Boishaaier 2020

Marcelle, tonight I am not going to talk about your years of teaching at Gimnasium or here at Boishaai. I am not going to discuss your profi- ciency as an English educator nor am I going to elaborate on your responsibilities as chief in charge of the first aid, coordinator of the Artscape acting festival, coordinator of the in- terhouse acting competition as well as being in charge of swimming for many years. Tonight, I would like to talk about you as a person. Eleanor Roosevelt said: “Women are like tea bags. We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water.” Now the past two years have been particularly tough for you and on you. To be quite honest, I am not sure many of use sitting here would have sur- vived what you went through with regards your health and the many months of recovery after that. And after that setback you lost your mother, who had been living with you for many years. Many of us would probably have just given in, but not you, Marcelle. One of the nicer Afrikaans words is hardegat – and that is who you are. You are a fighter and have been a fighter for many years. You raised your daughters by yourself and you did a bloody good job. Your English colleagues have used words like perseverance and determination to describe you. “She does not back down or give in.” “With dogged determination she has overcome serious obstacles in her past and even though she is still recovering from illness, she never complains.” “She served as a mentor negotiating the ins and outs of teaching at Boishaai.”

Cindy recalls the day the two of you were walking through the streets of London and for a while the two of you lost contact as you had disappeared in a crowd. The next moment Cindy sees an arm shoot out from the crowd and she knew you were okay. Marcelle always walked her own path. You used words like unorthodox/eccentric and resilient to describe yourself. That word “resil- ient” is defined as being able to spring back into shape after bending and being able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. In short, Marcelle, you are one tough cookie. I would personally like to thank you for being my neighbour for the past four years. Thank you for being a mentor, friend and confidante. Thank you also for the two minutes of nonsense that we could spend talking to each other during class changes. It was great bouncing and sharing ideas with you. The other day you said you were ready for a new beginning. Retirement is not a word you have used nor is it a word that you are going to use very soon. You already are busy with two ven- tures and I am positive they will be a success. Being English teachers, we read many novels, plays and poems with our learners. Your chapter at Boishaai has come to an end but there will still be many more new chapters that you will write. On behalf of everyone here at Boishaai: good luck with your new chapter in your life. We are confi- dent your new novel will be a bestseller! Brett Tesselaar