Item 202000812 - Interview with Jerome Kourie 1977

Interview with Jerome Kourie – 1977
Jerome attended St David’s at the time it was going through a bad patch. Br Anthony was the
headmaster until 1975 when Br Timothy took over. The boarding which was the backbone of the
school was closed at the end of 1972 which had a great impact on the ethos, camaraderie and
not least the sport. After Br Timothy left in 1981 there followed a series of headmasters until
Paul Edey took up the post in 1995.
Jerome began his school career in grade 2, having moved from St Paul’s, Maryvale. He was
part of the new intake of the first grade 1’s and 2’s. Prior to this the school had started with
standard 1. The head of the primary school was Mrs Kempster, and Mrs Marsay taught grade 1.
He remembers Mrs Kenezovitch- standard 5 who was legendary and a great teacher.
At the time the bottom field was basic veldt and Aggie Simaan did all the landscaping of the
school including the new rugby fields and cricket pitch. The main oval was opened in 1970.He
lived in Chislehurston, a small suburb adjoining the north east border of the school and used to
walk across those fields and see her driving the blue tractor down to where the Inandas are
now. There were no fences around the school and everything was completely open. He recalls
that he and a group of boys who lived nearby used to play on the fields after school and made a
clubhouse in a cave in the ground where it had eroded. Some of the boys were Nigel Harding,
James Duthey, Colin Tomaselli – Chislehurston was originally a farm owned by the Tomaselli
family and was eventually sub-divided around 1973.
Standard 2 and 3 were taught in the “House Block” which was the magnificent old Herbert Baker
building overlooking the main cricket oval. The classrooms were huge with wonderful pressed
ceilings, wooden floors and fireplaces which were lit in winter. Across from the house block
where the current grades block is situated were the stables with Br Ronald in charge of horse
riding at the school.
On his first day at school he remembers his good friend Raymond John as their fathers were
good friends. Many of the parents were running around with 8mm cameras recording the big
day, a major event with the opening of the new grades. Where the fountain still stands is where
the grades block was originally located.
In standard 5, 1972, the Science block was built and many parents had raised funds for the
stained glass windows. The Science labs were the best in the country and were the pride and
joy of Br Bosco (Mario). Br Bosco was an absolute genius and had a strong but healthy rivalry
with the Science teacher at Observatory who also had a new laboratory.
Champagne Day was a big event in the school diary and all the boys went in buses to the
Cathedral, he remembers the hymn “Great Man of God” and all the school singing with zeal and
fervour. During the late seventies the school celebrated Champagne Day at the Rosebank
Catholic Church and the boys were given donuts and a cool drink.
The first SA school to allow black pupils was Rosebank Convent followed by St David’s a year
or two later.
The Christian life group (CLG) was formed by Br Mario who organised trips for the boys
involved. They went into Soweto in 1972/3 to a school which was quite an eye-opener and
which was quite daunting for young children who had been brainwashed into believing that
Soweto was a hostile environment. They raised funds for the school and later in 1975 or 76, Br
Mario said he would get a guest speaker for the boys. A black minister came to the school and
addressed them, he spoke about the plight of blacks and talked about things that the boys were
quite unaware of and what was actually going on in the townships. He remembers vividly him
saying that South Africans were living in a pressure cooker and when the lid burst there would
be mayhem, tragedy and bloodshed in SA. He pleaded and prayed with the boys to help change
the course of history. Many parents were very unhappy about this and felt it scared their sons.
The black minister was Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Any sporting event against Observatory was a derby day and taken quite seriously. The rugby
team in 1972 was the best the school ever had, coached by Nassey Simaan. George Nichas
who was a brilliant player unfortunately missed an easy penalty in the dying minutes of the
game that year and the school lost to KES by 2 points but won every other game. Nassey
started coaching abd moved up with the same group of players until they were in matric (1972).
Nassey was an unbelievable asset to the school’s rugby programme and brought in Cas De
Bruin who was an international referee teaching at Fakkelle Hoerskool. The opening practise
game for every rugby season for many years was the one against Fakkelle Hoerskool. Nassey
was absolutely passionate about the rugby and ran along the touch line during team matches
often running faster than the wings in spite of being a heavy smoker. He instituted a star grading
system after each match and then put the grading up on the school notice board every Monday
rating each player with stars and comments.
There was fierce rivalry between Marist Inanda and Observatory and often there would be
between 2 and 4 000 people watching the 1st team rugby game between the two schools. At
one match Inanda ran onto the field in their black and gold colours and Obs in red, a hearse
was driven onto the pitch and the back door opened to reveal a coffin in which was a dummy
dressed in the Inanda colours. On another occasion at a swimming gala Obs again had a
dummy dressed in an Inanda swimming costume hanging by a noose around its neck from the
diving board. In spite of this it was a healthy rivalry and many of the boys were friends outside of
school. There was also rivalry between the Marist Brothers of both schools.
Jerome played 1st team rugby in standard 9 and 10, was the tennis captain and played 1st team
tennis from standard 6 until matric. In athletics he threw the discus and shot put. He was a
member of 1st cricket team, became a prefect and awarded his honours blazer.
Photograph not transfered.
The photograph above shows all the Kourie brothers wearing their honours blazers on the day
that their youngest brother (Dr Jeffrey Kourie) was awarded his honours blazer. L – R
Lawrence, Joel, Jerome, Jeffrey, Leslie Kourie
There were a lot of big families present at the school – Marsay, Kenezsovitch, Deeb,
Schoombie, Saad, Simaan - a percentage of the fees was reduced with every child and the 5th
brother paid no fees. There were many Italian, Greek, Lebanese and Portuguese boys at the
school mainly because of the boarding facility.
When Jerome’s son Daniel went to grade 00 there were 3 or 4 boys in the class whose fathers
had been pupils in the same class nearly 20 years earlier at St David’s at the

same time Anthony Rowlingson, Sabatino Mienucchi and Jerome Kourie -
Both Jerome’s sons studied at St David’s until matric attaining their honours blazers and 7
distinctions each in matric. Jonathan graduated from Wits as a Medical Doctor in 2011 and
Daniel is in his 3rd year Accounting Science.
Jerome doesn’t remember much about his last day other than it was a bit of an anticlimax. His
class got up to some mischief, some boys got fire hoses and flooded some classrooms and
some even painted statues which didn’t go down too well at all.
Academically Jerome was awarded his studies scroll and on leaving school studied 1 year of
dentistry, changed to finance and studied towards a BCom at Wits University. This was followed
by 2 years military service leaving as a captain and then he went into Acacia Finance where he
has been employed for 30 years.
Jerome still feels very passionate about the school. He has a good relationship with St David’s
sister school St Teresa’s and has been on the board since it’s inception. He is a trustee of
Catholic Education Trust. He isn’t currently a member of MOBS but receives the newsletter. He
regularly visits the school to watch the 1st rugby team matches. He receives the school
magazine and always reads through it keeping in touch with the community.
JE February 2012