Chronicle-1978

Farewell RON IRONS Ron Irons has had an unusual teaching career. After qualifying at Natal University in 1939, he taught for a short while at D.H.S. After the outbreak of War, hejoined the army in 1940. After seeing action in North Africa, he spent three years as a prisoner of war in Italy and Germany. Peace saw him teaching again at D.H.S., but in 1946 he responded to a call to help run his father's businesses. He exchanged the classroom for trading stores in Zululand. Ron's first connection with Kearsney was a parent, when his eldest son Barry came to Kearsney in 1962.Three other sons were to follow. In 1970 Ron sold his businesses in Zululand, and moved with his family to Hillcrest to live in retirement. However, being active and young at heart, he soon became bored, and began to yearn for the classroom. He asked the Headmaster for an opportunity to help out with some teaching to see whether he still had his earlier enthusiasm for the profession. He found that he did and quickly became a permanent member of the Kearsney staff. In his eight years at Kearsney, Ron has in many ways made up for those years during which he was lost to teaching. In his teaching of History he has shown dedication,com bined with interest in and concern for his pupils as individuals. In the sporting sphere, Ron threw himself in with the zest and enthusiasm of a man thirty years hisjunior. For seven years he coached under thirteen rugby players, while during 1978 he arranged all rugby fixtures. Throughout his stay at Kearsney Ron has coached cricket, chiefly the under fifteen 'A' team. It is a rare sight to see a teacher on the eve of retirement devoting so many afternoons and Saturdays to the sporting activities of his pupils. My personal memories of Ron will always be of a most cheerful personality, an eternal optimist, who is always far more prepared to see the good in others rather than the bad. In his rather short career he has revealed all the qualities of the complete schoolmaster. J.L. HALL DAVID LEWIS-WILLIAMS It was in April 1963 that Mr J.D. Lewis-Williams came to Kearsney, having spent five years as a teacher at Selborne College in the Cape. At the end of June 1978, Dr LewisWilliams left Kearsney to become a lecturer in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand. A man of many parts (scholar, local preacher, conjurer, debater, play-producer, to name but a few), his influence was felt in many spheres during the 15 years he spent at Kearsney. Of all his characteristics, it is perhaps his devotion to matters academic that will be best remembered. As senior English master, he stimulated many of his pupils to appreciate their language and its literature, and he took endless pains to help them improve their vocabularies and communication skills. However, David was not only a teacher; he con tinued to be a scholar too. Having obtained a B.A. degree(in English and Geography)and a Teaching Diploma from the University of Cape Town, he soon commenced part-time studies, mainly during school holidays,for an Honours degree in Geomorphology.This he was awarded by the University ofSouth Africa in 1965. 12

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