Vetnews | Julie 2024 32 « BACK TO CONTENTS Houseparents of Onderstepoort residence: 1976 to 1985 Written by Annette Boshoff and Heloise Heyne of the Veterinary History Society of South Africa A tribute to the most recent houseparents was published in VetNews in April this year, all of them still alive and kicking having survived their respective terms: Alischa and Tiaan Henning, the incumbents who took up their posts in 2018; Jan and Susan Myburgh (2004 – 2017), Japie and Estelle Venter (1988-2004) and Marius Hornsveld (1985 – 1988). In this edition, we pay tribute to the late Dr Eddie Genis and his wife, Christa, who were the houseparents from December 1975 to 1985. The Austrian connection Eduard Christiaan Genis was born on 7 September 1939 and grew up on Gilead, a tobacco farm in the Potgietersrus district. His father was a farmer and his mother a teacher with a heart of gold who helped children from impoverished families. The family was rooted in their deeply held Christian beliefs. Eddie, as he was known, was one of four siblings who were raised to appreciate art, music and books. However, his love of horses inspired him to study veterinary science at Onderstepoort. In 1959, when Eddie was in his third year at Onderstepoort, he was helped by Prof CFB Hofmeyr to continue his studies in Vienna, Austria so that he could also study opera in the evenings. He set sail in 1960 and spent nearly three months on a merchant ship heading to Europe, working in the galley while learning German. This enabled him to commence his studies comfortably and to qualify as a veterinarian at the Veterinary School in Vienna (Tierärztliche Hochschule Wien, the oldest German-speaking Veterinary School, founded in 1765 by Maria Theresia, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Archduchess of Austria). To pay for his way as a student in Austria, he worked on an apple farm, as a dog washer and a tele-messenger. In Vienna, he also rubbed shoulders with Mimi Coertze, Gé Korsten, Gert Potgieter, George Fourie and many others. Eddie studied opera at the Wiener Staatsoper and in Milan Italy, where the other students thought he was a Russian because of his deep bass voice. He was a polyglot and could speak German and Italian, as well as Afrikaans, Setswana and English, the languages he learnt growing up. In Vienna Eddie met his future wife, Christa von Steinschaden, an Austrian born on 12 February 1941. They met on the steps of the Volksgarten on 14 July 1962. Christa and a female friend were writing postcards when Eddie and a classmate stopped beside the two girls on the steps. Eddie wore black trousers with brown shoes which struck Christa as odd, but she was soon won over by the very outgoing and charming young man from South Africa. Christa and her younger sister were raised in a family of book lovers. Christa qualified as a book publisher at the Bundeshandelsakadamie Wien. Wedding bells and return to South Africa Eddie and Christa got married in Vienna. Christa typed Eddie’s DrMedVet thesis and on occasion fell asleep over the typewriter doing so. His thesis was on antibiotics for piglets. After he qualified in 1965, Eddie joined by his wife, worked as a veterinarian in Switzerland. This is where their eldest son, Christoph, was born in 1967. The young family had a fully equipped VM kombi and intended to travel to South Africa with it but decided against it when they reached Portugal. They advertised the opportunity of driving the VW kombi to South Africa in a newspaper and three young men from Zürich took up the challenge. However, en route, they had an accident in Pakistan.Two of them chose to return to Zürich by bus, but the third, Arnold, chose to hitchhike to South Africa and make this country his home. He became a lifelong friend. Eddie brought Christa and Christoph to South Africa in 1968. Rainhardt was born in 1969. Eddie joined MSD in Johannesburg and they lived in the neighbourhood of Blairgowrie. From 1972 to 1975, Eddie worked for Kanhym Estates, a feedlot and meat production enterprise in Middelburg. Here, Eddie and other musicians of the town held musical performances and made many friends, amongst other Jakkie Botha, who subsequently accompanied Eddie for many years on the piano at the OPCC/OPKK. Christa got to know Eddie’s family and friends very well. She had met them twice before when they came to visit them in Europe. Christa was welcomed with open arms and grew very fond of Eddie’s family. Christa’s parents came to visit them from Austria several times. During these visits, a traditional German Christmas or Easter with all the trimmings would be celebrated in the house at Onderstepoort. Eddie and Christa spoke German to each other – Eddie spoke Afrikaans to the two boys and Christa taught them her mother tongue. Senior lecturer at the Faculty Dr DR (Dieter) Osterhoff invited Eddie to join the Faculty of Veterinary Science at Onderstepoort. Prof Osterhoff was originally from Germany but came to South Africa in 1956 to set up the South African Blood Group Laboratory at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Research Institute. He later took up a permanent post as a Research Officer at the Institute. In 1963, Osterhoff was appointed as Head of the Department of Zootechnology at the Faculty of Veterinary Science. The Genis family of four arrived at Onderstepoort in December 1975. Eddie took up the post as Lecturer at Zootechnology. One of the research projects that he was involved with, was to establish whether the nose prints of cattle were unique like the fingerprints of humans. This was done to assist with the positive identification of stolen cattle. Christa accompanied Eddie on his field trips to take the nose prints of cattle. She also assisted with PDs and AI procedures!
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTc5MDU=