RIP Ann Snaddon

Ann Snaddon died peacefully at her home in Scarborough on Friday 15 May 2020. She and Brian joined the teaching staff at St George's in January 1985, having been appointed by headmaster Paul Cannon who had been their sons' housemaster at Hilton College some years previously. The Snaddons' home was a charming school property around the corner from the Mowbray campus, and for many years they thrived in this vibrant educational community. Ann headed the Art Department, while Brian taught Science and Maths. During this time their sons, Bruce and Chip, and their daughters, Jiggs and Kate, spread their wings and left home.

In the early 1990s, Ann and Brian opted to take a year's sabbatical, spending an idyllic, challenging time living simply in the fynbos beside the Botriver Vlei in the Overberg. At every opportunity throughout their shared life since courtship, with their children and friends - and often with pupils on school outings - Ann and Brian headed off on hikes and camping expeditions to remote parts of the country, where the Earth 'spoke' clearly to them through her beauty and wildness.....and their time at the Vlei was the culmination of this quest for reconnection with Nature. They returned to St George's for a year or two, but having caught the bug of the rustic life, they relocated to Botriver once more before finally making the village of McGregor their home. There they built a cosy, 'off-grid', strawbale and cob cottage by hand with the help of family and friends, and for some years there, in peaceful surroundings and in the neighbourly company of kindred village spirits, basked in their retirement and grandparenthood.

Their adventures into untrodden, wild places continued unabated, including many hilarious and hair-raising escapades in their faithful Canadian canoe, Sister Goose. In time, however, Brian experienced a bout of retinal cancer, losing an eye in the process, and a couple of years later, he suffered a near-fatal aneurysm. His final five years were increasingly marked by a decline in strength, but his lively mind and spirit was undimmed until the end which came on his birthday in 2011 - and for Ann, the death of her beloved Brian was an unravelling loss.

In 2015, Ann moved from McGregor to Cape Town and then to Scarborough, settling close to daughter Kate and family. From about this time, she was forced to bear the steady erosion of her sparkly, creative mind as a result of dementia ; and she did so with great courage. During her final difficult years, she was tenderly and faithfully cared for by her four children : her extended family spent countless happy times with Ann in that beautiful area, and she became a much-loved member of that close-knit community, often to be seen walking with her pooch, Gila, along the beach and the sandy pathways beneath the milkwoods.

She and Chip sang in the local choir, her ringing voice and sweet smile lighting up many rehearsals and performances. She enjoyed numerous visits from friends and family, and revelled in attending a number of Franschoek Literary Festivals with Jiggs and Kate. In her inimitable style, she continued to correspond with friends galore, and until quite recently, to paint extensively. Indeed, she has left behind her life's work of exquisite watercolours - of landscapes, coastal views, flora and fauna, all captured with wonderful clarity.

However, although a remarkable artist in her own right, it is as a teacher committed to nurturing a creative spark in others that she has left as her most enduring legacy.

(Chip Snaddon/PDC)