Death of Paul Daniel from his son Peter Daniel
It is with great sadness that I must inform the Old Boys Association of the death of my father Paul Daniel on the 26th September 2014. Paul attended Pretoria Boys High from 1940 to 1943. He was a remarkable sportsman, representing the 1st Rugby team for 2 years and was also the captain of the swimming team for 3 years, earning full colours in both sports. He was also a school prefectand head of School House in 1942.
He was really proud of the fact that he held a record that he believed still stands today, 3 years in Matric! This feat deserves some explanation: In 1941 he was only 16 years old and in matric. The Headmaster at the time was Mr Daniel Duff Matheson felt my Dad was too young to write matric and offered him the position of Head of School House for 1942 if he stayed back a year. This offer was accepted, but come matric exam time in 1942, the time spent on the rugby field and in the swimming pool, plus the fact that he had done “matric” the year before and therefore knew it all, led to him failing much to his and everyone else’s surprise. In 1943, he finally wrote and passed matric – a remarkable record of 3 years in matric!
He subsequently qualified as pharmacist and ran a highly successful pharmaceutical business manufacturing KPP headache powders plus 2 retail pharmacies in his home town Standerton. He was also President of the local Rotary Club, a really good golfer and the local tennis champion. He was greatly admired in the local community for his local deeds of philanthropy and for his love and care of his fellow human being.
His love of PBHS was such that when it came to choosing a high school for his son (me) there was no doubt that it was to be Pretoria Boys High. An interesting anecdote is that teachers who taught both my Dad and I include Bob Fair and Noel Pollock. Obviously when the time came to send my son, Kevin to high school PBHS was the only choice. Here again there was an overlap as Paul “Chalkie” Somerville was my masters league cricket captain and some 20 years later Kevin also played in his team.
Above is a photo of the 3 of us in our much loved Pretoria Boys High blazers. Paul (1940-43), a Daniel Mattheson boy, myself (1964-1968), a Desmond Abernethy boy and Kevin (2000-2004), a Bill Schroder boy. May God bless the school, all its headmasters, teachers and many pupils in over 100 years of its existence. It is truly an icon of education in South Africa and the three of us were truly privileged to be part of it.