It is with great sadness that I pass on the terrible news I received only a week ago, this was that a dear friend of mine and many others Earl Smith from the class of 2003 passed away in a vehicle accident on 28 June 2015. Earl had only just dropped off his fiancé at her home before being involved in the accident only 300m from her house. The details of what exactly happened are still being investigated by the Police service, as it seems no other vehicles were involved.
Earl first became a friend of mine when we played Primary School cricket against each other, Earl was a solid upper-middle order batsmen and opening or first change bowler at Sunnyside Primary. After this we played age group cricket right through our time at Boys High before the culmination of a nearly perfect season for the 2nd XI in 2003. He was also a solid feature in the various age group and senior rugby sides that he represented through his years at the school. I was lucky enough to really get to know the man he was during the last few months of the year during the tricky matric final exam period when Earl came and stayed with my parents and I. It was a lovely time and will keep those fond memories with me for many, many years.
Earl had moved down to Port Elizabeth soon after matriculating from PBHS and continued with his love of sport by representing Eastern Cape rugby sides and continuing to play cricket.
Unfortunately the news of his untimely passing only reached me after his funeral service but I heard that there were over 400 people at the service and all spoke of the gentleman he was and how loved he was within the community.
Many messages on Facebook and other social media platforms have been noted remembering what a lovely person he was always giving his best in all his various endeavours, although sport was maybe where his true love laid.
Earl was set to be married on 17 December 2015 and I know I can confidently speak on behalf of the class of 2003 as well as all his other friends of various ages by saying that all our thoughts and prayers go out to his mother Heather, brother Wade and his fiancé whom had to stop the arrangements of possibly one of their happiest days of their lives, and instead arrange one of the saddest.
Earl was unfortunately according to my knowledge the first individual from our 2003 matric group to have passed. And I hope that it is a very long time till one of these notifications have to be typed again.
- Gareth Bailey (2003)