MY FATHER - LOUIS CATZEL - Memories of my Dad

Above: My Dad as a young boy of about 13

Early childhood

My Dad grew up in Cape Town in an area known as District Six. As the Jewish population became more affluent, they moved out of that area. However when the family were living there, they were poor and in the early 1920's, Granpa Catzel became bankrupt. Because of the family situation, my father - who was then 13 - had to forgo further schooling and began to work in his father's business. He worked together with his brothers Hymie, Lionel and Willie for many years. My cousin Sigi joined them later on. In 1994, about the time my father entered the Old Aged Home, the business closed down and the premises were sold.

Fearless

My father had a strong, dominant personality. He was fearless. He believed in fate. I once asked him if he wasn't ever scared to get on a plane. He asserted: "When your time has come, it's come. It doesn't matter where you are".

Temper! Temper!

He had a quick temper and we were wary of making him angry. If we were naughty, we would get a "patsch on tusik". He believed the old maxim: "Spare the rod and spoil the child".

When he didn't agree with what you were saying, he would wave his hand in the air (a typical mannerism) and snort: "Whatcha talking about!"

What a driver!

He was a daring driver on the road and it could be quite hair-raising to sit in the seat next to the him! This is one situation in which you could be entertained by his "colourful" language when other drivers annoyed him! as well as lose your breathe during some of his dare-devil manipulations! And if you were unlucky enough to be the driver yourself, you would get an ongoing instruction of what to do and where to turn!

Dreams for his daughter

Proud Dad holding me aged 6 weeks

My father would loved to have seen me grow up to be a typical society Jewish girl - even a "kugel" ("princess"!) dressing up to the hilt, going out on dates, to parties, dances etc. If he saw me sitting alone reading a book he would always say: "Why don't you go out and enjoy yourself?" But his idea of "enjoying oneself" and mine did not coincide.

He was not so delighted at first that I went to study at Cape Town University - although he did finance my studies. He thought that success for a girl was learning Shorthand and Typing, working for a bit and then getting married.

Let other people go to Israel!

He was not so keen on the Zionist part of "Habonim" and fought for 2 years solid not to let me go on a year's leadership course to Israel. Eventually he broke down and let me go. I expect he was afraid of the situation in Israel - which has never been ideal.

A Musical Family

All the Catzel boys were musical - including my father. He sang solos in shul as a young boy. He was always listening to music, and though he mostly enjoyed the popular music of the day, he loved arias from Operas.

A ballroom dancer too!

He also loved dancing. I believe that when he was courting my mother they would go out dancing a lot and even when he was in the Old Aged Home, (aged 84-88) he boasted to us that he took part in the dancing.

A Great Sportman

Like all the other Catzel boys, he was a very good sportsman and played soccer and rugby. In one of these games, his nose got bashed, and he never had it surgically corrected. In his later years he joined his brothers on the bowling green and was a very good player winning many competitions.

A Bridge Player

He also enjoyed playing bridge. He played a fair game, and he and mom enjoyed the social side of the game.

A Snooker Champion

He was also at one time a snooker (billiards) champion. One of the few entertainment spots in Muizenberg was a Snooker Club and he would go there regularly to play. When we relocated to Sea Point, he bought a house with a full length billiard table in one of the rooms, but since the old mates and club life were absent, the billiard table soon became a white elephant and was eventually sold.

An excellent Swimmer

He loved the beach in summer. He would take his beach umbrella and camp out on the beach. He was a good swimmer and would swim in the coldest water (Atlantic Ocean) you can imagine! When he was here on a visit I watched with great admiration as he dived into pools and swam across to the other side. His 'crawl' was executed in good style

Small, Hardy and Strong

Although pint sized, he was physically very strong. At the age of 84 he was still walking me off my feet and insisted on lifting my heavy suitcase to and from the trolleys in the airport arrivals lounge and into the boot of his car.

He was trim, and a sparse but healthy eater and so was my Mom and he couldn't understand how people could eat enormous amounts of food.

Despite several attacks of bronchitis and pneumonia as he got on in life, he pulled through. He was a real survivor. He broke his hip falling on the stairs at the age of 87 ... but within several weeks, was already walking again without a walker! His capacity and determination for recovery was great. Unfortunately, he did eventually succumb to a chronic lung condition which made the last two years of his life often very trying. But he coped with it where others would not have ... and he ended his life still standing on his feet. (He was not bedridden when he passed away)

Above ... the last picture taken of Dad a couple of days before he passed away

Proud to be Jewish

He was fiercely loyal about being "Jewish". I remember an incident where my brother got bashed in the nose and called a "bloody Jew". This was in the cinema. He was with some friends. They were between 10 and 12 yrs of age. They were throwing about papers such as boys are apt to do at that age. One man had shouted at them to be quiet but they took little notice and continued to laugh at the film and throw papers. At some point, a sticky paper landed on this fellows neck. He jumped over his seat, punched my brother in the nose calling him a "bloody Jew". My brother, holding a bleeding nose rushed to the Managers office together with his friends to report the assault. My father encouraged my brother and his friends to take this fellow to court and the man was duly fined.

Money Rules the World!

My father was intent on teaching us the value of money. If you asked him for money he would first say "No". He always wanted to know that it was absolutely necessary. He hated waste. After having a poverty stricken childhood, he was adamant that you must establish yourself and have money. "If you have no money, nobody LOOKS at you! They don't want to know you!" he declared - talking from his life experience. He also held that businessmen were more successful generally than their professional counterparts - those who went to University and had degrees. This seems to have been a usual outlook of those times.

A Jokester

He had a kind of slap stick sense of humour and liked to make a play on words. He enjoyed a funny pun and I remember some of his favourite Yiddish one's. Which reminds me that he understood Yiddish very well since his mother (Granny Catzel) never learned to talk English. The Yiddish that I learned at home was a list of colourful epithets. "Oy a shloomper! (paskudnik! shmok, shmool, shmendrik, a grobber) "Yah - a gezunte mud (moyd) ! Oy a mumzer, a potz, a klutz, " etc.

A slightly Paranoid Streak?

One of Dad's main character traits was his ultra sensitivity to real or imagined insults. He would carry grudges against people if he felt they had insulted him. His way of overcoming his hurt feelings was simply to cut off communication with the person ... refuse to look at them or talk to them and he would put on a very angry facial expression and walk away in the opposite direction in a "humph!"

Fussy about Cleanliness and Tidyness

He was always very neat and tidy and fussy about cleaniless. Wherever he went and even when he wore casual dress, he would never be seen with anything creased, ragged, torn or dirty. He was always turned out, as we say in hebrew, "fix"!

A Family Man

Dad was a real family man. He did everything he knew how to do for us. Perhaps he did not always use the right technique - but he had a good heart and his intentions were for the best. Although we did not get on very well when I was a teenager ... our relationship improved with time. My last memories are of sitting and chatting to him at the Old Aged Home, Highlands House. I would listen sympathetically as he poured out all his grievances. I noticed that most of the Old People there had grievances, mostly expressed against the food, so he was not alone. I realized how hard and depressing it must be for older people in his situation to lose their independence and be at the mercy of nurses, doctors and other staff of an institution.

He was a real character! I remember all his funny little mannerisms and funny 'sayings' and facial expressions. And even when I was already 60, he still affectionately called me his "little girl". I really miss him very much.