John Casey RIP

Recently a group of the Casey family, 10 children of the late John Casey,

or Johnny as he was affectionately known made the trip to Cape Town

South Africa on the 20st September 2010 for their Fathers first

anniversaryJohnny died suddenly on the 14th September 2009 & has

since left a massive void in the lives of his large family & many

friends, one of Johnny’s wishes was that when he eventually passed away some of his ash’s were to be

spread on top of Cape Towns iconic Table mountain.

John in South Africa on his last trip in 2008

Johnny first fell in love with South Africa & its people

after first visiting the country for the rugby world cup

in 1995 & had revisited the country on several

occasions before his untimely death, the greatest

impression made on Johnny in South Africa was

a crèche called Masikule Home Creche which he

first came across on one of the cities township tours.

This first introduction to the crèche & its staff made

a deep impact on him, he had great affection for

the children of the crèche, which was not surprising

to those that knew him, as a Father of 17 children

& Grandfather to 32 grandchildren he knew a thing

or two about kids. At Christmas rather than buy

presents for all his grandkids he sent a generous

donation to the crèche, his children were immensely proud him & his giving nature touched all of them.

Paul presents Henriette with a cheque

John’s Children with Henriette outside the creche

Another important part of his children’s visit to Cape Town in September was to also visit the

Masikule crèche to present them with a donation of 800 euro or just 7,500 south African rand,

this was made possible because Johnny’s children kindly asked people attending his funeral

to make a small donation towards the crèche rather than buying flowers, to which his family

are hugely appreciative of the generosity of his dear friends.

While the Casey Family visit to the crèche was tinged with

great degree of sadness it was also a joyous occasion for

them to finally meet the children & staff who had made such

an impression on their father, the monies donated will help

run the crèche for 5 months, which caters for approximately

100 children per week & is a life line for both the children &

their parents who have to work for up to 12 hours per day,

the parents contribute what they can afford towards the

running of the place.

John’s Children on Table Mountain

The highly dedicated team led by the warm and generous Henrietta provide a hugely important

service to their local community & the crèche offers amongst other curriculum activities, health

awareness & HIV education, tailor-made for the children, which is a vital part of the crèche’s

services, as up to 75% of the children are HIV positive.

The entire trip was a beautiful tribute to a very much loved & missed Father, Grandfather &

wonderful friend, it would appear that the magic & warmth of Masikhule Crèche that so moved

their Father has also had a massive impact on his Children, several of whom have vowed to

return & all have said that they will work to raise much needed money in memory of their father

for this amazing little place in the beautiful Rainbow Nation.

The Casey family hope to organise a fundraising event to support Masikule Home Creche

and would be grateful for your support

At the “Goats do Roam” Vineyard which was John’s favourite and where is Urn is now buried