Former Ngwathe DA councillor, Shirley Vermaak, passed away last week Wednesday. She was 82 years old. The funeral service is on Wednesday at the Parys Methodist Church.

Shirley was born in Port Elizabeth and matriculated from Collegiate High School in 1958. She went on to study at Port Elizabeth Technical College, and started as a reporter at the Herald Newspaper in 1961 before moving to the Evening Post in 1967.

In 1976 she was appointed municipal reporter at the Diamond Fields Advertiser in Kimberley. She later moved to the Friend (1979) where she was one of the first female news editors in the country.

Other media outlets where she worked were the SABC (1982 to 1996) and OFM (1996 to 1999) before moving into politics where she was the PA to the DA leader of the Free State Provincial Legislature (1999 to 2004).

She moved to Parys in 2004 where she later was elected as councillor for Ward 18 (2005). Up to 2021 she served as ward councillor and also did two terms as PR councillor. She retired at the age of 80.

Shirley was an avid reader, loved scrapbooking and enjoyed gardening and knitting. She was a generous, kind, caring, strong independent woman who cared deeply for the community and her family.

She married Stephen Vermaak in 1963. He passed away in 2019.

She is survived by three children Gary, Michele and Glynis, and eight grandchildren (Maegan, Merilyn, James, Matthew, Nicola, Gabriela, Christian and Saxon), as well as her great grandchild Killian.

Shirley will be remembered by her former colleagues, councillors, the Gazette personnel, and residents as a remarkable woman, whose compassion for others and positive outlook on life always struck you.