Dricky Beukes

Dricky Beukes (1918–1999) was an author of Afrikaans novels, short stories and radio dramas.

Biography

Hendrika Johanna van Staden was born on Seekoebaard farm in Prieska, Northern Cape, 29 December 1918. She was the youngest of 13 children.[1] When she was three years old, her father moved their family to Karos, a small town near the Gariep River in Upington in the Northern Cape, where she grew up and received her early school education. She matriculated from the Higher Business School in Paarl and took up a job at the Karos Post Office after writing her Public Service Examination.[2]

She married Abraham Opperman Beukes of Prince Albert on July 4, 1942. He was the first principal of Laerskool Vredelust in Bellville, who himself also wrote three children's books. The couple moved to Bellville and they had a son, Van Staden, and two daughters Brenda and Wilmari. In Bellville, Beukes was the editor for a small newspaper called Die Noordwester and a regular contributor to the Oudtshoorn Courant. After retirement, the couple settled in Tygerberg in Bellville.[3] Beukes’ husband died in Durbanville in March 1993.