Child of: Otto Theodore Thiel
Vera Egenes Thiel
1907 – 1994
Vera Thiel, on the left, with a friend in Denmark
Otto Thiel’s daughter Vera attended Rustenberg Girls High School in Rondebosch, Cape Town after which she studied Physical Culture in Silkeborg, Denmark for two years.
Back in South Africa she taught at a Convent School on the Cape Peninsula. During this time she met Trevor Mc Gaffin, a Land Surveyor who had a practice in Pietersburg, Transvaal. They married in 1933 and moved to Pietersburg. Trevor Mc Gaffin did active service during the Second World War and during this time Vera bought the farm, Crown Mount, situated at the top of Magoeba’s Kloof near Tzaneen. Trevor Mc Gaffin gave up his practice and they moved to the farm after the war where two of their sons are still farming . Vera passed away in Tzaneen in July 1994.