Trudie Fallows Eulogy 30 April 2021 By Natasha Campbell

1. Ons is gemaak om spore te los
On the second of April, 1920; in the sprawling metropolis of “Koppies”, a
tiny village not far from Parys in the Free State, a magical human being
who was to leave footprints on all of our hearts was born.
Christened Gertruida Catherine De Villiers, she was born to an advocate
father and a schoolteacher mother, Three years later, she was followed
by a brother, Dirk. Dirk now lives in London with his wife, Mildred but
regardless, he and Trudie have remained close throughout their lives.
Overnight flights and Sunday evening phone calls became a tradition.
On what was to be Trudie’s last trip to the UK, she went through
passport control and upon producing her passport to the official, who
then took note her age and was utterly gobsmacked, he exclaimed in a
very loud voice: “85! You’re doing bloody well for 85!” This was not an
uncommon remark people made when meeting Trudie.
But I digress; from Koppies the family moved to Kenya then to Durban
and finally settled in Harrismith where Trudie would spend the rest of her
childhood. After completing school, Trudie went on to study at the
University of Cape Town where she majored in English and History. She
also played hockey for the varsity’s first team.
Na Universiteit het Trudie nog spore gemaak. This time to Cape Town.
She became a teacher, first in Cape Town and then in Pietermaritzburg.
It was here that she met Ralph Fallows, who later became the lucky man
to whom she married in December of 1947.
Hulle het nog spore gemaak and they started their married life in a flat in
Potchestroom, then moved to a house in North Bridge Road before
building the 5th
house in Ballie Park in 1956.
Potch was very different back then to how it is now. When Dirk, now a
journalist in London, came through to visit, he was floored by the
headline that graced the front of the local paper: “Will the cows get into
town?”
In September of 1954, Trudie gave birth to unidentical twins Ann and
Peter. Peter sadly passed away two days later.
Trudie then alternated between being a stay-at-home mom and working
at a variety of schools including Elsie Van Heerden Nursery School,
where she was also principal for several years.

2. Ralph was a very active Rotarian, even becoming district governor in
1963. Trudie was the ever-devoted wife and Rotary Ann as they
travelled to visit 48 clubs around the country, as well as taking a trip to
New York, Canada, South America and Germany. She was also very
involved in charity drives where she was still serving tea to the elderly,
well even more elderly, whilst herself being 80 years of age.
Outside of her neighbourhood and school friends, Trudie made many
good friends through Rotary. All of whom would remember her being
physically active playing social tennis, climbing mountains and walking
everyday until around the age of 99.
There is an African proverb that goes “A friend is someone you share a
path with” en vir Trudie was vriende en familie baie belangrik. Met Ann
se eerste huwelik het sy Tyler geërf. While Ann was at work, Tyler would
keep Trudie very busy by either having her feed him carrots as a rabbit
or by Tyler thrashing the Oleanda bush with a stick sword to defend
Trudie from monsters. Tyler now lives in Crawley in the U.K. with his wife
Linde and they have always had much love and closeness with Ouma
Trudie.
When Ann married James in 1988, Trudie made the trip to the U.K. for
the wedding and looked incredibly glamorous in her turquoise outfit and
hat. Within 3 years, myself and Emma made our introductions and
Trudie would enjoy her time with her young granddaughters, even if I
made mud pies and would watch her intently to make sure she ate them.
Ann, James, Emma, and myself would often visit Ralph and Trudie in
Potch and I have many wonderful memories of those visits. From Emma
and I being delighted because this was the only place where we would
have pudding, especially Trudie’s amazing homemade ice-cream to us
creating a house using fruit boxes under the tree at the bottom of the
garden.
During the time in which the family relocated to Botswana, Emma and I
were left in the care of Trudie and Appy (which is what we called Ralph).
We did not mind one little bit as the visit was filled with laughter and fun.
My mum, not wanting to leave Trudie and Appy with two young girls
empty handed; left two play kits. One each. I think it was at this point
that Trudie knew I was to follow her into the realm of education. To this
day, I fully believe that my mother and Trudie were in cahoots to make
this happen. Emma received a wedding kit whist I received a teacher’s

3. kit and from then on, Emma and Trudie became my willing students, and
I was their teacher. Report cards were even issued where I always
scored Trudie very highly and commented on how kind she was.
Upon leaving Potch, Ralph and Trudie settled into their flat at 9 Lotus
lane in Irene. They enjoyed a much fuller family life as their daughter
Ann, son-in-law James and granddaughters, myself, age 11 and Emma,
then aged 9; were all very close proximity.
Sadly, in June 2002, Ralph had a heart attack after afternoon tea with
Trudie and passed away quite suddenly. This was quite a shock but
fortunately Ann was able to convince Trudie to attend the Wednesday
church services at this very same St. Martins in which we find ourselves
today as well as join the Ouma Smuts club. Here she met many of her
bosom buddies of Irene.
Trudie spent much time visiting these buddies as well as travelling to
various parts of South Africa to visit close family like Piet and Elanor De
Villiers and good friends like Rey Bridgeman and Joan Bullard and of
course, as I mentioned earlier, she would travel to the UK to visit Dirk
and Mildred.
She also enjoyed her time at Sondela, a game lodge near Bela Bela,
and Mazeppa Bay on Wild Coast. Trudie also took a Rail Safaris with
Ann which allowed her to travel to Namibia, the West Coast, and a
memorable trip of all 9 provinces in 9 days.
Home life in Irene also became even fuller when Johanna, better known
as Nosky, and Lydia entered the picture. The teacher in Trudie came out
and she taught Nosky, then age 6, English. When Lydia arrived, there
were endless jumping competitions which would keep her occupied
whilst Leah, Nosky and Lydia’s mum, was busy cleaning her flat.
However, the greatest love of Trudie’s life in Irene was her little wired-
haired terrier cross, Katie. Katie was initially adopted from the Centurion
SPCA by Emma but did not allow Emma to sleep at night and then when
she was relegated to the kitchen with the other dogs, she scratched at
the door and whined all night which did not allow anyone in the family to
sleep. Trudie then very kindly offered to look after Katie on the third night
and Katie then did not leave her side for the next 14 years. It is a great
comfort for us to know that Katie would have greeted Trudie at the
pearly gates when Trudie arrived there on the evening of the 7th
of April
2021.

4. As a family, we would like to extend our gratitude and thanks to the
carers that took care of her in her last years and days. Ceciliah and
Constance and especially all at Alcaricare Home; Natasha, Alida, Ronel,
Sharon and all the wonderful carers. We would have not survived the
last 18 months without you.
Trudie would always tell us wonderful stories of running up Platberg in
Harrismith as a child, very often leaving a very confused young Dirk
sitting on a rock waiting for the fairies at the bottom. Ons geliefde Trudie,
nou is jy vry om weer op berge te klim. Almal hier gaan jou mis maar ons
weet jy is meer gelukkig en ons sal jou weer sien waneer ons aansluit by
jou in Paradys.