Farewell Dirk Lotriet, you gentle giant…

The Citizen’s readers came to love his Snapdragon and wise little Egg through his column every Friday for the past seven years – and when Dirk Lotriet hardly a month ago bravely told you all he is battling liver cancer, you flooded our letters page with well wishes.

But Dirk lost his fight on Sunday – exactly a month and a day after he heard the death sentence and hardly a month after he celebrated his 58th birthday, surrounded by his loved ones.

He told you about that: how he worries about his sis, his brother – and his mom who knew when she flew back home she gave him her last kiss.

In his own words he so poignantly penned in his last column: “I will try a little harder – as must you, dear reader.”

And he tried; very hard, his wife Estene says. He couldn’t walk any more, but in his wheelchair, he took his Egg to one last time watch a movie together.

Dirk was loved, you just know when you read the hundreds of tributes on social media.

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He was more than loved – he was a giant, not only for his friends and colleagues, but especially for Estene, who calls him her rock, her anchor, her safe harbour, her soft spot and her security…

“We thought we had at least three to six months. We didn’t know how quickly the hourglass would run out,” she says in her tribute to the love of her life.

We, at The Citizen, salute Dirk and his small family. May you find peace in knowing we all loved that gentle giant.

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– The editor and The Citizen team

Dirk will be laid to rest this Friday at 11am from the NG Kerk Weltevreden Park.

Read all of his letters to The Citizen here.