I am afraid it is again time to bid farewell to another fine Old Rhodian colleague in the name of Pete "Piscat" Aschman. Peter died in East London on Saturday 22 March

2014 after a long battle with cancer. He was 62 years old.

Pete, an Old Selbornian/Rhodian, lived life to the full until the end, despite his terminal illness.He was always game for a party and it was never very difficult to twist his arm when approached.

 

Two amusing stories can be told of Pete and the kind of person he was.

 

The first one relates to his days at Rhodes. His parents went overseas for two weeks, and his dad thought he would be kind and let his son have use of his Merc. car whilst they were overseas. Cars were just making their mark on campus, and a student driving a Mercedes Benz always turned a head or two. After their departure, Pete gleefully took up his dads offer, filled the Benz up in E.London on his dads Garage petrol account and happily drove to G'town to whoo the crowds.

Within the first week Pete and his mates had driven around campus as well as to Kowie and back a few times when he  realised the petrol tank was running rather low and that he had just enough gas to get the Benz. back to E.London.

 

No problems to Pete, he there and then decided to drive all the way back to E.London to again fill up the car on his Dads account, fill the boot with beer and drive all the way back to campus for another week of partying. Needless to say Pete had some explaining to do when his Dad returned from overseas and checked the petrol account and miles clocked up during their two week absence overseas.

 

The second story is more recent. During the Kowie re-union in 2010 some of us stayed with Pete in his Kowie cottage, and again he made sure the fridge was fully stocked with beer for the week-end party.

In the fridge however was a lonesome bottle of Marmite lodged in  door compartment.

We asked Pete why the Marmite was in the fridge with all the beer and his usual classic reply was.

"We must first have a" taste" of breakfast in the morning, before we again start on the more serious cold stuff  lurking in the fridge."

 

Pete was a very colourful character and all who knew him will remember him as a very generous person with an ever present smile on his face.

 

He is survived by his wife Gail, three grown children, and grandchildren.Our thoughts are with them during this time.

 

Pete also had a sister Anne at Rhodes.

 

Go well "Skip" , all those who knew you will always remember you, and celebrate the good times shared together.

 

Regards

 

Jumpy Wilmot

Last Modified: Mon, 08 Aug 2016 14:57:35 SAST