Highway Hospice founder dies at 79

GRETA Schoeman, founder of the Highway Hospice, has died after a protracted battle with cancer. She was 79.

Great was born in England where she trained as a paediatric nurse.

She married a doctor, Pierre Schoeman, in 1968 and a year later they moved to South Africa.

It was her father’s death from cancer around that time that prompted her to return to England to study and to have a working knowledge of the system of hospices which were successfully run in Britain at that time.

Her son, Ken Schoeman, said his mother had felt that she had to do something to still the suffering of the many people who were struck down by the dreaded disease.

On her return to South Africa and with a new set of qualifications, she opened the first in-patient unit for terminally ill patients in South Africa in her home in Kings Road in Westville.

This was the forerunner of the Highway Hospice, a centre which thrived under her care and which this year celebrated 32 years of existence.

Her contribution to the people of Durban was recognised by the eThekwini Municipality in September when she was named one of the city’s living legends.

Memorial service arrangements are still to be announced.