The words that were received from friends appear to describe him in almost all emails are his kindness, his quiet wit, his delayed smile, his very blue eyes, his dry sense of humour, his gentleness, his respect of nature, animals and the whole living world. In all a truly Great Man and an admirable friend.
Chris and Deirdre Rankin met Piet in 1977 in Ibadan, Nigeria. It could have been three years earlier as they were all in Lusaka, Zambia from 1974 to 1977 but did not meet there as they belonged to different clubs!! In Ibadan their paths crossed playing badminton, running in hash house harriers style weekly runs which always ended up drinking more liquid than had been released during the run. The humidity in Nigeria tended to be in the 90’s. Chris had arrived in Ibadan before Deirdre and met a number of like-minded people including Piet. When Deirdre appeared for the first time one evening, Piet said to Chris “who is that girl you were talking to?” I answered “She is my wife, replied Chris”. Piet, in the mode we all got to know, said “that’s not possible; how can you be married to someone so beautiful”. A moment none of them ever forgot and the start of a very special friendship for the three of them. They have abiding memories of fun beach parties near Lagos where Piet was seen to be doing yoga style shoulder stands and lotus positions on the beach. A particularly memorable beach event was over one New Year with loads of adults and children all sleeping overnight on the beach. Despite being a bachelor Piet was always very tolerant of wives and children.
In 1982 Chris, Deirdre and Piet moved to Kaduna in northern Nigeria. In 1983 just before Chris and Deirdre left Kaduna, Piet moved on to Kano, right in the north of Nigeria, where they had a three week holiday on a trimaran in the Greek islands. A time none of their families have forgotten involving a lot of canasta playing between Piet and the Rankin’s three children. Piet continually accusing them of cheating at the game only to admit in very recent years that he was cheating just as badly. Piet has always been a great friend of the Rankin children who treat him as one of the family.
In 1983, moving back to Zambia, they lost touch with Piet, except for Christmas cards, while he moved south to Lagos for the rest of his working life in Nigeria.
In 1990 when thinking thinking of relocating to live in France Chris and Deirdre searched Piet out in his holiday house in the Dordogne and took up where they had left off in 1983.
In 1993 Piet thought retirement was looming and he found the Dordogne too hilly for a bicycling Dutchman so asked Chris to help him find a plot of land to build on or an old property to renovate in the flat lands of the Médoc.
In 1996 Piet moved into his self-designed and self-specified house in Vendays Montalivet. Being a structural engineer he knew exactly what he wanted. Not always easy to convince the French building trade that a single man needed such a large and spacious house!
The rest is the history, that many members of the Bordeaux British Community know very well sharing with Piet his life in the Médoc and the Bordeaux surrounds.
Piet was a dedicated member of the BBC being newsletter editor for a number of years and organiser of many walks and parties.
Goodbye dear and loyal friend of almost 40 years. We still can’t believe you are not “just up the road”. We shall miss you but know you are in another good place looking down on our continued antics with a wry smile, a shrug and succinct comment.
Chris & Deirdre Rankin