GERRIT PHARO
Indeed very sad news of the recent passing of Gerrit.
After many years of not seeing each other we bumped at Paddocks shopping mall about a year ago, and subsequently had a number of wonderful moments swapping stories and jogging each other’s memories of past SACS days and where life finds whom where! He had lot of stories to tell and seemed to have tracked many of his classmates. During our more recent encounters Gerrit briefly referred to his illness and typically was dismissive about it, mentioning by the by, that he was having chemo, and not feeling "too bad”. Such was part of his lovely character.
Midyear, my wife & I were scheduled to go overseas for an extended period, so Gerrit and I arranged that we would make contact and meet with our wives for coffee when we got back. When last I saw him I was alarmed to see that he was walking with the aid of walking stick, but again he made little of it!
A specific lesson for me, once again re-affirmed in this case - don’t put off for any length of time what you intend doing!!! Alas, Gerrit having called twice since then to set this up, is gone and we never did meet up again. So it makes me incredibly sad that I missed this opportunity.
It was great knowing you Gerrit.
My sincere condolences to his family
Laurie Kellaway
This is such sad news.
Gerrit and his younger brother Andre were boarders throughout their SACS career, so we were together in JE de Villiers House, Michaelis House and Rosedale. Gerrit came from Paternoster (west coast fishing village up near Saldanha) and I vividly remember his Dad arriving to fetch him at the boarding house sometime in the late 1950’s driving the latest car with huge tail fins! I was so impressed. His Dad always wore a hat with the brim pulled down at the front, and drove the latest big car!
Gerrit was of Portuguese heritage, and he taught me to say “Obrigado!” instead of “thank you” when I begged for postcards on board the Portuguese liners which called at Cape Town regularly (some of you might remember the Angola, Mocambique, Imperio, Patria, Infante Dom Henrique etc? They were regulars callers on their way to Mocambique)
I remember Gerrit as a genuinely nice guy and a good friend over many years together as boarders at SACS.
RIP Gerrit – you were a great guy.
Sean Day