Brother Bill

 My brother, Ramsay L’Amy Daly died on 23 October 2024. I still can’t deal with his death but here is a first go.

Klein Boetie, later known as Bill,l was born 0n 4 January 1943. He was a big baby, over 5 kg and my mother only barely survived his birth, at home in the Bushveld with only a midwife in attendance. He was christened in the Swartwater Dutch Reformed Church a few months later.

With his big blue eyes and winsome smile he was my charming little brother.

Not long after that my sister, Karine, joined  us.

Bill and Karine were close – she adored him.

Eventually we moved from the Bushveld to go to school and finally went to Dundee where we attended Dundee High School.

Bill was in his element. He played Rugby, became a prefect and was friends with all.

From there Bill went to Stellenbosch  University where he made friends with a range of people from different background, some highly distinguished. He was awarded a BA in1964 and an LLB in 1966.

Later he was admitted as an attorney and conveyancer, moved to Durban, to a legal firm and married Anita Cronje. They had glamorous reception at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks.

Bill became a devoted husband, father of Simone and Justine.

Later another Ramsay L’Amy Daly was born. Here he is with his Karine’s son, Jean-Paul.

Despite living in Australia , Bill and I used the Internet to talk though our political differences and my rejection of his second career, big game hunting. They did not interfere with visits to Bill’s hunting lodge, Bambatha’s Kraal where for the first time the cousins from Bill, Karine and me came together with a few of them with Bill in this photograph.

We also visited their beach house in St Frances Bay and Karine and I joined Bill and Anita on a family trek to the Bushveld where we grew up, ending up at Mapangubwe Reserve with a group of their friends.

The last visit showed me Bill’s skill winning over Basil, the warthog

We had good family time.