Five generations celebrate Sue’s 92nd birthday
Sue Van Riel turned 91 on 20 June 2015
Five generations of the Van Riel family got together last month to celebrate Sue’s 91st birthday.
Some of the family came as far as Richards Bay to be with her.
Sue and her husband Johan Leonard, who died away last year in October just a few weeks before their 72nd anniversary arrived in Johannesburg in 1961. They lived in 1 Goldman Street in Florida.
“My husband and I met in Oudtshoorn on 18 November 1941 and married on the 17 November the following year. He was in the South African Railway Police and he received a promotion while I was working for OK Bazaars as a personnel manager. When he would be promoted and transferred, I would be transferred alongside him,” she said.
One of the things she remembers about Johannesburg are the trams that were the main source of transportation and the level of safety in those days.
“The city was lovely in those days and I enjoyed riding the trams which were everywhere back then. I miss how I could help people in the streets without fearing for my safety,” said Sue.
She said the secret to a long and healthy marriage is for your partner to be your best friend.
“We believed that we could not go to bed without discussing and solving our problems with the guidance of the Lord,” said Sue.
She also added that karma is one of the reasons for living a long life.
“Be kind to people and always give something out of your heart without thinking about it. Have faith in your neighbours and mankind and don’t do unto others what you don’t want to be done to you,” she said.
Sue and her husband had five children with eight grandchildren and two great-grandhildren.
“You have to change, we cannot live with old ideas. Look at technology for example and how it has progressed. And the most important lesson I tought my family is to not hate anybody because that is not how I grew up,” she said.
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