MOSSEL BAY NEWS - A well-known and beloved Mossel Bay doctor, Wessel Oosthuizen, recently passed away at the age of 86, a month shy of his next birthday.
Born in Heidelberg on 18 September 1939, Oosthuizen’s family moved from town to town throughout his school career due to his father’s job in the South African Police Service.
In 1957, Oosthuizen matriculated in Rustenburg with seven distinctions, “which was unequalled that year in South Africa,” say his two sons, Wessel Jr and Johann.
A few years later, in 1963, Wessel Sr graduated as a qualified doctor from the University of Pretoria.
He first worked as a general practitioner in Standerton (in what is now Mpumalanga) before permanently moving to Mossel Bay in December 1975, where he joined a three-man medical practice.
“He was one of the first general practitioners in South Africa to complete a master’s degree in family medicine in the late 1970s,” say his sons.
Wessel Sr hung up his doctor’s coat when he retired in the early 2000s, but still did some locum relief work in the time to come.
He is survived by his wife, Elmarie, and their two sons, their spouses and three grandchildren. Wessel and Elmarie would have celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary on 4 December.
“We children regarded him as the rock of our family and share many fond memories of growing up in a very safe and stable family environment. We hold our father’s humble and generous approach to life in very high regard, especially the consideration he held for people from all walks of life,” say Wessel Jr and Johann.
“In our family, he was jokingly referred to as ‘Mr Ethics’ because of his unerring ability to always do the right thing in life, no matter how difficult or what the circumstances might have been.”
An informal memorial service was held at Santos Haven, a retirement community in Mossel Bay where Wessel Sr spent his later years, on Saturday 8 August. It was well attended by family, friends, ex-colleagues and those who remembered him fondly.
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