The 2025 Chronicle

by and held a pilot’s licence. And from the 1950s, as previously mentioned, he played a significant role in Scouting. Throughout his career, Dudley inculcated strong values of leadership, discipline and commitment to young people, and was influenced by that very special and important component of his life, the Boy Scouts Association of South Africa, in which he became very active. Dudley held several appointments, including national commissioner for training, and chief scout commissioner. He initiated the Patrol Leader Training Unit (PLTU), a course designed to assist boys in the de velopment of their leadership. For his service to the Scouting move ment (which he officially joined in 1958), Dudley was awarded the Medal of Mer it, the Long Service Medal, the Order of the Silver Protea and, the highest award, the Silver Springbok. In April 2011 he was named Counsellor of the Order of the Baobab (COB) by President Jacob Zuma for his “outstanding leadership in the field of education and contribution to community service through the chan nels of the education system and the Boy Scout Movement of South Africa”. Dudley’s intellectual interests, partic ularly in the fields of leadership and education, led to postgraduate study culminating in a PhD titled Minds and Hearts: the role of the teacher as lead er in the classroom . Indeed, it was what happened in the classroom that really mattered to him. Dionne Redfern, now head of Epworth High School, has commented that she owes Dudley an enormous debt of grat itude as he believed in her when she was a very young student teacher, and stretched her more than he would ever have known. She is grateful to him for setting her on a path which would ulti mately lead to her return to Pietermaritz burg. She has his book on leadership on her desk at Epworth and often refers to it. Dudley ended his career as a school lead er at Michaelhouse, where he was Rec tor from 1997 to 2001. Here it was rec ognised that his humility and courteous manner often belied the steely resolve in all he did. His goal was not to do ex traordinary things, but to do the ordinary things extraordinarily well. A Michael house Chairman of the Board observed that leaders should keep their ear close to the ground. But, he went on, Churchill had said that people would find it hard to look up to leaders who were found in that

His father had died in the Second World War and Dudley was raised by his widowed mother, Margaret. Conscious of his moth er’s great sacrifices, he decided against coming back to the VI Form after matricu lating, and instead enrolled for articles at an auditing firm in Durban. Walking back one day from the office in the Durban CBD to his mother’s flat on the Berea Road, a fellow clerk invited him to help run a boys’ Scout camp at the weekend. His initial re action was to decline, but he changed his mind and thus began a lifelong dedication to the Boy Scout movement. That Scout camp was Dudley’s Damascene moment, when he realised he was not suited as much to the world of accountancy as to the vocation of teaching. He therefore went to Edgewood Teach ers’ Training College and thereafter se cured his first job at Maritzburg College, where he was much loved as a math ematics teacher. He was a star in the making. His clarity of explanation and human empathy led to rapid promotions within the Department of Education and saw him lead several schools, includ ing Kingsway High School, before he returned to Maritzburg College as head master between 1986 and 1991. The current headmaster of Maritzburg College, Alan Redfern, notes that Dud ley led with compassion and dignity. He was a man whose thoughtful leadership and dedication shaped generations at College and beyond. Dave Wimble, chair man of the governing body of Maritzburg College during the Forde era, reflected on Dudley’s championing the movement to non-racial Model C schools. His impact was such that he was pro moted to be an inspector and then su perintendent within the Education De partment, but his preference always lay in leading schools and he returned to be headmaster of Durban High School from 1994 to 1996. Here he had a profound impact on staff and boys alike. Mr CB Mann, the chairman of the school’s gov erning body, reflected that his particular concern was for the well-being of all the pupils, including those who did not shine academically or on the sports field. David Magner, the 13th headmaster and depu ty during Dudley’s time, recalled all the innovations that Dudley introduced in his short spell at DHS, saying with a fond sense of humour: “He drove us mad for his first 18 months.” Dudley had interests outside leadership in schools – he refereed first-division rug

ing through. He was still able to laugh through all his pain, and when I saw him two days before the end, amazingly, he had not lost his sense of humour. My sympathy to all his family. You will be hugely missed, Pedro. Go well, old friend. Written by Peter Houghton (Farfield, 1969) I only came to get to know Peter at all well fairly recently, although we were direct contemporaries, even in VI Form. The loss of those years is a deep regret to me because he truly was one of a kind – larger than life, someone with whom friendships ran deep and close, and whose departure has left a hole in the lives of all who knew him that may never be filled. He will truly be missed. Written by Callum Smythe (Farfield, 1970) FORDE, REGINALD DUDLEY Born 1940, Died 2025 Michaelhouse 1953-1956 Rector of Michaelhouse 1997-2001 Dr Dudley Forde will be remembered as one of the greatest educators that Kwa Zulu-Natal and South Africa has known and also as a man whose legacy does not only lie in the institutions he led, but in the lives he touched. The echo of his wisdom, kindness and unwavering dedi cation will forever resonate in those whom he taught, mentored and inspired. He was charismatic. He was steely. He was intelli gent. He was charming. He had gravitas. If his view differed from yours on a partic ular subject, Dudley also had the happy knack of agreeing with everything you said and then persuading you that you might be mistaken. He had an infectious laugh emanating from a finely tuned sense of humour. He was a beacon for many, and he was, simultaneously, humble. Dr Reginald Dudley Forde was an out standing leader in the field of education and was the second Old Boy after Rex Pennington (West, 1941) to be appointed Rector of Michaelhouse, a position he held from 1997 until 2001, when he retired. Reginald Dudley Forde was born in April 1940 in Johannesburg. He attended Clif ton Prep School in Nottingham Road and went on to Michaelhouse, where he was in Pascoe. He was a youthful matriculant, being a year ahead of his classmates, as many were in those days.

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