MY MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS

Grandma Beatty

My grandmother left Ireland to make a home in South Africa for someone she barely knew. There couldn't be a greater contrast to the green of Ireland than the semi-desert of what was still known as the Cape Colony. Miles from the larger centres she raised seven children, losing two in childhood.

She never lost her love of beautiful artefacts and would often attend sales to buy what we now regard as beautiful antiques. Their home in Ireland was that of the town surgeon but even in the 1950's they cooked over the hearth and collected water from a well at the bottom of the garden.

The picture I gained from her daughters was that of a gentle spirit, loving to give hospitality to the soldiers during the II World War and to those of Jewish descent. Her greatest gift to her family was her prayers for future husbands of her daughters. These were answered to a remarkable degree. Each one was cherished by gentle, caring, but strong men who were all leaders. Their first concern was always for the welfare of their wives to a remarkable degree.

My mother cared for her parents for many years and sorrowed over the relatively early death of her mother in 1952. Looking at an early portrait of my grandmother she was a beautiful woman with a serene expression which I think epitomised her life which was never easy.

My mother's father was the son of a farmer near Tempo. He took a post with the Post Office in the Cape Colony at a time where life in Ireland was hard. His career took him to Aliwal North in the Karoo and then to Pretoria.

Things said and unsaid left me the impression that he was not an easy man to live with. My mother's gentle spirit was damaged by her father who seemed to live a dual life. He was known as something of an evangelist amongst the Brethren, visiting the black nurses at the General Hospital and preaching among the prisoners in Pretoria's goal. My grandmother was a loyal wife and never complained.