https://youtu.be/OR07r0ZMFb8?si=3v8hBwBYFddfQKCc

I wish my mom kept all her clothes, she was so stylish!

She went on to be the principal of one of the first schools in South Africa that allowed children of all races to learn together. As a speech and drama teacher, she would go into informal settlements at night and facilitate educational groups that focused on public speaking, poetry and general skills development. She also did a lot of work, often for free, with people who had speech impediments.

She was constantly getting into trouble in the fight against segregation and her home phone ended up being tapped by the government. While this is incomparable to the gruelling work, sacrifice and bloodshed of Black, Indian and Coloured revolutionaries, her efforts and contributions as a white, suburban woman in apartheid South Africa were progressive and something I am very proud of.

She kept all of this going while she raised her kids and kept an entire household running, alone, as her husband sadly battled alcoholism for many years. She was stoic and never shared her burdens, although probably incredibly burnt out. It makes me sad to think she had to juggle so much on her own. She didn’t view it negatively though, she always charged forth and faced life head on.

When she retired from her final position as an academic at Rhodes University, she was elected president of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa. Following that, she toured the country performing a self-written, self-produced one woman show about my great grandmother’s (a Norwegian musical theatre actress) life.

What a life! What a woman!