Page 138 - Bulletin 13 2009

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‘official’ document showing his birth date is the one when he signed up for military service,
which states that he was born on 27 March 1916. Comments on family photos confirm this.

When he was born his sister Cato was 23 and older brother Louis 8, so Eddie was very

much the baby of the family and was probably much indulged and spoilt. There have

always been rumours that Cato was in fact his mother – but these can probably be put down
to malice rather than fact. Certainly, Eddie and his brother Louis had an uncanny

resemblance to each other as youngsters.

During his early years the family was well off, his father a successful property developer
and builder. There was money to travel overseas and as a 6 year old Eddie travelled with

the family to Europe via St Helena in 1922, and again six years later in 1928 – they went to

see their Dutch relatives to whom they remained close for many years.

Little is known about Eddie’s early life in Kalk Bay. (Figs. 3.25 & 3.26). He was a very big

lad and was given the nickname “Fatty” by local boys – a name that stuck with him in Kalk
Bay his whole life. He went to Wynberg Boys High School and left in 1934 when he was

18 without completing Std. VIII. This may have been because the family finances were in
dire straits and it was a case of ‘all hands to the pumps’ in the family business. It was at

Wynberg that his budding desire to be an artist was first nurtured. His art teacher was
Cedryl Greenland – later to be famous in our area as “Dolphin” of Fish Hoek Echo.

The 5 years before the Second World War were apparently crammed with activity. Eddie
went to Northern Rhodesia and worked on the copper mines to save enough to attend Art

College in Holland. He studied for two years at the Koninklijke Acadamie van Beeldene
Kunsten in The Hague. However, his brother said he in fact studied engineering. On his

return he started working for his brother-in-law Billie Williamson who had his aero
business in Kalk Bay and at Youngsfield. It was here that Eddie was trained as an airplane

mechanic.