Our Backyard Neighbors, Raymond and Marjory Dart

The year I met him was 1954. I was in my late twenties and had only recently arrived with my husband and two young daughters in Johannesburg, South Africa. Little had occupied my mind but family matters for the preceding eight years, those eight years following my college graduation at age twenty.  Marriage, four years of a less than budding career in advertising, where I learned few appreciated my talents. Perhaps with relief I accepted the fact and welcomed motherhood which I found took most of my time and talents.

My husband’s career was taking off and took us 10,000 miles from home. Here adventure began. I was out of my cage, so to speak. Everything was new and exciting. And we had just rented a home.

A neighbor called on us. Her name was Marjory Dart. She was twice my age and took me under her wing. Little did she know what her visit meant to me. But perhaps she sensed it. My husband had to make a trip to Cape Town, nearly a thousand miles away. She insisted on taking me to the local shops and introducing me to life in this big city, modern but totally different. Soon I would be settled into a way of life.

Shortly after she insisted we come for dinner in their home, my two babies aged one and three were welcomed by their fourteen year old daughter and eleven year old son who took over for me. It was then that I met Professor Raymond Dart, husband and father. He had big bush eyebrows, was a tall man and very friendly with a hearty laugh. He taught anatomy at the University of Witwatersrand School of Medicine. He was a native Australian. No one mentioned he was a former anthropologist. He held the children on his knee, asked many questions about my life and about my husband’s career. I heard anecdotes about their lives. Mrs. Dart was from Scotland, but they had been in South Africa for a good many years. They showed me their home.  Little did I know what was to come.

He opened my mind to the world. He never talked down to me. Finally, he told me about the “missing link” – Australopithecus. He put it in my hand and told me how he happened to have it. Then, one day he and his wife, Marjory said they were going to Makapan’s Cave to see where the fossil was found. We sat and had tea from a portable heater to boil the water. He discussed his colleagues work in Kenya, Dr. Leakey.

……… Edith’s note “expand and rewrite”