56 Morris Christie Old Kearsney (1935) Morris Christie passed away peacefully at his home on Sunday, July 24. His passing brought to an end the life of an extra ordinary man. He was never a “Captain of Industry”, a prime minister, a major, a bishop; he didn’t find a cure for cancer, negotiate world peace or accumulate vast wealth, or become in any way famous. In one of the most formative periods of his life, the SecondWorldWar, he was a mere private. He was surely, always, one of the people, without pretence to any other station in life. And content to be so. And yet, he was a giant of a man. He was baptised at the Methodist Church in President Street in Vryheid, providentially the same church where his memorial service was held. Between those two religious services was a period of 93 years into which Morris packed his life, his love of life, the loves of his life, Molly, his life’s love, his children and their children, his love for his many friends, for the environment, for recreation, for camaraderie. And between those two religious services, like bookends to his life, he kept faith in the Lord that was unwavering. It is not fanciful to believe that Morris had a very special relationship with his Lord that allowed him quite literally to do the Lord’s work. Morris attended Scottsville Primary and Kearsney College and joined the Chamber of Mines in 1936. In Nor th Africa he was wounded and captured in June 1942, and as a prisoner of war, laboured down a coal mine in Poland. Towards the end of the war he escaped, made his way east through Russia, eventually reaching Odessa, from where he was shipped almost back to his Nor th African star ting point, Suez. After the war he lived and worked in Swaziland, played cricket and hockey for Swaziland and became a lay preacher in the Methodist Church in Manzini. He was ar tistic, loved the performing ar ts, he was a Rotarian, he ran 13 (and a half!) Comrades marathons, star ting when he was 40 years old. He was gregarious and as generous as Santa Claus, so that when he and Molly moved toVryheid in 1990, he endeared himself to all whom he met at his Church, theWildlife Society, the Moths... wherever. And the Moths, how he loved the Moths and their tenets: sound memory, mutual help, true comradeship. and how the Moths, to a man, loved Morris! But then, everyone did. He was truly a remarkable man. One of nature’s gentlemen who will be missed for a long time. Vryheid Herald (5 August 2011) Painting of the Old Kearsney Chapel
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