EIGHTY-ONE-year-old David Breedt of Patlyn, Johannesburg South, shared with us his memory of planting two trees on land which is now home to Covenant College Primary School.
David’s great-grandparents and later his grandparents lived on farmland in Patlyn. When David was in grade one in 1942, six years old and attending Lindhorst Primary School, he picked up two seed pods which had fallen to the ground from fig palm trees in his school playground.
“I planted the seed pods in a tin and when they had germinated I took them to my grandparents and planted them on the farmland,” David said.
A few years later David went to live with his grandparents and was amazed to see his two little plants had grown and had become small palm trees.
David married Emma on March 15, 1958 and they have one daughter and two sons, five grandsons and a two-month-old great-grandson. Once they were married they moved into the “big” house on the land and watched the trees grow. David owned a filling station in Eikenhof, Vallei Motors, but retired a while back.
“Before my grandfather died he divided the land between me and my aunt. Emma and I built our ‘new’ home on our newly acquired land, where we still live now, and my aunt sold her land to Rhema Church, with Covenant College first opening its doors in 1988.”
Seventy-five years later, the two fig palms are more than 35 metres tall and tower in the grounds of Covenant College Primary School.
“This school office block was my grandparents’ home. I remember this room was my grandmother’s bedroom and the kitchen was just over there,” added David.
He also recalled where the stables originally were and said some of his family are buried in the cemetery not far from the school grounds. “Life was very different, much slower paced back then, and apart from running the filling station I still managed to look after our property. Today we still have fruit trees, lemon and pomegranate, and I keep busy looking after the garden. When I look at the two fig palms, memories come flooding back, reminding me of family and time gone by,” David said.
Marlene Swanepoel, principal of Covenant College Primary School and some of the staff have a little chat every now and then with David and Emma and it was decided to have a plaque made in honour of the original planting of the fig palm, which is now in the garden of the school.
“This is very special for me, such an honour,” added David.
