Hannelore Eckhoff

Hannelore Eckhoff was born: Hannelore Hagenah in Hechthausen – Germany on 18th November 1929. She was the second child after her brother Hans Joachim Hagenah who was born in “Tilsit”, East Prussia on 11th October 1924 and died as a young soldier on 23rd October 1944. Her parents were Johann Otto Hagenah who was also born in Hechthausen on 11th January 1897. And her mother Minna Brandt 22nd December 1900 who was from East Prussia. Now known as Lithuania.

Hannelore grew up in Cuxhaven, a fishing village on the North Sea where the Elbe River joins the North Atlantic. As a young child, she was shy and frail but grew stronger over the years which were spent with her mother while her father and brother were sent to fight in the second world war. She would often recount the stories of when the air raids started and she would have to flee into the cellar to shelter with the neighbours and her mother who once fell down all the stairs in haste and tried to stand up in her shoes with broken heals As a youngster, she enjoyed visiting her relatives in Hechthausen but would get very homesick and try to run away.  As a young girl, she was also appointed to work on a farm in the household with a very kind family named “Fromm” who treated her like their own daughter.

Athletics and Handball became her big sporting passions. She held many Records for High Jump and 100 metres. She went onto an apprenticeship as a Photographer after school and learned the old ways of Photography and the “Dark Room” and developing Portrait Photos. She made some wonderful friends there and also through her sport with Handball Team whom she kept in touch with her entire life. They nicknamed her “Hannes” and would regularly write letters to her once she left Germany in 1952 to venture to South Africa to meet up again with Christian and the Eckhoff family who had immigrated there after World War II. Ballroom dancing was another favourite pastime and she would also enter competitions. All in all, a very active young woman who met Christian in 1949 in Cuxhaven. Their friendship blossomed on and off the dance floor and when he left for Africa with his family she had a year to decide whether she would follow him.

Love won and she made the decision to travel to the other side of the world to start a new life. The farewells were very hard for her as they were a close-knit family and homesickness was something she had to live with leaving her parents as the only daughter and child after her brother was killed so young. On 25th July 1953, she married Christian in a Magistrate’s office in Thabazimbi, an Iron Ore mining town near the Limpopo River. She lived in the African highveld with her husband and in-laws until the newly wed’s decided to move to Johannesburg where they both had jobs waiting for them. She ran a Photo Studio called Stella Nova in Germiston and was kept very busy as the best baby photographer. As a young German woman, she had to learn both English and Afrikaans to be able to competently manage her work. She loved telling studio stories and what she would do to keep the babies and young children attentive. One favourite Afrikaans expression she used was “war is die apie?” – where is the monkey?

On 20th February 1955, her first child Heike was born at the Queen Victoria Hospital in Johannesburg. Christian and Hannelore moved out of the big city to Hartswater in the Northern Cape. Christian worked for Labor Construction, a road-building company and they moved around the country a lot as the roads got built. Christian was the workshop manager. Hannelore was well known for her German cooking and would often have to host all the Engineers for dinners as there was nothing at all in the remote bush. On 21st October 1957 the family grew and her second daughter Claudia was born at Marianhill Hospital outside of Durban. She was kept busy running the household and caring for her young family whilst moving to other towns that included Kommadagga and Wolmaransstad. In 1959 Christian was offered the opportunity to manage a Fertiliser Factory that was to be built in Nseleni and the family moved to Empangeni in Zululand. There the Eckhoff family established themselves with Hannelore as the homemaker who became famous for her German Apple Tart and helping out with the children’s school life at St. Catherines Convent. She loved to sing and joined both the Woman’s choir where many songs were learned and rehearsed before performing for live audiences. Hatha Yoga became another interest for her and she would attend her weekly yoga classes for many years. On 13th March 1965, her third daughter Christiane Anja was born at Mother’s Hospital in Durban. She was kept busy as a mother of three daughters who all developed their own after school hobbies that she supported them in. Often driving around the country to attend championships for their competitive sports. Dogs, horses, goldfish, and guinea pigs we’re also part of the household routines.

On the weekends there were trips up to the “Hut” at Leven Point and many trips with the family packed into Land Rovers travelling the beaches North of St.Lucia travelling alongside the Indian Ocean with the Lebombo mountains in the background. She always played the Hostess with the mostest while Christian and his fellow divers went out spearfishing. The family adventures took them to many remote places including the various Zululand Game Parks and further afield to Mozambique. Wild hippos and crocodiles would be seen often in the rivers they had to cross with the Land Rovers as they drove through the jungle landscapes to the remote beaches to set up camp. Photography remained a passion of hers when she had time for it amidst the African fauna and flora and snake and scorpion encounters. She was a loyal, faithful companion who always joined in on the adventures which included flying in the family plane to Mozambique and hitting an air pocket over the Lebombo Ranges.

In 1975 Christian sold his business and they set off for England to buy the yacht “Donella” in Lymington. After the Cape to Rio race in early 1976, she flew over to Brazil to join the boat and sail down the Brasilian coast In 1977 the circumnavigation aboard the “Donella” began and although not a seafarer like her husband she joined in and gave the sea her best as the oceans were sailed from Cape Town to Namibia, St. Helena, Brasil, including the Amazon, onto Suriname and the Caribbean. In between, she would fly home to visit her aging mother and then continue the sailing up through Bermuda to Newport, Rhode Island, and all the way up to Camden Maine and Canada. The inland waterways were navigated after New York and the Chesapeake Bay and from Miami Florida, she returned to South Africa for an interim period so that Anja could attend Empangeni High School. In late 1979 she rejoined “Donella” with Anja after visiting Claudia en route in Brazil. Heike and Johny had to leave the ship in Tahiti and together with Christian and Anja, she sailed via many Pacific Islands to New Zealand where landfall was made in November 1980. They fell in love with New Zealand, the Bay of islands in particular, and decided to make it their new home and bought a house in Okiato, Russell. From their land base, many sailing trips were made discovering the waters of the South Pacific and her many islands including the favourite of New Caledonia where she would spend hours finding beautiful shells and making cards from her collection.

Hannelore’s favourite line was “I am doing my best” and with the aging years she would often say. She survived three heart attacks and as her Alzheimer’s set in she no longer ventured far across the seas but was happy to spend her days at home in Okiato with her family and friends from near and far. There was always coffee and cake to be had at the Eckhoff’s as well as many Christmases and new year parties. She even managed to celebrate her 90th Birthday at home with family and friends. Sadly her last 11 weeks were spent in the Haruru Rest Home as her care needs to be escalated and it was hard for all the family not to be able to visit her during the lockdown under COVID-19. On the morning of the 7th April 2020 at 3 am she went quietly in her sleep, set free from her failing heart, and ready for a new adventure dancing with her afterlife.

She survived by her husband Christian Eckhoff, her three daughters Heike, Claudia and Anja, two son-in-laws Johny Bjorngard and Arthur van Eldik as well as two grandsons Christian Eckhoff Blakeman and Yoakim Eckhoff Bjorngard with his fiancée Emma Molander as well as one great-grandchild Christian Blakeman Junior.

Ruhe Sanft – Rest in Peace – Ulale Kahle – Rust in Vrede