The Order was devastated to learn that the cancer had returned to Brother Vic and that no further action could be taken to help him recover. PSK Vic passed away on the 4th of March and will be deeply mourned by all who knew him.
The funeral service was a requiem mass celebrated by National Chaplain Archbishop Emeritus William Slattery and concelebrated with three priests, at the Good Shepherd Parish in Bothaville, Cape Town, on Friday 11th March.
It was well attended by the Order in the Western Cape as well as by SK Rob van der Walt, DSK Errol Plaatjies and PSKK Claudio Freschi, Anthony Beale and Robin Lydall.
Moving tributes were given by the family and by a number of friends and representatives of various organisations in which Brother Vic was involved. At the end of Mass the Knights performed the Valedictory Ritual in a fitting send-off to a Brother who had given his all to the Order. As part of the valedictory, the panegyric was given by PSK Anthony Beale and it is published below as it gives a wonderful account of Brother Vic’s life and work in the Order.
At the end of the service, led by a piper playing Amazing Grace, the Knights formed a guard of honour and accompanied the hearse to the end of the block for a last goodbye to our Brother Vic. May he now rest in God’s eternal peace.
Brother Vic with Past Supreme Knights of the Order, at the Durban convention in 2019, from left, PSKK Vic Barra, Brian Sutcliffe, Noel Pistorius, Alan Diesel, SK Rob van der Walt, Archbishop Gabuza, PSKK Claudio Freschi, Anthony Beale and Robin Lydall
