Recent years have seen the School reluctantly lose some outstanding Old Boys. One of these is Richie Lamb who matriculated in 1960.
He passed away in Ramsgate in early September, having retired there about five years ago. He had been in hospital for about a week before his death.
A thoroughly nice guy, he was well-liked by all who came into contact with him, staff and boys alike. Richie was Head Prefect of Solomon House, and described by his former contemporaries as a rather clever fellow, keen at games, quiet and assuming but always bright and cheerful. His deputy was Bernard Alison.
Said Brian Taverner: “I knew Richie for most of my life. He and I were in Grade 1 together, went on to Boy’s High and indeed Solomon House, and matriculated the same year. Very tall and relatively quiet, he was highly respected and a true leader. He compared well with some of his pre-eminent peers such as Gordon Ehrens, Grenville Camps and Rupert Hector. I think he played both seconds cricket and rugby, but he was generally a good all-rounder”.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Allan Stilwell: “Richie and I were in Heine Dittberner’s matric class together with among others Brian Taverner, Richard Nixon and Tom Fair. He was always greatly respected, highly thought of, and scrupulously fair in making decisions. He was also a very good tennis player”.
Richie apparently had a great affection, for example, for the mad, delightful ways and whims of Bonzo, the loveable, occasionally undignified canine guardian of Solomon.
He came from the Wolvekrans Colliery in the Witbank Coalfields.
On leaving school, he studied mechanical engineering at Witwatersrand Technicon and qualified as a Certified Engineer (Mechanical & Electrical). He simultaneously worked at ERPM as a Junior and Section Engineer. Going back about 120 years, ERPM was one of the deepest mine in the world until 2008, known for its numerous and severe rockbursts and high temperatures, and Richie acquitted himself extremely well in that environment.
In 1969 he joined SA Breweries as Project Engineer, later rose to Project Manager, and played a leading role in the establishment of the huge Alrose plant. In due course, Richie was transferred to Cape Town and apart from being gladly welcomed by his local cricket club for his cricketing prowess, he was the source of a very liberal supply of ‘Castle’.
In 1978 he was appointed MD of Skega (SA), and seven years later as President of Skega Canada. Richie and his family lived in North Bay, Ontario. The province is best known in Canada for its gold mines, and is also a major producer of iron ore along with several other minerals such nickel and copper. Skega was involved in the manufacturing of vehicles and machinery, and according to Allan Stilwell, was a major international supplier of steel liners for ball mills, skips and tunnel supports.
In contrast to ERPM having been extremely hot downunder, Richie’s stock joke about Canada was to ask whether anyone had ever braaied at -20C.
He returned to SA in 1989 and became a partner in Robday Mining Supplies, a group of four small companies operating in Northern, North West and Gauteng provinces. Richie concentrated mainly on the Rustenburg operations. He retired in 2010.
Richie was married to Carol (de Bod) and they had two children Lauren Catherine (born 1977) and Charles Michael (1985). In 2010 he described Carol “as the most wonderful woman in the world, having to put up with a cantankerous old guy like me for more than 40 years.
Lauren graduated at Pretoria University with a BPhysT (Physiotherapy) and married a Kearsney Old Boy, creating some family rivalry. Charles, like his father, was a boarder in Solomon House. The difference between them though, according to Richie, was that “Charles created grey hairs for the House management and hardship for himself”. Charles currently teaches at a private school on the KZN South Coast.
Richie remained perpetually fit, played golf off an 11 handicap, and completed several Argus cycle races. However, at one stage, he received two new Titanium knees, which, according to him, “became totally painless”.
To his wife Carol and wider family, the School extends its deepest sympathy.
Leon Kok