On 9 September 2024, my dad passed away.

He had been sick for a while, and I was able to get to South Africa just in time to say goodbye. He wasn’t entirely conscious the night we got there, having had a minor stroke and a heart attack since being admitted to hospital two weeks before. But when I got to his side, he raised his hand as if he was reaching for mine. I held it for the longest time, and I hope he knew I was there.

He died the next day, with mom, me, and my partner Joe by his side.

In the days and weeks that followed, we realised just how much he had meant to so many people as an overwhelming number of tributes rolled in. Thank you to everyone who got in touch with messages, cards, flowers, food, and hugs.

The celebration of his life was held at the Harkerville Market, where mom and dad had a stall for the past 20 years. It had become his happy place in his retirement, making it the perfect place for his final send-off.

Somehow, my incredible mom found the strength to write and deliver a eulogy on the day. As she said herself, no one knew him like she did – and she wanted everyone to know just how amazing he was.

Here is that eulogy, in full.

“Theron was the second eldest of five brothers, born to a music teacher mother and a lawyer father. When I think of him, the following words come to mind: creative, sensitive, perfectionist (if it wasn’t 100% it’s not good enough) kind (telling me that I cannot give up on a certain person because she has nobody else), loyal, caring, excellent cook, highly intelligent, but also strong willed and very stubborn.

He loved fishing from a young age, when the family moved from Pretoria to the Strand. Many a tale was told but my favourite one was when he and his father went fishing on a tractor tube until a fish with a sharp fin pierced a hole in the tube. Theron had his finger in the hole while his dad rowed like crazy on the other side, causing the tube to go round and round. Eventually they reached the shore safely! They built their own boat later to start fishing more seriously.

Theron and a friend also started diving, making their own diving gear including their wetsuits.

He played many sports – mainly rugby and athletics, where he got Western Province colours for discuss and shotput. Later he also played hockey and squash.

He was very musical and had a beautiful baritone voice. He took singing lessons in Stellenbosch, where the professor told him it’s either a singing career or teaching. He chose teaching, but still sang leading roles in school and varsity operettas and later, many productions of the Knysna Music Society. He and Helena Bruwer often teamed up to sing the most beautiful duets.

His first teaching job was at the Zwaanswyk High School in Cape Town, where he trained the school choir and cadet band.

He always had an enquiring mind and a wide general knowledge. He just knew something about everything. In the many tributes we’ve received from ex-students, this one stands out: “Before Google, there was Mr. Schutte.”

We got married in 1969, and in 1971 we moved to Knysna where he became the Biology teacher at the Knysna High School. He touched many students’ lives as we’ve been reminded these past two weeks. On Facebook alone, there have been almost 200 messages from students he taught.

Theron believed in hands-on learning and many experiments were performed in his class to make life more interesting – from dissecting pigeons to inflating sheep’s lungs and making them bleat.

He was a sports coach and driver, taking athletes and teams to many games and events. He maintained the sports fields and before each event you would find him with his little cart, chalking the fields.

For the school plays, he was the stage manager, did the lighting and special effects, and built the sets.

We never had new cars, but we never needed them because Theron would fix and maintain whatever secondhand car we bought. That’s actually how we met. When I started work in the Strand, he fixed a Morris Minor for the welfare organization where I was a 21-year-old social worker.

My children firmly believed he could fix anything! And he could also make anything, it seemed.

He became involved in projects in the townships and when the teachers in the White Location needed accommodation, he spent his afternoons and weekends building them a house with the help of a neighbour and Johnny, our gardener at the time.

Every year at the Winter Festival, Epilepsy South Africa had a pancake stall at Loerie Park as a fundraising event. Theron not only built the work surfaces for the stall, but also helped to set up the stall every year. He had the gas bottles filled the night before, and then he’d be in his workshop cutting reams of greaseproof paper into 4,000 pancake-sized pieces.

When anyone needed help, he was there. But he was always there for his family first.

When I went back to work, he would fetch and take the children to their various after-school activities. When Anelia’s car got stolen in Durban, he had a new second-hand car for her within two days. He drove it to Durban and got the bus back to Knysna – a 17-hour journey.

We built our own house with the help of one bricklayer and an apprentice over three years – when I became pregnant, I was relieved when people started asking when the baby is due, instead of when the house will be finished! And this is the same house where we stayed for the last 52 years.

Woodwork was always his hobby, and when he took an early retirement package in 1996, it became his job. We joined the Harkervillle Market, right here, in 2003 where we had a stall for the last 20 years. He made amazing wooden toys and it was so rewarding to hear from people who are now adults how much the toys meant to them when they were young. Especially the penguins and toy guns.

The market played a big role in our lives and was the main reason he bounced back after every serious illness. The stallholders became our special friends and extended family and we were so grateful to have that.

His health started to deteriorate over the years, but by the grace of God he survived colon cancer, a heart valve replacement, a stroke, a spider bite, being run over on his motorbike by a bakkie, and long Covid that lasted five months. Along the way, two toes were amputated, along with half of his little finger after he literally cut it in half lengthways. He was quite proud that the cut was perfectly symmetrical. What an achievement.

He also had a knee replacement six years ago and in the end, it was an infection in this knee that finally led to his passing.

We were blessed with three exceptional children and their spouses and two beautiful grandchildren. Thank you to Francois and Sinead, Rudolph and Lisa, and Anelia and Joe for all the help and support. Without you, I never would have been able to make it and our lives would have been very bleak.

What a privilege it was to be married to this very special man for 55 years and 5 months.

Rest gently, my best friend and love of my life. I will miss you forever.”