Anglican lay minister dies age 90
Adrian Eve's motto was “a job worth doing is a job worth doing properly”.
Farrarmere resident and renowned churchwarden Dr Adrian John Eve died at the age of 90 on January 10.
Born in Pretoria on March 4, 1930, Adrian had made Benoni his home for the past 40 years.
He served at the St Dunstan’s Cathedral since moving to Benoni.
The lay minister will be remembered for his devotion to his family and the church.
His widow, Patricia, explained that Adrian was devoted to the Anglican Church from the age of 18 and was a churchwarden and lay minister for many years.
He married the love of his life in 1956 and the couple had four children: Jennifer, John and Rosemary Eve, and Lianne Burns.
“Adrian attended Rhodes University and obtained his BSc, BSc honours and masters and PhD in chemistry, and was invited to be a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry in London,” according to Patricia.
As a Rhodes scholar at M.I.T in Boston, “the polarography determination of impurities in refined copper” was Adrian’s doctorate research.
He was also a senior lecturer at the newly formed University of Salisbury, giving the first lecture in chemistry, before relocating to Gatooma, Rhodesia, as General Manager of Rio Tinto Mining at Eiffel Flats.
According to Patricia, the family immigrated to South Africa in 1981 and her husband took up the post of MD of EL Bateman Equipment.
“Adrian ‘retired’ a few times, always continuing to consult all over the world. He was known as Mr Crusher. Eventually, he retired at the age of 79,” she explained.
His passion for giving to the less fortunate is one his family salutes him for.
“One story we recall is when he was driving and saw a vagrant on the road who had no shoes on, so he took his new golf shoes off and gave them to the man,” they reminisced.
According to the family, he loved golf and through his life, achieved four holes in one.
They also recall his life motto being “a job worth doing is a job worth doing properly”.
Adrian is survived by his wife, four children, son-in-law, Kevin Burns, his eight grandchildren, Bradley and Tyrone Seaton-Smith, Nicola Branco, Sarah Burns, Laura and Richard Eve, Matthew and Jenna Mortimer, and his great-grandchild, Abigail Branco.
The family thanks the dedicated nurses at the Netcare Linmed Hospital.
“Rest in peace our dearly beloved,” they concluded.
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