Stalwarts head for the ‘wilderness’ after lifetime of service in Dundee

Dundee stalwarts Michelle and Dudley Fleischman have made the great trek down south to the Cape after, in Michelle’s case, a 61-year contribution to the community.
It was an emotional Michelle who chatted to the Courier the day before she and Dudley headed for the ‘wilderness’ of the Southern Cape.
The setting was the Dundee Book Exchange & Dry Cleaners – a landmark shop in Gladstone Street which has been in the family since 1973 when Michelle’s mother, Joan, bought the business for R400.
Born in Mansfield in England in 1947, Michelle and her family moved to the area in 1953 where her father, Lol, worked at Platberg Colliery and later at Natal Coal in the Normandien district.
Michelle schooled in the convent, of which she has fond memories. “We moved to Dundee on July 1, 1961, when my dad got work at Endumeni mine. My mum wanted to keep active and that’s when she bought the bookshop and dry cleaners.”
Michelle has been involved in the business since the early 1980s and carried on the tradition following her mother’s passing in 2011. “We have had so many special characters who have come looking for books and magazines, and of course our regular dry cleaning customers.”
She recalls a Mrs Badge who arrived in Dundee after cycling from Johannesburg and somehow ended up at the bookshop.
Blessed with four children (her eldest sadly passed away in a car accident), Michelle and her then husband Llewellyn briefly left Dundee for the then Transvaal coal mines in 1982, but returned the following year.
She and Dudley later married and were active in Dundee Bowling Club while Michelle dedicated 18 years to the SPCA committee and Dudley served 25 years with the Endumeni Isandlwana Moth Shellhole.
Michelle was also known as Dundee’s ‘cat lady’.
She bred Siamese cats for 35 years, winning many national competitions and awards as ‘Breeder of the Year’.
“Dundee has been very good to us, and the community has been so supportive and kind. We leave Dundee with lots of emotion but look forward to our new chapter in the Cape, where we will stay with my sister, Rose.”
As for the business, son Graham Morgan will continue the family tradition and with his unique customer service ethics, the Dundee Bookshop & Dry Cleaners will continue to be a landmark in the CBD.

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