With his glass of white wine and ice in his hand, his eyes sparkling with life, he sometimes interrupts himself to share one of his hundreds of stories (with all the facts, dates and names) at the North-West University (NWU).
He is my mentor, my teacher, my example of joie de vivre and inexhaustible energy.
Yes, I am talking about one of the legends on the Potchefstroom Campus, Chris Windell. Thousands of people have crossed paths with this bundle of energy with his snow-white (once dark-brown) hair. I have not yet come across anyone who could not remember some or other anecdote about him.
My very first encounter with Chris was in the early eighties at a gathering of alumni in Durban. Everyone enjoyed themselves because even then he shared stories about the university in his unique way.
Nearly 20 years later, when I came to the NWU as a staff member, I did not at first recognise the man with the snow-white hair, but when I looked into those lively blue eyes, I knew I had met him somewhere before.
He is a “boytjie from Braamfontein”, where his family lived when his father worked on the railways. He can entertain one for hours with stories from his days as a (naughty) young boy who was full of mischief.
He started his studies in 1960 at the former Potchefstroom Teachers’ Training College (Pote), and he can still remember the names of his class mates. He says those were years of poverty, but as so many of his fellow students were in the same boat, no-one felt self-conscious about it.
Music in his blood
Chris is a musician of note and was the chairperson of the Orchestra and Song Committee of the POK, where he played the piano during his student days to earn some pocket money. He did not have any formal music training, but could conjure the most wonderful sounds from those piano keys.
With a twinkle in his eyes, he tells about the time when he and his mates from the residence made music while the others studied or dated.
In his third and fourth years he was a member of a band that played at Shine on the Bult (a shopping area close to campus) every evening when it was dating time. Their payment for the 90 minutes was a hamburger and 50 cents.
Years later, with the start of the Campus Talent Festival, Chris was the first master of ceremonies – and his involvement with this festival lasted for 13 years.
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’Foreign language’ brings love and tribulations
As a young teacher, Chris taught English at Helpmekaar Boys’ High School. One of his former pupils told me that his love for English literature and the English language can be attributed to “Mister Windell”. He said that no one could teach Shakespeare with so much feeling and insight as Chris. During the last six years of his teaching career, Chris taught in Sannieshof at the local high school, where – with many trials and tribulations – he had to teach the farm children something about English. Still, he remembers only the funny anecdotes about the young men trying to express themselves in this “foreign language”. The beginning of a legend Chris was the director for public relations for a number of years and that took him across the country to get-togethers for alumni. As part of his work he was also involved with fundraising, and he can tell many stories about his visits to farmers in the old Western Transvaal. Most students will also remember him as the “oom” who for more than 15 years was the master of ceremonies at open days and the reception of the first years… “And he never told a risqué joke,” they will tell you.
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This love affair is forever Chris met his heart-throb Gussie at school. This love affair survived his student years at the Potchefstroom Teachers’ Training College, and they were married in 1964. Years later he and Gussie were the residence parents of Oosterhof and Klawerhof for a decade. The couple has three children: Lindie (she and her family live in Australia), Winton (himself a well-known face as a student and staff member at the NWU) and Neville (a well-known golfer in Potchefstroom). Taking children under his wing During his career Chris took the Ikateleng programme under his wing. Together with Oom Martiens Masiea and Edwin Nkosapantsi he saw to it that thousands of school learners could equip themselves for the mathematics and natural sciences papers for their final matric exams. He proudly tells you how they raised enough money every year to keep the project afloat. Oom Darius Mhulatshi, who passed away recently, later also joined the ranks of Ikateleng. |
Working with seven rectors
He is also one of the few staff members on campus who can say that he worked with seven rectors of the former PU for CHE up to the current NWU. They were Profs Hennie Bingle, Tjaart van der Walt, Carools Reinecke, Theuns Eloff, Annette Combrink, Herman van Schalkwyk and – from 2016 – also Fika Janse van Rensburg.
In 2006 it dawned upon him that all the rectors of the university were still alive. As a typical public relations guy, he immediately scheduled a photo session at the house of Prof Hennie Bingle in Pretoria. Prof Bingle passed away the following year.
Sitting still? Not a chance!
At retirement age, he said that he cannot just sit still and grow old at home, and that he will still stay on at the university as a fundraiser.
This year Chris celebrates his ripe “old” age of 78, and can still outwalk many people, and his characteristic energy and love of life are just as contagious as those of the dark-haired young man whom I met in Durban all those years ago.
My mentor, my teacher ... his task is yet to be completed.
(Article: Kiewiet Scheppel)
