MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Celebrating her 101st birthday with several family members in a special celebration at her home in the Groenkloof Retirement Village in Great Brak River, Renette Schroeder described her milestone as a grace.
Though her birthday was on Monday 4 May, she had enjoyed an intimate celebration with some of her relatives in the village's library on 2 May.
Talking to Mossel Bay Advertiser about her mother and her life, Schroeder's youngest daughter, Lawrette Kabanuck, said her mum was born in Somerset West in 1925. She had an extremely happy childhood and spent a lot of time with her maternal grandparents.
Schroeder's grandfather was the minister, and lived in the local parsonage, which is now a historical building.
A happy history
Kabanuck said her mother had missed her Grade One and Two years, but began school in Standard One.
"She was very bright and could read from an early age. She was eager to learn and still is eager to gain knowledge," she said.
After Schroeder matriculated from Hotten-tots-Holland High School in the early 1940s, she attended Stellenbosch University, where she completed a BA in languages.
Renette Schroeder turned 101 on 4 May. Photo: Chelsea Pieterse
"Her heart's desire was to become a journalist, but my grandfather felt it was too dangerous for a woman, so the other career option was to become a teacher. Career options for women were very limited in those days. It was because she had an interest in languages that she chose to do a BA in that," said Kabanuck.
She said her mother often spoke about her upbringing, her family and her time at university and the Huis de Villiers hostel. Schroeder had told them that she was a descendant on her mother's side of the South African preacher, writer and teacher Andrew Murray. She used to share memories of visiting her paternal grandfather's farm in Paarl and standing on the stoep of the home where she could see the Italian WWII prisoners build the Du Toit's Kloof Pass.
After university, Schroeder went on to teach at a primary school in East London, where she met her future husband and father of her children, Lawson Schroeder.
The pair were married in Voëlklip, Hermanus, on 6 January 1953.
Renette and Lawson Schroeder in Adderley Street, Cape Town.
Photo: Supplied
They moved around a bit, and while Lawson went on to become a senior lecturer at the teacher's training college in Wellington, Renette, who never hesitated to accept new challenges, became a successful estate agent.
"She once sold five houses in a month. She also once sold a house while still wearing her apron. She had gone to work that day and had forgotten she was wearing it, but she still sold a house. That was quite a joke in the family for a while," said Kabanuck.
Her parents had four children, although their firstborn, a girl, tragically died just eight hours after her birth. The couple went on to have Irene, Johan and Lawrette.
Reader, lover of nature
Speaking more about Renette and what she enjoyed doing in her spare time, Kabanuck said her mother was, and still is, a compulsive reader.
"She has a real hunger for knowledge. She has an interest in everything under and above the sun."
Renette often took her children on hikes and ensured they grew up sharing her love of opera, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and the theatre.
Renette on the smallholding she lived on in Matatiele. Photo: Supplied
"Nowadays she is very limited with what she can do, because of her age. The wonderful thing is her eyesight is still so good, and she can read text on the TV without her glasses. She also still gets the newspaper and she enjoys calls with her children, grandchildren (six of them) and her 12 great-grandchildren.
"She enjoys flowers and nature - the small things in life."
Renette and Lawson relocated to George when he retired in 1988, and they moved to Groenkloof in 2016.
Sadly, Lawson passed away in 2019, within six weeks of his oldest daughter, Irene's passing.
Kabanuck attributed her mother's long life to her faith in the Lord. "I believe she has an inner strength, and her way of thinking and processing also plays a role. I have never seen my mum stressed or upset. She is an amazing, remarkable woman, and it is a combination of many things that makes her the woman she is.
"She is a cheerful giver and has given to many organisations and people in need over the years. I have very special memories of my mum and I thank the Lord, as it is because of His grace that she has been spared. It is almost Mother's Day and she is still with me. That is one of the biggest gifts of my life," she said.
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