In Memory Of Margaret Alice Van Wyk, née Puth

17 April 1911 – 25 December 1996

Last week we lost our Grandmother and we shall miss
her very much. We shall always cherish a memory of
her as our second mother.

Since we can remember Grandma has been living with
us and one of our earliest childhood memories is the
savoury taste of grandma’s specially prepared tomato
and onion preserve on toast when we were living in
Mondeor, a suburb of Johannesburg, in 1963.

Grandma was in charge of the household as both our
parents worked and she did the housekeeping chores
with the energy of a hyperactive child. Grandma raised
us, the five boisterous Botha children, on homebaked
bread, homemade jam, preserved fruit, homemade
rusks and other typical South African dishes.

Grandma was an excellent pastry chef and cook and
none of us shall ever be able to enjoy traditional fruit-
cake without longing for the excellent fruitcake our
Grandma used to bake.

Grandma was synonymous with sewing and almost
everybody who met Grandma made use of her expertise
as a seamstress to make them some article of clothing
or help with altering their clothes.

Grandma’s amazing work ethic shone brightest at the
time we were living in Randburg. She earned an extra
income by driving the Kombi for the local crèche
morning and afternoon, and made school wear on
contract for a clothes shop. She added these
activities to her already full daily schedule as
housekeeper and cook.

Grandma had a passion for gardening and plants
and was always collecting seeds and exquisite
plants to add to her beloved garden. Yesterday
we admired the 1.5 metre high date tree which
grandma had grown from the pit of a date which
mother had brought back from Israel.

Grandma is one of the toughest women we have
ever known and the more chaotic life was, the
more she enjoyed it – possibly because she was
the only girl among seven brothers and must
have had a challenging childhood.

Grandma told us that she was a teenager when
they travelled by ox-wagon from Laersdrif to
Middelburg.

At one stage or another Grandma stayed with four
of her five grandchildren in order to lend a hand
with their housekeeping. One lived somewhere
in the Free State in a caravan far from the nearest
town. When grandma returned home she told us
how much she had enjoyed it.

Grandma initiated the use of technology at the AA
where she worked by buying and using her own
calculator after the management refused to purchase
a calculator for the office.

Once she had demonstrated the usefulness of the
machine, they bought it from her and purchased
many more for office use.

Five years ago (1991) when Grandma was eighty
years old we went camping in a wild reserve and
Grandma joined us on an early morning ride in an
open Landrover and enjoyed herself thoroughly.

Grandma’s health was failing at the end of her life
and she looked forward to finding peace in heaven.

We shall miss her as unique and irreplaceable, but
we shall joyously meet again in the Hereinafter.

[Written by her grandson Ian Albertus Botha, 1996]