Leni Hamilton laid to rest
The Hikers Paradise owner was described as someone who lived a life of abundance and was celebrated at her memorial service.
Centurion hiking icon Leni Hamilton was celebrated in a memorial service on February 21 following her murder at her shop in the early evening of February 6.
Hamilton, who was remembered at the memorial service at Doxa Deo Raslouw, was born on May 24, 1956, and was 67 at the time of her death.
Long-time close friend Sarel Jansen van Rensburg told Rekord that Hamilton was an overwhelmingly positive person who lived life in abundance.
Jansen van Rensburg became friends with Hamilton following a hiking trip in Livingstone around the time that Hamilton opened Hikers Paradise in 1994.
“To explain it like she used to, she was told ‘Here’s an old man, he’s on pension over 60, and he can make it’. She said that she carries no old man’s bag.”
But she quickly realised that the old man was more than capable of keeping up with her, and Jansen van Rensburg and Hamilton found themselves leading the hike.
He said they got to know each other as they pulled ahead and waited for the other hikers to catch up.
After the multi-day hike, Jansen van Rensburg helped Hamilton with her shop and never looked back.
Her passion and drive that he experienced on that hike never abated, with Jansen van Rensburg saying Hamilton always took life’s challenges head-on.
She was described as having a passion for lifting others with a background in social work and then management, she often found herself helping hikers who came to her for advice.
“People would come to her, but they didn’t have the right shoes, backpacks, or clothes, and she would have to take them to the proper places to get the right things.
“So she thought, why didn’t she just open her own shop and do it herself.”
Hamilton was well known for her advice, with regular free information sessions, and hours spent finding the perfect gear for hikers’ specific needs.
Hamilton’s sister, Rita, told Rekord that Hikers Paradise was an extension of her sister.
“She was an absolutely extroverted person with a huge personality, a people’s person. Hikers Paradise was Leni, and Leni was Hikers Paradise.”
Rita said that her sister always lifted others up.
“She was a very ‘kwaai’ person, but that’s because she was very goal-driven… she did everything to the best ability and had high standards, things had to be perfect.”
Hamilton had an impact on people’s lives across the world, taking her energy wherever she went, and caring deeply about those she accepted into her life.
“She was also a dedicated child of God. She always started her mornings with reading and prayer and always thanked her Father in Heaven for what she had.
For us as a family, it was such a big shock. If she had been on a hike with Sarel in Montagu, and she slipped and fell, we would have known that she died doing what she was passionate about. But for this to happen, it just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to bennittb@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
