Page 124 - Bulletin 13 2009

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FISHERMEN PARADISE FOR EVER AND FOR ALL

Dear Fisherman,
After my strive from 1926, to get you fisher people under a higher level of standard of life,

I have triumphed!
Right will triumph, I have triumphed. Victory was mine.

Pictures taken shortly before his death in 1957 probably capture how many people
remember him. (Figs. 3.9 & 3.10). Aged about 86 - slightly built, hands behind his back, he

had a smile and greeting for everyone who passed. His wife Catharina had died on 2
October 1955 aged 84, and Louis died aged 88 on 1 March 1957. The family was very hurt

that no-one from the fishing community attended the funeral despite his efforts on their

behalf.

Catharina Maria (Cato ‘Dinks’) Ladan 1893 – 1989

Born on 13 April 1893 at ‘s-Gravenhage (The Hague) and christened Catharina Maria, she
was known by her family as Cato [Ka-too]. (Figs. 3.11 & 3.12). She was very short in

stature and her husband Billie nicknamed her Dinks, a name she was known by in later life.

She is probably one of the greatest characters Kalk Bay has known. Aged about 14 she rode
a bicycle along the Main Road dressed in her black bloomers and a white blouse – simply

something no young girl would do in that day and age. A few years later she was seen
riding a very big motor-bike around the neighbourhood. Nothing like this had ever been

seen in these parts. (Figs. 3.13 & 3.14).

Cato was about 21 when the First World War broke out and photos in her album show her

in a nurse’s uniform – she worked as a volunteer at Simon’s Town Naval Hospital. It is