet Friday mornings.
I remember having tickets for the Michael Jackson concert and the only one I could
force to come with me was Willem. What are friends for? Willem also went to see ZZ
Top but didn’t like them too much! He was jealous of their beards.
Willem loves animals and Socks and Megan were always part of the school and
everyone on campus knew who their boss was.
At the end of each term, we always used to have fantastic staff parties and on one of
these occasions, at Glenda Anderson’s house, Willem and I managed to put a huge
rock in the passenger side of Carol Ansell’s box Renault. The car immediately tilted to
the left. After the party, we all stood and watched Carol Ansell drive home sideways
without even noticing that her car was at an acute slant and how she got home we still
wonder to this day.
Willem and I used to have great fun on evenings when Mr Paul Davies, the then
headmaster, when he would entertain and we would sit in The prep school playground
with a six pack and keep switching the lights off in his house periodically. Needless to
say, Willem was called to his office the next morning to get an electrician in to sort out
these power surges.
Our fields, buildings, gardens, swimming pool, cricket pitches hold testament to Willem’s
huge contribution in maintaining our facilities which no other school can match.
We wish Willem good luck, good health and our thanks go with him in the next stage of
his life. We are really going to miss you.
Please charge your glasses as we propose a toast to the super man of St David’s
Marist Inanda.