While moms were celebrated for the precious gift they are on Mother’s Day this past Sunday (14 May) a Helderberg Society for the Aged resident was honoured as the matriarch of a four-generation family of remarkable women.
The 87-year-old Silver Oaks Lodge resident Jane Levendal expressed her renewed gratitude to have been able to share in the cherished Mother’s Day celebrations with her beloved daughter, Beverley Sabbat and granddaughter, Tanya Sabbat, and great-granddaughter Zoey-Jane Levendal.
“I am thankful and honoured,” related Levendal, who fondly shared her story with those present.
Levendal, originally from Knysna, has been a resident at the Somerset West retirement home for nearly three years.
She was born in the “natural wonderland” on 27 January 1936, as the third youngest of 18 children, “to one mother and father”.
Well, that cleared that one up for some present who may have had a lingering question or two to ask.
Levendal started her schooling at Gladstone Primary School in Knysna and later attended the local convent where she was taught music by Catholic nuns who apparently wanted her to become a nun too.
This treasured memory as well as others, including watching her mom bake and cook all sorts of delights and putting her green fingers to good use by helping plant vegetables after school, are just some of her childhood highlights that informed her own journey to proud woman- and motherhood.
While Levendal does not boast any tertiary qualifications she put shoulder to the wheel in her occupation as an office assistant and clothing store manager before retirement beckoned.
She fell in love and tied the knot with her late husband, Wesley, on 27 September 1959.
Together they shared 59 happy years and two children, Beverley and son, Darryl were born.
“My dream as a young woman was to have two children and rear them to the best of my ability, to raise them with love and to show them the right way.”
This proud matriarch believes the importance of a woman and mother is to lead and guide her family with love and respect.
Levendal shared that being able to be there for her dying husband, whom she lost seven years ago, is a personal experience that will resonate to the end of her days.
“On our golden wedding anniversary, our two children and two grandchildren dedicated a special song, the hymn ‘Love one another as I commanded you’ to us,” she related.
The proud grandmother to six and great-grandmother to four offers this sage advice to other women and mothers out there: “Be true and faithful to your husbands, and love and guide your children as best you can.”
While Levendal clearly loves her family she also loves spending time clicking her needles, having a good read, nurturing her garden, experiencing new places, listening to classical and instrumental music, and indulging in spicy foods.
