The Soutpansberg said a final farewell on Monday to one of its pioneering figures, Mr Otto Beck, who passed away at the age of 103. The following tribute was sent in by his son Phil:

Otto was born on 9 June 1910 in Standerton (now Mpumalanga) to Anna Geertruida Beck (née Schwarzendahl) and Franz Paul Beck. Both parents arrived in South Africa in the 1890’s, the father from Friederichshaven in Germany and the mother from Den Helder in Holland.

Franz Paul led a most interesting and varied life. One of his tasks during the Anglo-Boer War was to act as telegraphist attached to General Louis Botha’s commandos when they were active in the Eastern Transvaal. He was present at the final Battle of Bergendal (27 August 1900), which was the last set-piece battle of the War.

Otto had two brothers, Paul Franz and Huibert Carl. Both brothers predeceased Otto by a number of years.

In 1914, the government started rounding up aliens and, fearing for his family, Franz Paul relocated to the Natal midlands town of Wartburg. As a result of the (official) anti-German mood of the country, Otto and his brothers grew up speaking only Dutch or English (with a little Zulu thrown in). Consequently, he lost most of his German heritage.

After the family had lived in Weenen, Mooi River and again in Standerton, Otto matriculated. He then worked for B Owen Jones Pharmacy as an apprentice. In 1932, the family relocated again to Malvern in Johannesburg. Otto qualified as a pharmacist in 1935 and worked in Boksburg and Benoni for B Owen Jones. In 1936, Otto worked at Banks Pharmacy in Germiston, followed by a stint at Findlay’s Pharmacy in Mellville.

One weekend he acted as best man to a friend who was to be married at his parent’s farm outside Standerton. Afterwards, on the train journey back to Johannesburg, he met a young lady, Doris Daphne Dawson. They fell in love and were married on 5 February 1938.

Otto then purchased a pharmacy in Alberton. In February 1939, the firstborn, Otto Norman, arrived. This was followed in August 1943 by a daughter, Doris Valmai. Unfortunately she only lived a few days. Grief-stricken, Otto and Doris turned to the church for solace. Otto became immersed in church activities from the beginning and this changed his life completely. He became a local preacher in the Methodist Church.

In 1948, he purchased Kuters Pharmacy in Louis Trichardt and renamed it Beck's Pharmacy. It was in Louis Trichardt that his talents, both in the pharmacy field and within the Methodist Church, really began to flower. He not only carried on his local preaching activities, but also became Sunday school superintendent and twice chairman of the local preachers synod. He preached in Messina, Pietersburg and Potgietersrus.

He became very well-known and he was elected a town councillor in the 1950s, but resigned when local politics started to become very party-political and unpleasant.

The second son, Phillip Herman, made an appearance in March 1946, followed by Peter Julian in July 1951 and Timothy John in July 1956.

In the 1950s, Otto studied for and qualified as an optician. He was able to successfully combine both professions of pharmacist and optician for a number of years. However, in the early 1970s it was decreed that those persons (mainly pharmacists) who held the FSO qualification had to sit and pass the new FOA qualification if they wished to continue to practice. Otto studied in his spare time and passed the examination with good results.

This, of course, happened after he and Doris had left Louis Trichardt in 1970 and had moved to Kenton-on-Sea in the Eastern Cape. Otto and Doris really enjoyed their stay in their new home and Otto became well known to the community in a very short space of time. He also continued with his local preaching activities and held services in Kenton, Seven Fountains, Port Alfred, Grahamstown and even Port Elizabeth.   

In the early 1980s, Otto and Doris decided to relocate to Johannesburg and be closer to the sons and their families, who were all living in the area. Otto played a major part in building the new homestead in Chartwell (north of Johannesburg) and he and Doris enjoyed the few years that they spent therein.

In 1987, Otto was offered a chance to return to Louis Trichardt and open an optical practice. Thanks to the generosity of Emmie and Ninian Bannatyne and of Jannie Naude in Messina, Otto was able to see his business prosper.

In 1988, Doris and Otto celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary. Life continued normally until Doris became ill in 1992. After an operation, well-advanced cancer was diagnosed. After much pain and discomfort, Doris passed away at a Pretoria hospice in December of that year.

Otto was invited to stay with his youngest son, Timothy, and his family, in a separate comfortable flatlet. Here he lived until 2001 and was very busy, in the company of a number of ladies belonging to the Bryanston Methodist Church, going around the hospitals and comforting the sick, many of whom were considerably younger than him!

In 2001, he became unable to fend for himself properly and was admitted to the frail-care section of a Methodist Church retirement home, Summerfield Park. Here he spent the remainder of his days, until his final short battle with pneumonia claimed his life a few minutes after midnight on 14 October.

An absolutely amazing number of tributes from all over the world have come pouring in for Otto from people whose lives he had touched and enriched over the years. Few of us can ever hope to emulate Otto for his kindness, knowledge, love, humour and compassion.

Otto loved to tell a story about John Quincy Adams, an American President in the 19^th century. In his declining years he was asked how he was. He replied: “John Quincy Adams is well, thank you. But the house that John Quincy Adams lives in is falling to pieces; the doors are falling in and the windows are sagging and soon John Quincy Adams will have to move out of the house. But John Quincy Adams is well, very well, thank you!”