Happy 100th, Bert!
Bert (AV) Kühn of Santos Haven senior citizens' complex in Mossel Bay turned 100 years old on Sunday, 14 April.
Even at 100, taking a daily walk is still highly important to him and he looks forward to reading his newspaper, which is delivered every day.
He enjoys listening to Radio Sonder Grense (RSG) and watches sport and news on television.
When asked how it feels to be 100 and what his secret to longevity is, Bert exclaims: "Now those are two trick questions and actually I don't have an answer for either of them."
He still visits his only child, Nelma Ruschioni, in Reebok, who lives in a renovated beach house of which the original part was built by Bert in 1957.
Nelma, says: "My father built the first cottage, right on the beach, on the original communal family plot.
In those days people preferred not to be too close to the sea."
Their cottage was also the very first in Reebok to have an enclosed veranda.
Bert is one of the residents of Santos Haven who has been there the longest.
Shared birth date
He and his wife Anna, whose birthday was also on 14 April, moved into their brand new home, number 189, at Santos Haven in 1991.
Anna passed away in 2009. For 30 years, number 189 was Bert's address, before he moved to one of the two frail care units in early 2021.
Early in his career, Bert was a teacher at Oudtshoorn Technical High School.
The couple moved from Oudtshoorn, to Kimberley and then to George, where Bert was the first principal of PW Botha College (now called Eden Technical High School).
The couple's next move was to Cape Town, where Bert was an education planner for technical schools until his retirement.
He retired in Oudtshoorn, where he built a house, where the couple lived until they moved to Mossel Bay.
Tsitsikamma
Bert, the fourth of eleven children, is originally from Tsitsikamma. When his father became the manager at Witfontein Forest Station, the family moved from Witelsbos to George. Bert attended a primary school in George and then matriculated at Outeniqua High School. Nine of the Kühn children schooled there.
Bert's wife, Anna Bredell, was from Calitzdorp.
Her father, Louis Bredell, a lawyer from Calitzdorp, was one of the ten first owners of Strand Rust (today Reebok), a private beach established in about 1909.
Family members and friends gathered at the Salt & Copper restaurant in Hartenbos to celebrate Bert's birthday on 13 April.
Helet Kühn, one of two daughters of Bert's brother Christo, came from London for the birthday celebration.
Christo, who lived in Glentana, was the last of Bert's siblings to pass away.