Tribute to an old-school teacher Samuel Reuben

Tributes for Samuel Reuben

By Marlan Padayachee, on behalf of remedial teacher Venilla 'Pinky' Padayachee

Hundreds of mourners heard glowing tributes about former Durban principal Samuel Lawrence Reuben, of Malvern, who died after a long illness, aged 78, last week.

Messages were received from several people here and abroad.

Playwright and author Ron ie Govender recounted Reuben’s community activities in Cato Manor in the 1950s, saying the veteran teacher had served education, soccer and community arts and culture with distinction before the Group Areas Act uprooted communities and relocated them to Chatsworth.

After his retirement, Reuben relocated from his Havenside home to Malvern in the Queensburgh area.

Paying tribute at the funeral service at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Umbilo at the weekend, Dr David Charles sketched Reuben’s life’s work, saying as a religious personality and humanitarian, Reuben rose to the pinnacle of the Christian movement and he was credited for raising funds for worthy causes.

Family friend Marlan Padayachee described the former Parsee Rustomjee Primary School principal as one of the “last old-school headmasters” who combined the programmes of the classroom and the community in his efforts to promote education, mentorship, scholarship and good moral values.

“His humaneness that we today call Ubuntu; his generosity, kindness and his wonderful sense of humour endeared him to pupils, peers, parents and teachers,” he said.

He said Reuben’s actions and deeds had symbolised the stoicism, strength and morality of the pioneering 1860 Indian indentured labourers who had left behind a legacy of building schools for the community to ensure that Indians were an educated people.

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