In memoriam
The former headmaster and father figure of King's School, Mr John Carlyle Mitchell, has passed away this morning.
I feel compelled to share the impressions that he has made on my life, which is but a fragment of what he has meant for everyone who knew him:
In 1991, my father accepted a vacancy as an Afrikaans teacher at King's School in Nottingham Road, a village situated between Mooi River and Pietermartizburg in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands. Since my first visit to the school, I knew that it was a very special place, and from very early on in my life (being 10 years old in 1991), the school and its people formed a strong bond in my heart. The academic staff, support staff, and the school children welcomed me from my first visit, and were genuinely interested in me as well as my siblings.
However, today I want to commemorate the memory of Mr John, so I would like to outline his importance not only for King's, but for South Africa and the African Renaissance.
If memory serves correctly, King's School were forced out by the government in 1975 to become a private school after accepting black pupils into their school. King's School, a combination school at the time (classes ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 8 / Grade 1 to Standard 6 at that time), was the first school in the history of South Africa to allow black students into the system during the Apartheid era. Mr John was the headmaster during that time, a person who firmly believed in the principle that education cannot be denied for any child, disregarding their race or religion. Mr John, and his children who would later follow in his stead as joint headmasters at King's, maintained an atmosphere of equality far reaching the difference in colour of skin or culture. In fact, the students held such a great respect in the King's School framework, that they were allowed to address the teachers by their first name.
I can still remember the first time I called my father on the King's School dormitory telephone - I asked if I could speak to 'Mr Botha', after which a confusing pause followed, to be broken by the pupil asking, 'Oh, you mean Clarence?!'
It was Alan Paton who wrote that should someone want to see what a South African school is like, that they must go to King's School.
Mr John, a form of addressing that was custom and that I learnt from my father, was someone who had the wisdom of leader against the struggle, who has experienced a lot in life, but with a refreshing sense of vivacity in establishing only the positive qualities in life that surpassed the climate of segregation.
During the period that I was photographing a body of work in partial fulfillment of a master's degree in photography, I immediately wanted to do a character study of Mr John, as I knew that to me, he is someone who has meant a lot in my own education, and, in turn wanted to recognize his greatness.
So, today, I commemorate Mr John and his loving memory. It is not only the Carlyle Mitchells, but also each and every pupil and past pupil and friends of King's School, who grieves the passing of their father.