THE ever-youthful Pauline Goldberg turned 100 years old on Monday, 29 July.
Pauline celebrated her birthday surrounded by family and friends at a party hosted by her children on 21 July.
On her actual 100th birthday, the headmistress of Durban Girls’ College lead a delegation of school representatives including the youngest child at the school to join her in paying tribute to the oldest DGC old-girl, and in the afternoon, Gordon Road Girls’ School also paid tribute to Pauline who has long been involved with the school, thanks to former headmistress Yvonne Johnstone.
Pauline Annie Hackner was born on 29 July 1919. The middle child of three daughters, her parents were immigrants from Lithuania and her father, Sam Hackner was a successful Durban businessman trading in hessian and bottles.
Pauline attended Gordon Road Girls’ School and Durban Girls’ College before studying drama at the University of Cape Town. In that time she met her future husband, Allan Goldberg, who was studying medicine at the University of Witwatersrand.
Apart from a brief sojourn in Witbank where Allan was a locum, Pauline spent her whole life in Durban, and despite her children’s attempts to move her closer to one of them, she would not budge from her hometown.
Like her parents before them, Allan and Pauline encouraged their children to attend university and then they gave them the freedom to pursue their dreams. All successful in their chosen fields, they now live all over the world.
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A widow for 34 years since she lost her beloved husband, Pauline continued to make a mark on the lives of many with whom she came into contact.
A natural teacher, Pauline taught speech and drama to children most of her adult life. In 1944, she joined the ranks of the volunteer teachers at Clairwood Coloured, a school for boys and girls aged six to 13.
In a memoir she began writing many years ago with her daughter Suzanne, Pauline recalled it was her first teaching experience during a long and happy association with the coloured community.
She also taught at Merlington, Epson Road School, St Thomas Orphanage, Little People’s Nursery School and Rippon Road School.
In her spare time, Pauline read to children in the Musgrave library and was one of the so-called granny teachers at Berea Road School.
She served on many committees and was chairlady of the Jewish Red Cross, Magen David Adom in Durban, she was a founding member of her bookclub, which she attended for 40 years, and an enthusiastic member of Women for Peaceful Change, the Shakespeare Society and The Peripatetic Society to name, but some of the groups she gave her all to.
On the day of her party to celebrate her centenary, a crowd of 50 friends and family filled Pauline’s flat with laughter and love. Suzanne used the occasion to pay tribute not only to their mother but also to the people who continue to populate Pauline’s life – her extraordinary helpers and carers, and friends of all ages who continue to visit Pauline.
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