Final goodbye to George Rhodes
A respected farmer and a man with a heart of gold, George Rhodes (69), from the Settlers area on the Springbok Flats, passed away on Monday 13 February at his home.
According to his family, he experienced no serious ailments in die days before and had died as a result of a heart attack.
Born in November 1953, Rhodes’s roots were solidly vested in the area, while he grew up on his family’s farm.
He attended Lord Milner Primary School and the Settlers Agricultural High School whereafter he finished his schooling at Clapham High School in Pretoria.
He was drafted into the South African Defence Forces for two years and served in the heavy artillery division.
According to his sister, Patricia de Villiers, he returned home after military service and became a combine harvester contractor, traveling far and wide in South Africa.
He was married in 1979 and had two sons.
He, later on, moved to Cape Town with his family and took up gold smithing as a trade, in which he excelled.
“Amongst his other passions were photography and flying. He started off as a microlight pilot and then bought a small fixed-wing plane. He was always the happiest with his hands in the soil,” said Patricia.
He later moved to the Springbok Flats with his sons, Garrith and Robbie, and purchased a farm of his own. He considered this piece of earth as a place where he could live out most of his passions.
“This is where he spent his days building up a farming enterprise that was his pride and joy; second to his sons and his grandsons, Bradley and Simon Rhodes. He also shared the love and support of Andrea Fischer, a wonderful partner, for almost 30 years.”
Rhodes will be remembered as a beloved family man, the patriarch and the eldest of five siblings, whom they consider a close-knit and supportive clan.
“He had some heart-breaking experiences in his life. The hardest was the loss of his youngest son, Robbie, in 2012, but he was the most positive, gentle, fun-loving, talented man you could wish to meet.”
His funeral was held on Friday 17 February at the Lord Milner School chapel.
He leaves behind his brothers, Kenneth and Eric, his sisters, Patricia de Villiers and Valerie Vosloo, along with his partner, son and two grandsons.
