It is with deep sadness that I write to inform of the passing of Reginald ‘Reg’/’Reggie’ De Villiers Hands.  Reggie was in Founders House as were generations of his family before him.  He left Bishops in 1967 and thereafter remained a very loyal OD to the end.  He came from a remarkable lineage of Hands … international rugby and cricket players, war heroes, and Mayors of Cape Town … and as Reggie pointed out, unlike him, captains of industry! 

Reggie was none of these, he was Reggie Hands!

A truer gentleman one would struggle to find.  He had an abiding passion in all he did.  Mischievous beyond measure, energetic beyond his years, he touched so many lives in his life and in the Bishops community and well beyond.

When I broke the news of his sad and sudden passing to the Stormers rugby team this morning (as he had accompanied us on almost every camp we ever went on, which, conveniently happened to be Hermanus, and he had become friends individually with most of them!), there were many tears shed.

We had discussed writing his biography, for there are so many Reg Hands stories that simply defy belief, and for all his peccadillos and fun, the rough laugh and high jinx, this was the most decent, generous, beyond his means, and giving, of people.  

He regularly attended a range of school and OD events; put together the school rugby magazine; and stayed in touch with his school colleagues and staff till the end. 

My father called him 'Sunshine’, the nickname his father gave him - I think, with a dash of irony.  

There will be a proper send-off to Reggie, at a suitable time, in the new year, and that is the irony or the anachronism that was Reginald, for all his little twists and turns he would want nothing more than that.

To Robyn, Natalie, Jade and the grandchildren, all our love.

John Dobson (1985K).