Cape Town - There was not a dry eye in the house at the memorial service of Rocklands High principal Nigel Pelston, who passed away suddenly last week.
Pelston, 59, served the schooling community for over 35 years and according to those who honoured his memory yesterday, he did it with the most genuine of hearts.
A second memorial service was held at Rocklands High School yesterday, where Pelston held the principal position since 2016.
The first was held at Mondale High School on Tuesday, where he started teaching in 1990.
Before the service began, a candle was lit in memory of Pelston, who started the tradition at the school in remembrance for those who left.
“You started this tradition, never did we think we would be lighting a candle for you...” educator Andrew Petersen said.
Rocklands High deputy principal, Francois Nekosie, remembered the first time he interacted with Pelston.
“That was eight years ago. We had our first meeting, at the time I was acting principal, so when he walked in I offered him the chair to sit, he said no, you sit and lead this meeting.
“That was the person he was, he knew it would take working together to get to the vision he had for the school.”
Tissues came out when a rendition of Pelton’s favourite song, Bridge over Troubled Water, was sung - a song his friend and ex-colleague at Mondale High, Wayne Lawrence, said described him perfectly.
Pelston’s younger sister, Aneeka Jacobs, gave a moving tribute to her brother, who she said knew exactly what he wanted to achieve in life.
“The famous quote of Nelson Mandela, ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’, is what Nigel believed; he knew that education could empower a community and that is why he loved what he was doing.
“I remember when we were kids, in our household all we would play is school-school, and even though it requires you to change your roles every now and then, Nigel would not, he always wanted to be the principal.
“He knew from the age of eight and he lived his dream.”
Jacobs joked: “Up until we were adults, Nigel would remind us, Ek is ‘n prinsipaal.”
She said even though her brother did not ave any biological children of his own, there were a lot of children who he took under his wing.
“He just possessed an ability to make everyone feel appreciated. He was always a cheerleader, he was love, he was dedication.”