Br Gerald Daly

Aidan Neville Daly was born in Port Elizabeth on 25th April 1914, the son of a Barman, Aidan Daly and Ethel Walker. He attended the local Marist Brothers school. He entered our South African Juniorate in Pietermaritzburg in 1930, and the Santa Maria Novitiate in Italy the following year, making his first vows on August 15th 1932. He arrived in Port Elizabeth two months later in a group of 7 young Brothers, two of whom, himself and Br Ferdinand Borland being P.E. Old Boys. They all went immediately into the Uitenhage Scholasticate.

His first teaching appointment was to Koch St in 1933. From this point on for most of his career besides teaching he was mainly a Boarders Prefect and Sports Coach. In most of the Magazines covering his career one can find him in innumerable sports team photographs. He himself was an accomplished sportsman especially later on on the bowling greens of various clubs in the towns in which he was
stationed. He was no stranger to bowling trophies.

From 1935 he was stationed at Observatory, during which period he made his Final Profession in 1938. He was in Rondebosch in 1940, St Charles in 1943, back to Rondebosch in 1946, and back to Observatory in 1948. It was during this period that he became involved with Transvaal Schools cricket, being both a Selector and Manager of the provincial Nuffieldteam.

From 1953 on he was posted to Inanda, St Charles and Observatory, still mainly as a Prefect and occasionally as bursar. But it was in 1961 that he entered a new field spending six years at a day school, St Owen’s in Retreat, while living in community at Rondebosch, in which community he was appointed director in 1969.

His last ten years of active involvement were spent at Observatory, at St Charles and Walmer. It was during his stay at Walmer that two very important events are to be recorded.

The first took place in 1981 and it was the occasion of his Golden Jubilee as a Marist Brother.

The other major event was the major surgery that Brother Gerald had to undergo the following year. Most of his stomach was removed in an operation at the Kenridge Hospital in Johannesburg. What astounded the Brothers was the manner in which Brother soldiered on afterwards.

However, it did mean the end of his active teaching career, so he went into retirement at St Henry’s, Durban in 1983. He had the great happiness of celebrating his Diamond Jubilee here in 1991 but gradually he got weaker and was quite content to spend the last few years of his life in the local Nazareth House. It was there that he died very peacefully on 1st February 1999.