18 Retirement functions are generally bittersweet occasions. Whilst celebrating and acknowledging the retiree’s contributions, there is generally an element of trepidation regarding who that person’s successor might be and how that new person will engage and perform going forward. Arguably, there might well be a mathematical and linear relationship between the level of trepidation experienced and the extent of the contribution made by the outgoing individual. It appears as if SAIF members are currently in retirement mode. A while back we saw Jacob Kotze retire after a long and productive career with NCT and we certainly miss his presence now. This month, we see two more SAIF members retire. Craig Norris, a towering pillar of forestry knowledge and experience, enters the retirement paddock. He will be closely followed next month by Jeremy Carr, a stalwart and solid forester if ever there were one, who has also reached the end of an illustrious and successful career. NCT will be all the poorer as we wish these two men a wonderful, well-deserved and rewarding retirement. This is a forestry newsletter, so, for all you purists out there, Craig is by definition not a trained professional forester, but rather a teacher. His forestry knowledge, however, gleaned from years of exposure to matters of forest science, coupled to a keen intellect, places Craig definitively in the position of natural-born forester, which accolade is one that many trained foresters would wish for! As for Jeremy, he went to Saasveld, but don’t judge him – said the University of Stellenbosch author of this article – and so the argument starts! The above retirements, and the resulting trepidation experienced (refer first paragraph), got me thinking about exactly what it is that makes some individuals stand out above the rest. These individuals were not edge trees that basked in freely accessible opportunities and simply grew without effort or contribution. No, these are individuals situated well in the Retire – Rob Thompson –
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