PEN-PICTURES OF SOME SPECIAL PEOPLE I HAVE KNOWN

(1)  THREE SISTERS

Five Oaks farm near Lady Grey

I have three special girl first cousins who are sisters and are  descended from 1820 Settler stock on their father’s side and from Scottish, Irish and Huguenot stock, on their mother’s side.They are  Anne, Jocelyn and Beth (Anne being the eldest and Beth the youngest with about one year between each of them). They are the daughters of my late uncle, Keith Hockly, a much loved and respected Lady Grey sheep farmer and later aspirant MP and supporter of Dr Jannie Steytler ’s Progressive Party and my late aunt, Josephine (born Macleod).

Anne, Jocelyn and Beth grew up on a farm called “5 oaks” and went to boarding school at the Holy Cross Convent in Aliwal North and later to Queenstown Girls High. Every year the Hockly family used to drive to Cape Town to spend the Christmas school holidays with our paternal grandmother, Angelique Macleod (born De Kock). And such happy childhood memories  and stories we can share together -  with  stories to fill a book or two!

Anne

Jocelyn

After matriculating at Queenstown Girls High School in the Eastern Cape the three girls studied for careers in medical fields - Anne became a nurse and midwife and at one stage ran a breast-feeding clinic from her home in Plumstead. Anne is married to Theo Du Plessis and they live on the West Coast where Anne has served as Commodore of the local yacht club.

Jocelyn, who now lives in Cape Town, became a medical technologist and for many years lived in Johannesburg where she worked at the South African Institute for Medical research.

Beth

Beth, who started off as a trainee nurse, later went into the corporate world. She is married to Peter Muzzell (a cricket enthusiast and renowned for preparing cricket pitches in the Eastern Cape) and they live in Port Elizabeth. 

Between the three sisters they have eight children and several grandchildren and they and their spouses are currently enjoying their retirement years which includes camping and travelling to interesting  places all around South Africa like, for example, the Kgalagadi Game Reserve.

                                                                 - penned by Guy Macleod