Most of Jenny’s early life was spent at Rissik House where her father, Noel Pollock, was housemaster. She moved to School House when her father became Headmaster in 1950 and after the following year her marriage to a young housemaster and maths teacher, Ted Jones, was celebrated on the front lawn of School House.
Jenny was a capable and talented musician. During the early Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions and orchestral concerts, she played the viola in the orchestra. Subsequently, when Ted Jones accepted the task of staging the Gilbert and Sullivan operas she was the piano accompanist for most of the rehearsals and also supplied the musical cues backstage during performances.
She will be remembered by many ex-Solomon House lads as the one who, during the ten-year period that her husband was housemaster,”broke the ic” for the new pots by giving them an introductory dinner and an evening of “Monopoly”, with servings of her highly rated ginger beer.
As a competent typist, Jenny gave invaluable support especially during the introduction of the “new maths” by typing out her husband’s guides to staff and pupils on wax sheets for duplication, as well as the many examination papers and work sheets.
Somehow, Jenny – a mother of three – also fitted in a few years of acting quarter master for the cadet detachment and even spent a few months acting as Head Matron of Solomon House when this was needed.
After her husband’s retirement from the T.E.D., she was invited back to the school to attend the opening ceremony of the Pollock Campus as her father’s representative.
Jenny then spent many happy years with her husband Ted on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, playing piano, gardening and learning about indigenous plants and birds, as well as faithfully volunteering at the local hospice, until these activities became difficult due to a slow, but progressive, illness which eventually claimed the life of this gracious and charming lady.
Jenny’s death has left a chasm irradiated by the sparkle of many warmly grateful memories.