John was born in Durban on 16th December 1933 (then known as Dingaan’s Day after the massacre at Blood River during the Zulu War). He was educated at Duran Preparatory High School, Kearsney College, and Natal University, and in his final examinations for the BSc (Eng) degree, was awarded first prize for his design thesis. He met Maria Louise Della Rosa (28/12/1935) shortly after leaving school, when both were Sunday School teachers at Musgrave Methodist Church. This soon developed into a serious romance, but many years were to pass while Maria completed her nursing sister training. John moved to Johannesburg to work on the low cost housing project which become Soweto. John and Maria were married in Durban on 20th September 1958, and the couple lived in Johannesburg for a year, during which Robert Aliwal was born – 04/11/1959. The family moved to Swaziland for 18 months while John worked on a construction project and Donald William was born – 24/02/1960. Another move - to Mauritius for a cyclone reconstruction project for 4 years, and PeterJohn was born.
In 1965 the family moved to London where John studied at Imperial College and obtained an MSc degree in Public Health Engineering from London University. During this time Maria worked as a nursing sister at Bromley Cottage Hospital. In 1966 the family returned to Durban and settled into a house in Durban North which would be the family home until 1978.
John entered the consulting engineering profession specialising in waste water engineering, which spanned some 5 years. He became managing partner of Horne Glasson Partners, which practice merged into the international firm Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick in 1993, and two years later when that organization incorporated John become Chairman of Scott Wilson African and a Board Member of Scott Wilson International.
Maria had meanwhile attended Natal University, obtaining a Masters Degree in Psychology, and then practicing for many years as a child psychologist.
John and Maria retired to Simon’s Town, Western Province in 1997 where they made a new life and involved with Probus Clubs.
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