Family, friends, pupils mourn teacher’s death

COLLEAGUES, friends and family yesterday gathered at a memorial service for Suiderlig High School English teacher Cecil Harold Vries, who died of intracranial bleeding on Monday.

The headmaster of Suiderlig High School, Reginald Smit, said it felt ‘as if a rock had crashed onto the Suiderlig High School’.Smit said Vries preferred to serve the people of Keetmanshoop, where he was born and grew up, instead of looking for greener pastures with his academic achievements.Circuit Inspector Petrus Dawid Titus said Vries would be remembered as ‘a modest person, a role model, passionate and a hero,’ who had brought fame to the dusty town of Keetmanshoop. ‘He had determination to achieve his goals against all odds,’ Titus said. He urged pupils to follow the example set by Vries.Pupils of Suiderlig High School also paid an emotional tribute to their late teacher by presenting poems and songs. Vries’s sister, Mara Beukes, announced that the family had plans to establish a Cecil Vries Foundation to help the needy with scholarships. She added that a floating trophy would also be donated to the Suiderlig High School to be awarded to the best Grade 11 English pupil. Vries will be buried tomorrow. The funeral service will start at 09h00 at the Suiderlig High School hall.luqman@namibian.com.na