EVERYONE who was privileged to know him will have fond and funny memories of Billy Moss, one of the South Coast’s best known and best loved characters, who died recently after a short illness.
Born in Fort Beaufort in 1936, Billy attended school in Franschoek and then moved to Umtata where he started his apprenticeship as an electrician. After having to clamber around inside the bakery roof , ploughing his way through layers of flour, he decided that electrical work was not for him. Instead, he embarked on a newspaper career, completing his apprenticeship as a compositer, under his wife, Tansy’s father, Mac Hutcheson. When he and Tansy first met, she was at a dance in the Eastern Cape with her then boyfriend. However, Billy’s friend dared him to ask her for a dance and that was the start of a lifetime romance for them.
In 1964, a few years after they were married, Billy and Tansy moved to the South Coast and took over the South Coast Herald. For the next 20 years they ran it, published fearlessly even when they made enemies in the process, conducted many campaigns for the betterment of the community and saw the newspaper prosper under their watch. Billy was a particularly gifted photographer, but not many people realised that Tansy had studied to become a professional photographer and had taught him his photographic skills.
As well as helping to run a prosperous business, Billy made time to contribute to his community in so many ways. A talented actor, singer and comedian, he made his first South Coast stage appearance as a sphinx in a local cabaret production. It was a small beginning but he quickly moved to centre stage, taking part – and hogging much of the limelight – in almost every dance show, cabaret, variety show, dramatic production and musical that was produced on the South Coast. As well as making a name for himself as a local star, his stage antics helped to raise a huge amount for local charities.
For almost his whole adult life, Billy contributed to his community through his distinguished membership of various service clubs. He was a founder member of the Port Shepstone Bullslingers, a member of Port Shepstone Round Table and a member and the first South African World President of the 41ers. Together with Clive Thompson, he was the longest serving Port Shepstone Rotarian when he died. Last year, he was named a Paul Harris Fellow, an honour bestowed upon him by Rotary International in recognition of his outstanding commitment to his club and community.
Billy loved and was loved by people of all ages and he and Tansy were renowned for their hospitality. Their home was always ‘open house’ to their friends, their children’s friends, the friends of their children’s friends and, in recent years, friends of their grandchildren.
To a whole generation of South Coast resident and visiting children, Billy was ‘Old MacDonald’. It started when he was on the verge of retiring and was looking for something to keep him occupied. Always an animal lover, he decided to start a petting farm when someone gave him a pig. And so ‘Old MacDonald’s Farm’ came into being and Billy became an enthusiastic farmer. He loved his new role and could usually be found doing the rounds, checking up on his animals, followed by his pack of beloved dogs, or helping out with the pony rides. Or driving a tractor pulling a trailer-load of happy children, all following his lead and bellowing out the song, ‘Old MacDonald had a Farm’ on the top of their voices.
Billy leaves a legacy of kindness and laughter and is mourned by his wife, Tansy, daughters Meg, Kirsty and Terry-Sue, their spouses, his 13 much-loved grandchildren and his many good friends.
