I was at a church Council meeting one night and referred to one of the wardens who was away, whose name was Victor, but I spontaneously referred to him as Victor Honey. The other churchwarden was highly amused and still reminds me of that moment.
But Victor Honey was a real person, someone from my youth, someone who had mentored so many of the young people I was growing up with; young people who held him in such high regard. He belonged to my brother’s generation, my brother who was 10 years older than I.
But Victor Honey was a real person, someone from my youth, someone who had mentored so many of the young people I was growing up with; young people who held him in such high regard. He belonged to my brother’s generation, my brother who was 10 years older than I.
So whenever I came across Victor in the streets of Woodstock in my teenage years he asked about my brother and spoke with enthusiasm of my brother and his friends who were in the same class as he at the local high school.
Victor was deeply influenced by the Methodist Church of Woodstock where he was a Sunday School teacher and later a local preacher. Many of my friends attended the Methodist Church and were influenced by this young teacher. My earliest memories of him are referred to in a poem I wrote about the sights and sounds of Woodstock in my youth. Here follows the stanza that speaks of Victor.
Victor Honey leads the Sunday School into the Mountains
This is the day we waited for all year.
Victor Honey is leading
the Sunday School into the mountains.
We have brought our peanut butter
and fish paste sandwiches to swop.
We are heavy with cool drinks and sweets.
Our broken shoes will lick up the paths.
Victor walks ahead and greets us,
He smiles us into our groups.
And she is there too.
Her dark hair and blue eyes
make my heart flutter
like the arum lilies along our path,
which I will pick and bring back
to my mother.
I run and walk with her across mountain screes.
My heart monkey-ropes through Newlands Forest.
Victor is leading us and
I am singing joyfully,
like a mad Methodist
because she is there.
Then a sweet meteors through
my teeth and my nerves;
stab at me like electric drills.
And I am pain-wracked and tear-filled.
She puts her arm around me,
and I am painfully happy –
all the way to Kirstenbosch.
And home again.
On the day Victor Honey led
the Sunday School up the mountains.
First Published in New Contrast 2015 Volume 43, Number 1
The above images of Victor and Hester and their family
My second encounter was when I was about 16 and went with my friends up Lion’s Head, in a party of teenagers led by Victor Honey. To my young mind I found him wonderfully open and available to chat, deeply concerned about the state of the country, strongly against the apartheid government of the time, embracing of all shades of difference and a champion of true democracy and freedom for all the people of South Africa.
I heard later that he had moved to Worcester and that he had become the Head of the Art School there. I had no idea how he had acquired Art as a subject and had never seen any art work of his. I was later also conscious that he had become a lecturer in the Art Department at Stellenbosch University.
Many years later when my daughter wanted to do Fine Art at Stellenbosch University, we sought his advice on a day in Stellenbosch over coffee and listened to his warm and realistic account of life as a young art student in a mainly Afrikaans University.
Whenever I met with Victor, I was always aware of his warmth, his love of Woodstock – once he actually stopped his class with students to greet me warmly. No one from Woodstock was to go unnoticed or unwelcome in his presence. He radiated such a warm humanity.
Recently I attended his wake in Stellenbosch and heard others speaking about him so warmly. You can listen to the main tributes which I recorded on the day. They are mostly in Afrikaans. You will hear what an amazing, subtle influence this wonderful human being had on the lives of people, on the Arts Department and on the political life of Stellenbosch during times of political and social transitions in this University town.
Charles Victor Richard Honey
Charles Victor Richard Honey, known as Victor, died in Stellenbosch at 84 years on 1 September 2023. He was born on 25 June 1939 and grew up in Woodstock. He was active in the Methodist Church as a Sunday School teacher, youth worker and lay preacher.
He married Hester Margaretha van Niekerk on 31 December 1960, and they had three children, Marisa, Nathan and Tim.
Victor was a noteworthy art educator and taught at the Claremont Public School in Cape Town, the PJ Olivier Art Centre in Stellenbosch and the Hugo Naudé Art Centre in Worcester, where he was appointed principal in 1969. In this time he was also active in the Christian Institute, which sent him and Hester on a three-month trip to Europe in 1973, and they hosted a number of ‘illegal’ meetings at their house.
He joined the Visual Arts department at Stellenbosch University in 1974, where he retired in 2000, having played a pronounced leading role during his tenure.
Victor was actively involved in the anti-Apartheid struggle and served in a number of community-based organisations and NGOs. He was facilitator and chairman of the Stellenbosch Negotiating Forum between 1990 and 1994 and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Bell House from 1980 to 2016.
In 2001, Victor was awarded an MA (Honoris Causa) from Stellenbosch University for his contribution to South African Art and Design education, as well as having been a recipient of the Rotary Community award in 1995 and the Stellenbosch Mayoral Honours award in 2004 for his contribution to democracy.
Victor will be sadly missed by his family, friends and colleagues, as well as the many students whose lives he enriched.
Marisa Honey
Images: The beautiful interior of the Gus Gallery in Stellenbosch where the Wake was held, followed by images of a Woodstock gathering of those who knew Victor and two images of Hester, Victor’s beloved wife.
bobcommin.com 
Dear Bob
Many thanks for sharing this
A lovely tribute to Vistor Honey
Warmest greetings
Tony
Tony
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