Final rest for Egoli's Hannah
2007-04-24 10:21
Johannesburg - "Hannah Botha would have said today: 'Take these flowers and give them to those who remain behind'," said Hennie Smit, or Bertie, during the memorial service for his Egoli co-star in the Melville NG Church on Monday.
"The flags are flying at half-mast in our lives. She was a friend to many actors," said Smit, telling how he sometimes brought her grape jam while they were shooting Egoli.
In return she brought him bokkoms (dried fish) when she returned from a holiday along the West Coast.
Botha, who played the role of Elsa Pienaar in Egoli, died suddenly at the age of 84 last Monday.
She was born on January 17 1923 at Dwarskersbos along the Cape West Coast, where she grew up.
"Aunt Hannah was a star to everybody here, but she was not ashamed of her family.
'Birthdays were very important to her'
"During December she used to return to the West Coast and then we ate bokkoms," said Francois Thiart, Botha's cousin, during the service.
Thiart also told how important birthdays had been to Botha.
"She had lists and lists of birthdays and phoned everybody. If you had sent her a birthday card, you can be assured it would still be somewhere in a drawer."
After finishing school she took the train to Johannesburg, where she started working at the Receiver of Revenue in 1943.
About 40 years later she retired - and started acting in Egoli.
Botha was a widow and her only child died at birth.
"We were her children and grandchildren. She spoilt us," said Thiart.
'She knew more about rugby than many men'
Ds Elise Klut, who led the service, read the memories funeral-goers had written down about Botha.
"Hannah was very funny. She sometimes took her own story and ran with it," said one message.
"We'll always remember her 'rrrrr', her West Coast accent," said another letter.
"She was a clever woman and knew more about rugby than many men," said another.
Mandi du Plooy (Lara from Egoli) after the funeral said she would miss Botha on the Egoli set as they were both WP supporters.
"She usually had the best rugby updates after the weekend," said Du Plooy.
Ivan Zimmerman (Koert) said he would miss the stories she used to tell between scenes.
"If I didn't have to go to work, I would gladly have listened to her stories all day long," said Zimmerman.
'I'm going to miss her terribly'
Shaleen Surtie-Richards (Nenna Willemse) said she and Botha were "very good friends".
"I'm going to miss her terribly.
"We sometimes filled in crossword puzzles between scenes.
"During our last scene together we laughed so much, we had to stop and start all over again," she said.