Stan is the man sitting in the wheelchair in the bright and breezy Greendale House entrance area.
This has been his favourite spot since he lost his leg a few years ago. “It is an interesting place to spend a few hours, I like the view and there are always nice people passing to chat to,” he says.
Stan was born at number 44 Berg Street in Pietermaritzburg (an only child), but grew up in Durban where he attended Glenwood Boys High. Stan has always been a keen sportsman - playing soccer, rugby, tennis, enjoying athletics and surfing. In Durban he played right fullback for numerous clubs including for Queenspark, Railways and Stella. After he married his wife Pam, he took up a post with the Colonial Service in Basotholand (now Lesotho). Here he played rugby for Basotholand on Saturdays and on Sunday played soccer for the Maseru team.
In 1995, Stan and Pam moved to Howick where several friends had retired. “I always said I wouldn’t mind living here, there are all sorts of people. We were very happy living opposite the Catholic Church.” Fortunately, friends advised them to put their names down on the HADCA list, so they were able to move to no 51 Elizabeth Gardens after a few years.
Sadly, despite her general good health, Pam discovered she had cancer in 2017 and died just 6 weeks after the diagnosis. Stan stayed at Elizabeth Gardens for a while, but increasingly had problems with his leg. “If I sat too long, I couldn’t feel my toes,” he remembers, “it was a blood clot that wouldn’t dissolve, so my leg was amputated.” Now Stan lives in B Wing at Greendale House, where he doesn’t have to worry about cooking or shopping or sorting out the garden. “One would go a long way to beat the care I receive here. I miss my wife’s company – we could sit quietly together for hours, or discuss what we read in the paper. But I am not complaining, I have had a good, satisfying life.”
Nowadays, Stan enjoys watching the Sharks on TV, and cricket and soccer. “I don’t miss being part of the games. Everything has changed so much, and sport is so commercial now.” Stan does still have old sports injuries plaguing his missing leg. “I know it is not there, but right now I can feel my ankle is sore.” This phenomenon is known as Phantom Limb Syndrome. It is common for amputees to feel sensations in a limb that has been removed.
Next time you wander down the passage to lunch, or bingo or the sing-a-long on Thursdays, say hello to Stan, the 91-year-old man catching up on the sports news in The Witness newspaper on his lap.
Author credit: Nikki Brighton