Meet New Trustee

As part of Kingswood AGM proceedings on 26 June, a new trustee was elected to serve alongside current office bearers Anthony Jacobsen, Jonathan Witts-Hewinson and Gerrit ‘Fielies’ Nieuwoudt.

Edmund Franklin chatted to The BUZZard over coffee on a freezing Thursday morning. Excuse any assumptions, ‘Ed’ It’s quite a peculiar moniker, but the HOA’s newest trustee says there’s no connection with American president Franklin DR or founding father Benjamin Franklin. Nope, his clan hails from that other island, whence Edmund’s ancestors left the English town of Woking five generations ago, setting sail for southern shores.

The families Searle and Franklin relocated to South Africa around 1846, thanks to some diversion while en route to India.

Edmund’s great-grandfather settled in Bloemfontein and married Winifred Searle, which is how the Franklin family’s ties with Great Brak River were forged. ‘My dad was born and raised in Great Brak but then worked as a diplomat, so my brothers and I grew up abroad in cities like London and Washington, before our family’s return to South Africa,’ says Edmund, who matriculated as a boarder at Pretoria Boys High.

First books, then to battle Edmund enrolled at the University of Cape Town straight after matriculating and says that, when signing up at UCT, it was his first time ever to set foot in the Cape. His love of the Mother City deepened during five years of studies and, two degrees later (viz. Applied Maths and Physics, then Electronic Engineering), the bond with the city was such that Edmund would spend much of the next three decades living in the shadow of Table Mountain.

He was then awarded a Rotary Scholarship to pursue his Masters in Electronic and Digital Engineering at the University of Manchester. After completing his Masters, Edmund did his compulsory national service at Langebaanweg in 1987 and ’88. Not long after, another seminal engagement was to enter his life’s narrative.

Marilyn

An adventure down the mighty Orange River (‘nope, this was not a guided tour’) with a flying buddy had a lasting impact on his life; at some stage during the proceedings, the excursion entailed popping in at the friend’s sister’s house to collect extra clothes.

Here’s when Edmund first laid eyes on his future wife, Marilyn – the sister in question. Marilyn and Edmund tied the knot in 1992. Catherine and James were born in 1993 and 1995 respectively – and that ‘just do it’ gene did not skip a generation. Catherine, now 29, works in South Korea; after three years of teaching in Seoul, she is now the academic director of  five schools located on the island of Jeju and in Seoul. In the line of duty she’d met and fallen in love with a fellow educator. But this year her Korean beau prioritised his passion for food and is now successfully running an eatery on the island. The couple are getting married later this year, and Edmund will proudly be walking his daughter down the aisle.

James, who works on the advisory side at Price Waterhouse Coopers in London, made the English capital his home last year. Never stop learning. If you compare dates, it’s revealing to learn that Edmund attained his next academic accomplishment, an MBA from UCT, during 1994–95 – viz. with two new babies in the house. He had loved his engineering work – especially a seven-year stint at the National Accelerator Centre, now iThemba LABS, near Somerset West. He worked in the field of cancer therapy and physics research, rated as world-leading at the time (1988–1995).

But Edmund says there was a glass ceiling to the engineering world of yore. ‘I couldn’t foresee a future path into management, and wasn’t ready to carry on doing the same job for the rest of my days,’ he says. With an MBA in the bag, Edmund joined Accenture, where he honed his consulting skills while enjoying opportunities to travel the world. But so many years of spending working weeks in Joburg while his family lived in Cape Town started losing its appeal.

‘I made the decision to retire in my early 50s, weighing up the stress of work commutes against the quality of life. I was fortunate to be approached by PPS some five years ago when they invited me to join their board of directors. It keeps me out of mischief!’ Edmund waxes lyrical about the wonderful people he gets to interact with during this time in his life – from doctors and pharmacists to lawyers, accountants, investment specialists, and engineers. What’s most gratifying is that the PPS board is taken seriously, and tasked with big decisions brought by the management of the companies involved.

‘The trend among many boards is to come for lunch but try staying awake during the meeting,’ he chuckles. At PPS, he is also part of the technology committee and is extremely excited about existing and new ventures currently planned for South Africa and abroad, including Australia and New Zealand.

To travel is to live And on the subject of Down Under: Before the onset of Covid, the Franklins soberly considered the state of South Africa and the African continent and travelled extensively – the UK, Europe, Australasia – to try and gauge where best to retire.

Having visited New Zealand frequently over the years, this was one of the top countries to research in terms of permanent living conditions. ‘My brother is still in Joburg but will soon emigrate to the States. That will make me the last member of my family to remain in SA, the rest long having relocated to the usual suspects: the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand,’ he explains Then the pandemic kicked in and by April 2020 all travel plans had been nipped in the bud. ‘We had already taken our leave of Cape Town and suddenly had nowhere to go, so ended up moving to our family cottage on The Island at Great Brak.

‘Living there was reminiscent of our past in the Cape, brimming with beauty and a great sense of security,’ he says, adding that this perfect storm of circumstances ultimately resulted in their move to Kingswood last year. But the fact that they love it here doesn’t mean their feet stopped itching.

When The BUZZard caught up with Edmund last week, he and Marilyn had just returned from a trip to Botswana, where they quelled their appetite for wildlife and communing with friendly locals. ‘It’s so extraordinarily unique and beautiful, from Makgadikgadi Pan to the splendour of game on the Chobe’s banks.’

A Passage to India

The name reference at the start of this story would not make sense if we didn’t pause to share a nutshell account of Edmund’s year in India, which came about shortly after he had ostensibly retired just over a decade ago. ‘I have always enjoyed teaching, and I love maths, so when a friend who was principal of an international school in India said they needed a maths teacher, I made myself available for the task. It entailed teaching students aged between 16 and 19 at a campus set on 180ha of nature reserve in the hills about 150km from Mumbai.’

Apart from building a memorable rapport with his young charges, Edmund also used the opportunity to explore that part of the planet on his off weekends. ‘At the end of the year, I rented a Royal Enfield bike and, along with one of my students, traveled through Kashmir. ‘The trip took us up one of the world’s highest passes (Khardung La) at 18,000 feet, the capital Leh, and past lakes that shone like blue glass, like Pangong Tso – even at 14,000 feet it still had a backdrop of towering mountains.’ Like namesake Edmund Hillary, he was mesmerised by the world’s highest mountain range.

Kingswood: the life

It being their first go at estate living, Edmund says both he and Marilyn are loving the joys of life at Kingswood, which is even nicer than they had hoped. The freedom and security and beauty of their new abode mean that they quickly felt at home – as did their beloved Rottweiler, Kitana. ‘I do play golf but not nearly as often as Marilyn, who is now vice-captain of the ladies’ section!’ He says they love their new hometown of George and enjoy a good braai and a glass of wine on their patio with friends. When it comes to his role as trustee, Edmund says a lifetime of working in the consulting sphere will hopefully stand him in good stead. He shares interests with fellow trustees and a good working relationship already exists within the context of this well-run estate.

Finally, there’s another thing you should know about Edmund Franklin. He flies – in several senses of the word. His electric blue RV-7 light aircraft lives at Mossel Bay Airfield and, when he’s not out of town, he gets around to flying it a few times per week. ‘I got my pilot’s licence in 1990 – it was a dream to try the air, after having explored our planet’s surface and below the seas while windsurfing, hiking, and scuba diving.’

Long story short, Kingswood’s newest trustee is in a very good place: balancing work and play with good sense and great cheer