Beloved Lowvelder will be remembered for her kindness
Considered one of the original Lowvelders, Doreen Allsop (née Golden) arrived in Elandshoek all the way from the UK 97 years ago when she was just nine months old.
A Lowvelder for almost 99 years, the well-loved Doreen Allsop, known by many for her kindness, compassion and grace, died at home on Tuesday morning, March 8. Her mother, Phyllis Golden, joined her husband, Harry Norman Golden, first secretary, and her brother, Jack Gray, first managing director of the Lowveld Tobacco Co-operative Company.
Speaking to Lowvelder about their mother and her legacy, Margie Allsop and Gill Atkinson said Doreen’s genuine interest in people, unconditional love and kind nature reached not only across the Lowveld, but around the globe.
“Our mother had such faith,” said Margie. “When times were hard, especially when my mother and father were financially strained, she would have this unbelievable faith that things would be okay. It was incredible, and inevitably, things would work out.”
Doreen attended Miss Fuller’s, now known as Uplands College, as did Eric Allsop who later became her husband. They were among the first founding pupils. She continued her schooling in Pretoria until the age of 17 and started caring for her mother, who contracted polio in her 30s and was wheelchair-bound for the rest of her life.
“She was just always so kind and caring, not just with her family, but to everyone she met,” said Atkinson. Shortly after Doreen began caring for her mother, WWII broke out and she started working for a bank. She followed her passion for nursing, so she left the Lowveld to start her training as a nurse at Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. Her first job after she had finished training was at Barberton Hospital in the 1940s.
She felt honoured as a junior nurse to be asked to “scrub up” for operations, the doctors recognising her as a capable new nurse. When the war ended, she married Eric. Doreen was also qualified as a midwife and was often called out at all hours to deliver babies. After spending several years as a nurse in Barberton, she began working for Dr Tony Jones in White River.
“One evening when Gill and I were young, Dr Jones called my mother to let her know that his wife was going into labour, and he needed assistance with the delivery,” said Margie. Time ran out for Jones on his way to hospital when collecting Doreen en route. “They arrived at our house were she told us to scram, and baby Greg Jones was born on the kitchen table.”
After spending many years with Jones, she began working at SAVF Herfsakker until she retired at 73. “She loved nursing,” said Margie. “Our mother always thought of everyone else in her life right until the end. Towards the end of her life, she would spend most of her days praying, and she would be praying for other people, even those she did not know,” said Atkinson. “On the morning of her death, we received a phone call from someone asking if my mother would pray for a girl in Australia.
“She was a lover of life. She loved nature and she loved helping people. She was a healer and hugely appreciative of all the people in her life.”
A memorial service for Doreen will be held at 11:00 this Saturday, March 26, at the St George Anglican Church in White River.
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