Gerhardus Cornelius Oosthuizen
Lovingly known as “Gerrie”
9 April 1948 — 25 August 2020 · aged 72
Eskom power-station engineer, Blue Bulls fan and the man who kept Kendal's lights on
Pretoria, South Africa Born in Bloemfontein, Free State Resting at Moreleta Park Cemetery, PretoriaAbout Gerhardus
The only thing Gerrie Oosthuizen ever said he could not forecast was the Blue Bulls. Everything else in his world, from the load on a turbine to the exact moment a braai fire was ready, he could predict to within a minute.
Born in Bloemfontein in 1948, the son of a railwayman, Gerhardus was a quiet boy who took apart radios and put them back together with parts left over. He attended Grey College, studied electrical engineering at the University of Pretoria, and joined Eskom in 1972. For thirty-six years he worked in the power stations of Mpumalanga and the Free State, among them Lethabo and Kendal, and ended his career as a senior manager at Megawatt Park.
His colleagues remembered a calm man in a hard hat, who could diagnose a failing boiler by the sound it made, and who refused to let a trainee near a control panel before he had spent a week learning to listen to the machines. He quietly mentored dozens of young engineers, among them some of the first Black graduates to join his station, and he never missed an opportunity to give credit to the people on the floor. In later years he sighed at the news of load-shedding, but never blamed his colleagues, only the decades of deferred maintenance.
He married Elsabé Joubert in 1974. He loved biltong made to his own recipe, Friday nights at Loftus Versfeld, fishing at Hartbeespoort Dam, and singing bass in the church choir. He served as an elder of the NG Kerk in Menlo Park for twenty-five years.
Gerrie died in August 2020, after a short illness, with only fifty mourners allowed at the service. He leaves his wife, three children and eight grandchildren. Rus sag, Pa.
“Listen to the machine. It always tells you the truth before the gauges do.”
- Faith
- Christian
- Place of birth
- Bloemfontein, Free State
- Resting place
- Moreleta Park Cemetery, Pretoria
- Passed away
- 25 August 2020, Pretoria
Memorial Service
Monday, 31 August 2020 at 11:00 UTC
Add to calendarLife journey
BEng Electrical Engineering
University of Pretoria1967 – 1971 · Pretoria
Graduated with distinction in power systems.
Engineer to Senior Manager, Generation
Eskom1972 – 2008 · Mpumalanga and Megawatt Park
Worked at Lethabo and Kendal power stations.
Married Elsabé Joubert
1974 · Pretoria
A marriage of forty-six years.
Elder (Ouderling)
NG Kerk Menlo Park1995 – 2020 · Pretoria
Served on the church council for twenty-five years.
Engineering Excellence Award
Eskom1999 · Johannesburg
For reliability improvements at Kendal power station.
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Family & connections
Gerhardus is survived by
- Elsabé Oosthuizen· Spouse
- Marlien Oosthuizen-Kruger· Daughter
- Annelie Oosthuizen· Daughter
- Dirk Oosthuizen· Son
- 8 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
5 people have shared a memory of Gerhardus.
Knew Gerhardus? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- MO
Daughter, Utrecht
Pa phoned every Sunday from his study with the same question: 'Is the lights on?' He meant my flat, and he meant my life. I could not come home for the service because of travel bans, but I sang the hymn with the family on the screen.
- EO
Wife
Gerrie courted me with a handmade radio that played only one station, which was the one I liked. Forty-six years later he was still making small things to make me smile. Thank you to every person who has written or phoned. We feel the love.
- JK
Colleague at Megawatt Park
He once solved a four-day outage by remembering a pump that had been installed in 1984. He just walked to the plant room, pointed and said, 'That one.' He was always right, which was occasionally annoying.
- PV
Friend of forty years, Blue Bulls supporter
We watched every Bulls home game together from the same seats. Gerrie brought biltong and a flask of coffee, and refused to sit down when we were winning. Loftus will be quieter now. Rus sag, my vriend.
- SD
Engineer he mentored at Kendal
In 1995 I was the only Black graduate on the shift. Mr. Oosthuizen sat me next to him in the control room and never once made me feel like a guest. He said, 'You are here to learn the machine. I am here to learn from you.' I still don't know who learned more.
