John was born in England in the small village of Isleworth on the 11th June, 1928. He grew up in Maidstone in Kent. John often regaled me with the antics of young boys growing up in the country. He was an industrious youngster: he worked at various tasks on the surrounding farms... He often recalled his boyhood days when he would raid neighbour's gardens for "scrumpy" or would tell me of picking apples for farmers and the lunch break would be a country meal of bread, cheese and apple cider.

Very few folk knew that John was an Anglican High Church Choir boy... until his voice broke! John, his sister and parents, lived through the war in Maidstone in Kent. He was an avid air plane "sighter" and this lead to an abiding interest in history, garnering considerable knowledge about the many military campaigns throughout both WWI and WWII, sufficient to be considered something of an expert. After serving in the British army in an airborne division as both a paratrooper and in medical core, John immigrated to South Africa in 1948, becoming a naturalised citizen in the early fifties.

His career was eclectic. He had worked in a brick works also for 20th Century Fox and Killarney film studios which produced the local news reels: African Mirror. When John and I met, he was employed as the Human Resources Director for S.A. Cyanamid until his retirement in 1988. John and I married on March 5th, 1982 in a simple ceremony at the Krugersdorp magistrates courts. We had fifteen and a half wonderful years together. Unfortunately, we were not blessed with a family. However, from previous marriages, John has 2 daughters and 5 grandchildren who survive him. In the early 90s, John became deeply involved with community matters, and later joined the African National Congress. He held the post of Regional Treasurer for the West Rand Region at the time of his death on September 12th, 1997.

One the most successful joint projects John undertook was the reclamation of an old primary school, built in the late 30s, which had been turned over to the Transvaal Road Department or TPA. He joined a Board of Trustees who lobbied the Gauteng Provincial Government tirelessly to have the school returned to the local community. A small, dilapidated farm school not far from where we live housed over 250 children in the most appalling cramped conditions, without running water or water borne sewage.

After the Easter school holidays (1997), some 300 hundred underprivileged children were admitted to the Lesego Primary school in Muldersdrift. A great victory for the Trustees and John in particular.

A funeral service was held for John on September 17^th at Oakfield Farm in their Chapel, set in beautiful gardens, not far from our home. Several mourners paid glowing tributes to John for his humanitarian work within the Muldersdrift community.

On the following Sunday a memorial service was held at the Muldersdrift Farmer's Hall for his Comrades and the Folk with whom he had worked so tirelessly. Many of his ANC Comrades paid John glowing tributes -- "a freedom fighter", "a warrior"... The service was accompanied by three choirs, one from the school and two others. The hymns sung in Tswana were haunting and very beautiful.

However, the greatest tribute paid to John is the renaming of Lesego Primary school as the John Francois Primary School. When this was announced at his memorial service, it was the proudest moment of my life. In January, we plan a tree planting ceremony in memory of John.  Seven indigenous will be planted and each of the seven grades will be given a tree to "take care of".

I subscribed to a Cat Fanciers' news group and have been part of it since October 1995. I've made many friends in various parts of the world through the group. I also administer a Burmese discussion list and as I knew I would not be spending much time at my PC, I advised the lists that I would be off line until further notice due to the unexpected death of John. I was overwhelmed by the hundreds of posts I received from Folks around the world, whom I had only "met" through the lists:

"I want to thank everyone who sent me mail when my husband, John, passed away so unexpectedly last Friday.

John apparently collapsed, we suspect it was a massive heart attack (myocardial infarction) and when he was found later by my housekeeper, he had passed on. I saw him last at about 2.00 p.m. and my housekeeper found him at around 2.45 p.m. He did not suffer.

His funeral was simple and beautiful with many folks paying tribute to a wonderful humanitarian. Many of my "cat friends" came to pay their respects too as we had held several prize givings for the Burmese Cat Fanciers Association at our "farm" in Muldersdrift. However, tomorrow, there will be a second memorial service for the black community with whom has worked so closely over the last five plus years. He will be sorely missed by the community he served.

Thanks for the support and caring -- it has helped tremendously during this sad period.

In friendship..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Dear Friends,

I am overwhelmed by the care & thoughtfulness of the community we have built together through cyberspace. My sincere thanks to all who have posted messages of condolences.

The majority of the Folk who sent messages of condolence, I know only through the Burmese & Fanciers list. However, I do "know" many of you through email, both private & from the lists.

My husband retired almost 9 years ago. We worked together in my boarding kennels & cattery all this time. He was always there when I needed him.

John made a difference in the community where we have lived for the past sixteen & a half years.

More recently, the last 5 years, John had been involved with the community in our rural area. He was a driving force in reclaiming a primary school from our provincial government who had allocated the old school to the road works department. The school now houses some 200 disadvantaged black kids who had a ramshackle collection of shacks for their education.

John was also instrumental in getting a safe underpass constructed for these school children to cross an extremely busy highway. In addition, he got the municipality to deploy a cop on point duty when they were on the way to school & home again.

There are many other community projects that he gave his time to, but the most important was his investment in the future of the young people. I know they will have a brighter future because he cared!

In closing, I would like to share a message from one of John's colleagues, a Pastor, together they worked on the black school project for the Muldersdrift Community. He delivered their beautiful Sunday worship floral arrangement to me yesterday, accompanied by the following quote from Proverbs 22:1

A good name is more
Desirable than great riches;
To be esteemed is better than
Silver or gold

Thanks for caring & sharing...

Gail"

John was extremely supportive of my abiding hobby, the breeding of Burmese cats and in recent years, the Bombay. Although he seldom participated in my pursuits, he was a pillar of strength, giving me all the encouragement anybody could wish for.

John, you are sorely missed but we shall meet again one day...

{Johno, you finally made it onto the Internet and the Web...
I would've preferred otherwise...}

Gail Francois © 1997

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