Paxonians pay tribute to their boarding master

Alumni of Pax High School paid tribute to their former educator and boarding master, Daniel Lekalake who passed away last week after a short illness.
Lekalake was born in Taung on 06 June in 1936. He arrived at Pax in 1966 to dedicate himself to the service of God and his people as a Brother of Charity. His teaching career commenced in 1968 and he also served as boarding master.
He continued teaching at the school and as a man of faith until he became a community member at St Conrad’s College in Klerksdorp.
In 2007 he was made regional councilor of St Paul’s region and was also the assistant regional superior. He retired in 2010 at Triest House, Florida Johannesburg.
While at Pax he worked, among others, as coordinator between hostel manager and boarding master, liaised between the school and hostels as well as prepared the boys for the reception of the sacraments of baptism, Holy Communion and confirmation.
According to former Pax student, Joshua Kwapa, Lekalale was a strict disciplinarian who showed no mercy for any form of dissent by a student.
“Brother Thomas was a hard man whose wrath was known and felt by all and sundry even outside the boundaries of Pax Brother’s College as it was known in its formative years. Brother Thomas sought to build young men of high discipline, deeply religious and effective in sport and their studies among others.
In his endeavour to achieve this he was at times faced with a lack of vigour and outright resistance. To the majority of the students who schooled at Pax Brother Thomas remains a legend.

Story: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com