Obituary : Jane Brotherton Walker (1925-2009)

a prodigious letter writer, and both her letters and manuscripts were written in pencil,
of which she always had seven at hand. Jane also kept carbon copies of her
manuscripts and most of her correspondence. She also kept nearly every letter,
magazine, journal and book that she received, was given, or purchased, and, if her
home had the space, she may even have been tempted to keep every newspaper!
For the last 19 years of Jane’s life, Florah Kokoele was her faithful house assistant,
seeing to all of her needs. Julia Nkonyane joined Florah in this task during the last 4
years as Jane’s need for assistance increased. These ladies deserve our special thanks.
Upon returning home from work during August 1998, Jane fell from the back stairs of
her home and thereafter ceased to drive her own car, relying on friends for transport.
Walking became increasingly difficult, and unwillingly Jane had to acquire both a
walking ring and a wheel chair, the latter used by her friends as a seat when they came
to visit, or to have tea with her in her bedroom. Jane disliked being house-bound
intensely, and her friends, who took over her regular Friday shopping with Florah,
used to load her in their cars, and after they had parked in the shade at the shopping
centres with her inside, they did the house-shopping with Florah. With the exception
of a few items, only food from Woolworths was purchased. In later years the strain on
Jane’s body to get into a car was too great and her friends then took only Florah and
her shopping list, which was most carefully composed in Jane’s hand-writing, to
purchase the weekly necessities. Friday was shopping day, and no other day would
do, so woe betide the authorities who decreed that certain public holidays must fall on
Fridays!
Before moving to St Kit’s Island in the Caribbean, Eddy and Tammi Krecek had a
home close to Jane’s, and Eddy phoned her in the morning on a nearly daily basis to
enquire of her well-being. He and Tammi were also regular visitors. Eddy and Garth
Holmes also attended to much of the maintenance of Jane’s home. Besides friends and
neighbours who visited her casually, Jane also had a group of friends who visited her
on a regular, almost weekly, basis. Shirley Gilmore visited on Thursday mornings,
Ivan Horak on Friday mornings, and Mike and Mary-Lou Penrith, and Banie and
Naomi Penzhorn on Saturdays and Sundays. During the 2 years that Dmitry
Apanaskevich spent in South Africa Ivan took him to Jane’s for tea on Friday
3