91 full years celebrated

Friends of Pat Gillespie gathered at the Getafix Garden Café at the Garden Route Botanical Garden (GRBG) on Saturday 8 July to celebrate the life of this remarkable woman. As Pam Hodgson of Saarp wrote, "her legend will live for a long time".

Pat left George when she was 80 years old to go and live with her daughter Helen in Musina. Pat's husband George had died some years before. Until that time she served on the committees of various organisations in George.

After her husband retired as chairman of the Association of Retired People and Pensioners (ARP&P), now called Saarp (South African Association of Retired Persons and Pensioners), Pat became chairman. She was on the committee of the Wildlife Society, now called Wessa, for many years.

The Wednesday walking group, which now has about 40 members, was started by Pat.

She was very strict as a hike leader and did not encourage "idle chatter" lest a bird call or beautiful flower would go unnoticed. In the beginning it was a "girls only" group but later a few men were allowed to join and it became known as the 'Gang', which stood for "Girls and Non Girls'. At the celebration, Jenny Herd read one of Walt Whitman's nature poems, Miracle, which sums up the essence of Pat.

Pat was involved with the George Arts Theatre and the SPCA and together she and George looked after small dogs while their owners were away. They kept chickens and ducks and grew their own vegetables.

The Presbyterian choir was another of her activities and many people will remember her for her involvement there. However, I feel that her greatest love was working for and at the GRBG. When the herbarium was started in the Botanical Garden's museum, Pat and George were there as volunteers from the very beginning.

Together with her great friend, Gonda Ennis, seeds were gathered on the slopes of George Peak and were planted and nurtured in her own garden before being brought to the GRBG nursery. In those early days the nursery was outside the fence near to where the entrance to Getafix is now. - Ros Schubert

Photo: Pauline Lourens At a tea held to celebrate the life of Pat Gillespie who was a stalwart in many George organisations, friends and acquaintances gathered to pay tribute to this dynamic lady. On the right is Roz Schubert who wrote the article.