SCHOEMAN, Maria Magdalena ¹

  Events

• Childhood. ² As an ifant she fell into a fire and sustained severe burns leaving considerable scars. She made an excellent recovery and soon proved herself agile, terrifying her parents by climbing about trhe girders of the big bridge hundreds of feet above the Gourits River bed.

• Occupation. ² Her first job was as Headmistress of the Coloured school in Great Brak River. She was believed to be psychic, and examples are given in this source. She enjoyed a game of golf or tennis and loved gardenning with her husband. She discovered a new species of succulent in the Karoo now named Haworthia helmii. he was the second woman in Great Brak to obtain a driving licence and was endowed with many talents including art needlework and embroidery.

• Historical. ² After Ernest died she was 53 and she would move around as a somewhat lonely widow for the next 33 years. She bought land up the Sandhoogte valley, and built a house there that boasted fantastic gardens. There she became interested in sea shells and amased a great collection, many from Jeffreys Bay. she sold the house in 1954 and moved to a beach house that Eric had built on the Island but in 1962, living alone became too much for her and she moved to stay with her daughter Gwen in Camps Bay for the rest of her life. In 1972 she suffered a series of strokes and passed away on the 28th May.

Maria married Ernest Daniel HELM, son of Henry William HELM and Anna Frederica ANDERSON, on Feb 21, 1912 in Albertina, Cape Colony, Southern Africa.^{1 2} (Ernest Daniel HELM was born on Sep 3, 1872 in Wyders River, Albertina, Cape Colony, Southern Africa ^{1 2}, christened on Oct 6, 1872,¹ died on Aug 8, 1940 in Groot Brakrivier, Cape Province, Union Of South Africa ¹ and was buried in Searle Memorial Cemetery, Great Brak River. ².)