Our friend Harry died yesterday, and we are sad. We are oh so lucky to have known him and to have been a part of his family. Harry and Mary are two of the most special people that we have been fortunate to know in our lives.
Harry gave Brendan a German stein that you see in this picture. Harry brought it back from World War II, one of the few treasures that he took with him back to South Africa. It sat in their kitchen and Brendan asked about it a few times. The story goes that once Harry was liberated from the P.O.W. camp in Germany, they all headed to the local pub, which at that time was empty due to the state of the War. A lot of South Africans took a few trinkets, and the one thing that Harry took was a stein that was hanging on the wall. It's engraved with the name of the local gentleman who owned the stein - M. Altinger. When Brendan & Mysti went back to South Africa in 1999 the stein was still there. Brendan had Harry tell the story of the stein to Mysti. At the end of the story, Harry presented Brendan the stein and said "Take it home with you." Brendan has had it ever since.
Today - Brendan was very proud to pour a beer in it and drink to Harry and Mary. We will miss him tremendously. We regret that we waited too long to go back to Somerset West. However, we are looking forward to going there in February with Max so that he can meet Mary.
We'll miss you Harry.
I hadn't heard the story of the beer stein--pretty special. Harry was definitely a remarkable person. I have very fond memories of my trip to SA particularly listening to Harry's stories while having "sundowners" overlooking the Bay.
Posted by: Andrea ODonnell | September 01, 2008 at 10:34 PM