Obituary Sylvia Shanase “Gogo” Mantanga 15 June 1925 – 25th Feb. 2010

Sylvia left this life at the age of 84, a few months shy of her 85th birthday.  She was such an example to all of us and will remain firmly entrenched in all of our memories for the many good things she did.

Sylvia’s life was made up of millions of small steps and small achievements that collectively and accumulatively resulted in a great legacy.

Sylvia came to Piggs Peak with Coral Stephens in 1948.  She was born in Butterworth and attended St. Cuthbert’s Mission School in Tsolo in the Transkei.  There she was taught to weave by Swedish nuns who ran the school and she always kept her Swedish weaving manual with her.  This manual provided some of the original loom threading for what were to become signature Coral Stephens’ patterns.  Together with Coral, Sylvia provided much of the technical knowledge needed to set up the spinning centres around in and Piggs Peak that they eventually did.  She also began her dyeing career which saw her spend many hours perfecting the mohair colours that made Coral Stephens so sought after.

Sylvia’s consistency with her dyeing, her quality control with the spinning the centres produced and her extensive knowledge about weaving made her pivotal in the growth and success of the business.

I did not know her in these early years and only met her in 2000.  She had stepped away from all this responsibility as our processes changed, but she never really slowed down…she always wanted to remain part of our core work.  She spent much of her time sorting through the mohair and gently pulling it apart in preparation for carding.  She would consult with the spinners and travel with me regularly to the Lesotho border where she would assess the mohair before we purchased it.  I think she enjoyed these trips and would sit tightly bundled up in the car, and look straight ahead for the duration of the journey – and never once fell asleep in a six hour car ride.

Sylvia was always the first at work every morning and only up until the very end of her life took a day off ill.  She was in such good health, a recent cardiogram produced a set of results a person a quarter of her age would have been proud of.  It was her mind though, that was her real strength, her sense of esteem and purpose, her unwavering commitment to the tasks at hand.  She was truly an enigma in that her ego never seemed to make an appearance, yet she never doubted herself.  While firm, she never demonstrated any self-importance or arrogance over any matter.   People wold turn to her always when needing support and she would easily recognize when a staff member was not well and bring it to my attention.

She shared everything she had and even had a little cat that used to get half of her dinner!

I could go on forever about Sylvia, there are so many good things to say about her.  It was such a privalege knowing her and we at Coral Stephens are saddened by her death but will remember her life and will be grateful for every day she spent with us.

Thank you, Syl.