The recent death of a long term (40 years) friend got me think about the important men in my life…
My Dad certainly gave me a good grounding in a variety of life lessons. Having spent 36 years with the same company he could not understand my reasons for changing jobs every couple of years! That aside he was always supportive of what ever I undertook…He also was instrumental in setting my future career, after I got a “proper job” to fall back on…just in case.
He also gave me my love of theatre…and I was glad that he got to see me performing as a stand-up comedian even though he might not have liked my material. He also got to see me perform in tights in a Shakespearean production at the Port Elizabeth Opera House…
I also have fond memories of  his laugh.
I miss him every day
I had the pleasure of meeting Mervyn when I did a Dale Carnegie course in 1982. He was the inventor(together with Beryl, his wife) of Flight hand-cleaner. The most positive person I have EVER known, He was the living embodiment of the adage “In every crisis there is opportunity”.
No matter what the “challenge” he always looked for reasons to try again rather than give up.
He also taught me to make “For” and “Against” lists for every decision…
and then go with what ever came out on top
Unfortunately, I have no picture of myself in a suit as a tribute to Mervyn
who was my business mentor.
Even when he discovered he had cancer he never gave up
and until his last breath he believed that he had beaten it.
My corporate working life(short that it was) is a testament to what Mervyn taught me
And finally, for now, my long time friend and the man who
knowingly/unknowingly placed my feet on the path that I currently find myself.
Our friendship started at the Opera House in Port Elizabeth and
continued when John and his family followed me to Johannesburg in the mid 70’s.
I have so many stories of the time I spent with John and the family that I could fill a book.
Never judgmental he was often the voice of reason for me.
And he taught me to build shelves…
John was instrumental in getting me my first job as a TV floor manager
on the Miss World pageant in 1992.
It was also John that got me my first job in radio, a career that now spans almost 23 years.
Radio Today, the last station that we worked on together did this tribute show to him:Â http://podcast68887.podomatic.com/entry/2012-0
It was John that gave me my love of country music and
he was the reason that I went to Nashville, not once but twice.Dad, Mervyn and John, a big THANK YOU  for the part each of you have played in shaping my life in one way or another.
Were it not for you my working life might have turned out a lot different.
DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL.
by Canon Henry Scott Holland
Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room.
I am I, and you are you,
Whatever we were to each other, that we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way you always used.
Put no difference into your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as you always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me…
Pray for me.
Let my name be the household name it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect,
Without a trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant,
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of your mind, because I am out of your sight?
I am but waiting for you for an interval,
Somewhere very near…
Just around the corner.
All is well!
