Ken's Autobiographical Sketch in 1969

C. KENNETH POWRIE

Krugersdorp Branch:

Born 5 November 1921 in Lydenburg, Transvaal.
Married to Philippa Dymond on 4 September, 1943 in Green Point, Cape Town
Children: Judy, Timothy, Jane, Leslie and Ronald
Father: Kenneth Oldham Powrie
Mother: Winifred Enid Dryden

I was interested to note that I was born at the very time when President David O. McKay and Elder Hugh J. Cannon were at Haifa, Palestine during the course of a world tour of Latter Day Saint outposts of the restored Kingdom. The scene of my birth was somewhat different, however, being Jock of the Bushveld country, namely Lydenburg.

My father was a pioneering mining engineer of Scottish/Irish stock who had grown up in the Cape area and qualified at the University of Cape Town or, as it was known in those days, the South African College School. My mother was a daughter of a seafaring family of English origin. She was born in Mossel Bay. Later she moved to the Reef area where she was a nurse in the Krugersdorp Hospital. My father was a second generation South African and my mother of the first generation to be born in this land of adoption - 1820 settler pioneering stock teaming up with seafarers who had made their home in the coastal area of the Eastern Cape frontier. Two elder sisters, Kathleen Enid (Pixie) and Jessie Elizabeth (Betty) and I comprised the posterity of these good people. My recollections of early family life were happy and stable - my parents loved one another and whilst not given to demonstrativeness (in fact regarding this as something reserved for moments of privacy) exhibited a deep affection. This left me with an impression of respect and esteem for the marriage covenant.

I never knew my father very well for he died at the relatively young age of forty-nine years when I was but eleven years of age, but his kindliness and paternal concern contributed to my feeling of having had a happy and contented childhood. He was something of a rugby enthusiast and the father and son activities which I remember best were those as spectators at rugby matches. I remember one particularly well, that was when the Australian Wallaby team played in Johannesburg during the course of a tour which I imagine was about 1932 or 1933 (the latter was the year my father died).

My mother's influence upon my life was marked indeed and I feel that I owe much to her for having bequeathed to me a simple faith and belief in a Father in Heaven, thus laying a firm foundation upon which I was able to build in later years, a firm and steadfast testimony of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. In short, she, without realizing it, followed an admonition of latter day scripture in having “taught me to pray and walk uprightly before the Lord.” She prayed with me before retiring each night and instilled into my mind the basic virtues of honesty, truthfulness, chastity and benevolence which have lived with me as a blessing throughout the years. I shall always remember her stressing the importance of gentlemanly behaviour and I had the privilege of learning from her the invaluable lessons of courtesy and etiquette which in turn had been so much a part of her life. My mother was a sea captain's daughter of determined and forthright character, typified by grandfather's having run away to sea at the age of fourteen in defiance of his father's wish that his son should be an engineer. The young boy's attitude was “I wanted to go sea and to sea I went. “

I was further blessed in that although my family was basically religious they followed no set dogmas, consequently I had not been indoctrinated with any false religious doctrines so that, when the truth was presented to me, there was no necessity to remove “old wine”, only to add to the small but sweet supply of good wine already there.

My earliest memory of this life centred around a childhood spent on the Village Deep Gold Mine in Johannesburg, where my father was employed as a Surveyor. We lived in a house about a mile as the crow flies south of the centre of Johannesburg, on a spot where the O.K. Bazaars Warehouse now stands, just east of Eloff Street Extension. Early memories involved a visit to the mine by the then Prince of Wales, the removal of eleven baby teeth on one occasion, visits to the early movies, one poignant memory of which comes to mind in relation to the futility of war in a scene from “All quiet on the Western Front”. I shall never forget the picture of the hand of a soldier in Flanders reaching out to touch a beautiful butterfly, then suddenly stiffening in death from a hidden sniper's bullet. I must have been seven or eight at the time and have often now as a parent considered the interesting insight into my own parents' outlook in their having taken me to see such a film at that tender age.

1929 is a year I well remember in that my father was granted long leave of about three months during which time the family squeezed into an old Whippet touring car, together with a tent, numerous kit bags, suitcases, pans, stoves and our pet dog, to embark on a tour of three thousand miles around the Union of South Africa. Travelling in those days was rugged indeed and numerous punctures, broken springs, attempts at digging the car out of the mud and sand, almost dying of thirst in the Karroo and so forth, will always be fixed in my memory. We lost our way on several occasions but I shall always remember the glorious impact of touring this great country of ours and learning of its heart and soul. At that speed in those circumstances we were able to see and do far more than in the Jet age when speed blinds us to the simple wonders of the earth. My mother spent many an hour searching for ferns and odd plants which found their way into the car and ultimately back to our home in the Transvaal.

In that same year our home was moved to Krugersdorp as my father was appointed Chief Surveyor of the Luipaardsvlei Estates Gold Mining Company. Four years later he died after but nineteen years of marriage. My eldest sister, Pixie, then Head Prefect of the Krugersdorp High School, immediately terminated her school career and thanks to her my other sister, Betty, and I were to enjoy the blessing of completing our school studies.

In 1937 we moved to Cape Town as a result of my sister, Pixie, having developed a serious sentimental attachment to her cousin, Paul Dymond. (They subsequently married in 1939.) I finished schooling there in 1937 at the South African College High School and then of necessity embarked on a clerical career to help sustain the family.

My mother died at a relatively young age in June, 1939 and thereafter we were left as three independent children, but this was not to last for long because upon the outbreak of war in September I enlisted in the Navy as a volunteer having served in a part time capacity in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

My war service extended from September, 1939 for a period of six years and 17 days until October, 1945. These were impressionable years from the age of eighteen to twenty-four and again the futility of war and its terrible wastefulness was impressed upon me in my service in the South Atlantic, Mediterranean and North Atlantic spheres with the British Navy, and the S.A. Navy.

In 1941 I was pitchforked into the fury and frustration of the Battles of Crete and Greece where the might of the German Armies was being manifested in the destruction and conquest of Greece. The invasion of Crete followed. It was at this time that I felt the hand of the Lord upon me and I leant with simple faith upon this arm. For example, during the invasion of Crete, I was serving in a small anti-submarine vessel which was mercilessly attacked by a large German Fighter which machine-gunned it to the extent that it become utterly unusable for its original purpose. During this encounter the aircraft finally destroyed itself by over-enthusiasm on the part of the pilot, when he flew so low that he carried away our most and at the same time crashed into the sea. This episode resulted in my receiving a slight shrapnel wound in the arm. I was placed in the hospitalization camp in Suda Bay, Crete, from where we were later evacuated by British destroyers to Alexandria, Egypt. Those of my shipmates who were not wounded were left on the island to fend for themselves. Later they were captured and spent the rest of the war in prisoner of war camp.

Later I served in the Eastern Mediterranean and spent considerable time in the siege of Tobruk and then in the Malta convoys. After two and a half years I returned home to enjoy the blessing of peace and safety in the land of my birth. I have often felt in the years gone by how wonderful it is after the turmoil of war to enjoy the stark contrast of peace and the warmth of a winter's hearth or the wonder of a sleeping child. These emphasize the beauty and sweetness of life in contrast to the destruction which man brings upon himself in the contentions which rage between nations and peoples.

Prior to my departure in 1941 my heart became strangely entwined with that of my cousin, Philippa Dymond, my mother's eldest sister's daughter. We carried on a cherished correspondence during my years in the Mediterranean and we were married in the Church of England, Green Point, Cape Town in 1943. The humble and unsettled home which we set up during those war years consisted mostly of one room here and there. However, this provided a foundation of sweetness which we savoured together, again sharply in contrast with the upset of war time service. This unsettled state continued to the time I was called upon in the latter part of 1944 to go to England as part of a commissioning crew for the first major South African War vessel, the frigate “Good Hope”. This vessel was commissioned in November, 1944 and we served in the North Atlantic and Western approaches of the United Kingdom until mid 1945 when victory in Europe was achieved. During this period, in April 1945, our first child, Judy, was born and I shall always remember the day of her birth when our vessel was anchored off the White Cliffs of Dover on a glorious spring day when the waters of the English Channel were glassy, calm and peaceful.

Following the end of the war in Europe I returned in July, 1945 and while our ship was being refitted in Cape Town preparatory to leaving for the Far East, we were able to enjoy family contact again. However there was the prospect of further upset in the near future. This changed very suddenly when the wonderful relief of peace came, paradoxically, through the terror of the atom bomb dropped on the two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August, 1945. A few more months of service represented something of an anticlimax, and then finally, I was discharged in October, 1945, to attempt a readjustment to a strange domestic life, frighteningly secure, but with a new type of responsibility towards a young wife and infant daughter.

New horizons were there to conquer a year later in the form of an offer of a job by a former shipmate who asked me to move to Johannesburg to join the firm of Stanley Motors, Limited. This I accepted and in 1946 we moved to Krugersdorp and here we found happiness and joy in building a home and in rearing our two children. Timothy was born here in 1947.

This was a strange, quiet life which seemed to be the calm before the storm. Finally in May, 1950 the change came, quietly and determinedly, when two young Americans knocked on our door with the offer of a message of great importance. My wife, Philippa, as though moved by some unforeseen force, invited these young Elders from Utah and Idaho to come inside whilst the week's wash for a growing family became of secondary importance.

Mother led the way in this new intellectual exercise, whilst father tagged along in somewhat polite boredom, bred of past experiences which had resulted in such religious excursions. They had provided nothing more than a temporary distraction ending in on obscure wilderness. This time, however, it seemed different, as mother's arguments (given to her so strongly by her mother) appeared to be losing ground in the face of truth which was irrefutable. This resulted in talk of baptism and then why not both of us taking the step? On the 10th of September, 1950 we entered the waters of baptism at old Ramah to join what we now know to be the only true Church and Kingdom of God here upon the earth. We shall always remember with affection the four missionaries who spent time and effort in our conversion, Elders E. Mauary Payne, Parry D. Harrison, Farrell J. Roberts and Dean D. Baxter. Thus started the new life in a Church which, in its temporal appointments, showed very little sign of being the one and only Church of Jesus Christ, for we met in dingy halls and other humble surroundings in limited numbers and with very inadequate facilities. However, the true sweet spirit was there to guide us as we, like infants, crawled, then toddled, then stood upright and walked with our heads high yet humbled by the testimonies which we felt growing within our hearts.

The wisdom of the Lord in prompting growth and testimony through activity soon became manifest in my being called to one assignment after another - branch clerk, branch teacher, counsellor in the Krugersdorp Branch Presidency and then, after having been a member of the Church for just over seven years, the staggering and humbling call to serve as the Transvaal District President. This call in itself was one of the highlights of my life. The day was Transvaal District Conference, 13th April, 1958. We had returned home between sessions and, during that time, received a call from the District President, Brother I.C. Louw, requesting that we come in early. We duly arrived and were ushered into the presence of the Mission President Glen G. Fisher and President Louw, who dropped what I described in my diary as “the bombshell”. I had anticipated some call or another but certainly did not think of a position as the District President! Philippa and I looked at one another in astonishment, but the spirit whispered to us that we could do nothing but accept this high and wonderful calling. We appreciated the sobering honour and I well remember when I was set apart by President Fisher that he admonished me to recall the promise given to Nephi of old that the Lord would not call His servants to do anything save he would open the way for them to accomplish that which they had been commanded to do. This had the effect of helping me to recognize the promptings of the spirit in this calling and has been a blessing and a testimony. I have felt my inadequacy fall away in the face of the strength and guidance of the spirit which has helped me to do many things beyond myself and has indeed brought the treasures of Heaven into my life in this great servIce to the Lord.

The years have rolled by and our family has been increased in that three other precious souls have been brought to us namely, Jane in 1950, Leslie in 1954 and Ronald in 1959. These three children, sent to us during the course of membership in the Church, have all by strange coincidence been born on the 23rd of their respective months - an honour we felt indeed to be thus matched in some small way with our prophet Joseph Smith, born 23rd December.

The Church is our life. We have found the answers to every problem in this service and in this association with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Recently we celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary of our wedding day, and Philippa and I are able to bear witness to the fact that the sweeter years are here with us now because of the fact that we have attempted to mould our rebellious, stubborn lives, and the lives of our children, to the restored Gospel. We know without any doubt whatsoever, that these Gospel principles hold the key to that happiness and joy which is the heritage of children of men here upon the earth.

We hope and pray that we may continue to serve in this Kingdom and that we shall be able to enjoy such precious experiences as we have in the more years, in having our eldest daughter, Judy, serve an honourable mission in South Africa. Currently our son, Timothy, is serving a mission in the British South Mission, thus bringing the Gospel to others as we had it brought to us.

Our next goal in life is to visit the House of the Lord as a family, to be sealed thus for time and all eternity. With the blessing of the Lord and with our ability to work in this direction also, we hope to achieve this in July, 1969. We pray that this will lead us to be able to serve better in the future and thus repay our Father in Heaven in some small measure for the great and glorious blessings which he has showered upon us over the years.