Olive Emmenis (88) will be remembered as a founder pioneer of Welkom and Riebeeckstad.
She will be remembered for the indelible footprints she made in the history of the city, the Methodist Church and, of course, her beloved Oppenheimer Theatre. She will definitely be remembered for her kindness and empathy, her sharp wit, her tenacity and fortitude and her endearing personality.
She sadly passed away on Monday (20/06) in the Mediclinic Welkom after a bad fall last week.
Brian Emmenis, her son, wrote on Facebook shortly after her sudden passing: “Life can be so cruel. Last year after a struggle of note to get my mom a UK visa to see her second great grandson (Hayden), the visa arrived four days after we left. My mom then had to go for a heart op from which she fully recovered. This year we worked round the clock to get another visa to go to her great grandson’s christening. Sadly this evening she passed away after a fall.
“She stood up to go and make a cup of tea. My mum survived the Second World War. Here in South Africa her beautiful home burnt to the ground. She was attacked three times. Robbed twice, and yet soldiered on. A lousy cup of tea cost her her life.”
Olive experienced the birth of Welkom first-hand. From dust to glory, she experienced the excitement of the unknown and made sure that she inked herself into the history books of Welkom, especially those pages of the Ernest Oppenheimer Theatre and her beloved Riebeeckstad.
Olive Emmenis (nèe Clarke), who celebrated her 88th birthday in May, came to Welkom in 1950 as a wide-eyed 16-year-old girl.
She always fondly recalled those beginning days. She would tell of there only being 19 houses in Stateway, which was a dirt road, and there were no ablution facilities then.
Meeting her future husband, Dennis, in 1952 was quite an adventure.
His aunt Hettie Georke had arranged a blind date for them to attend a Nico Carstens dance. It was a match made in heaven, she said.
Olive is synonymous with so many things in the history of the city. She was truly loved and respected. She was known for her loving nature, her sense of humour, her fairness, her compassion and her humanity.
She was the first “Engelse” member of the Women’s Agricultural Union (WAU) in Riebeeckstad and remained a member for more than 55 years. She saw the birth and the establishment of the Riebeeckstad Methodist Church, and was the oldest living member of the church, always actively involved in working with the poorest of the poor.
Her theatre legacy will remain the most renowned of these historical entries in the annals of the Goldfields.
She was a presence at the Oppenheimer between 1968 and 1994. She associated and worked with the greatest of the great, including Dame Margot Fonteyn.
Emmenis was a marketing guru and people fundi. She would often be seen out and about promoting forthcoming shows at the Oppenheimer theatre.
The shows in those early years were magnificent. Even the beautiful and spectacular musicals and shows like Oklahoma, one of the biggest, which her husband Dennis produced, was breathtaking. It is an era Welkom flourished in.
But her family remained the most important part of her life. Her grandsons Jeffrey, Gregory and Brendan, her great grandsons, Joshua and Hayden, her son, Brian, and daughter, Colleen, and daughter-in-law, Beverley, remained the epicentre of her life to the very end.
A memorial service will be held at the St Luke’s Methodist Church in Welkom on Wednesday, 29 June at 11:00.
