Patrick G. Molteno – 50th Reunion Essay

Patrick G. Molteno

Date of Death: 18-Jan-2017

College: Calhoun

From Dave Friend: Doug Voorhies and I were both roommates with Patrick. Patrick and my mother Miriam became quite close during the year that we lived together, as they were both big Gilbert and Sullivan fans, and would sing tunes from Pirates, Iolanthe, and other shows together.

Patrick, Doug, and I were all engineering students. Patrick was by far the hardest working of us. Patrick came from a distinguished family of politicians and academics in South Africa. As I recall, his grandfather, John Charles Molteno, was the first Prime Minister of South Africa.

It was apparent to Doug and I from early on that Patrick had unusually wild mood swings and today would probably have been diagnosed as bipolar. Most of the time he was “up”, meaning that he would tell endless jokes, teach us how to swear in Afrikaans, and break into his endless supply of memorized limericks. Other times, he would get into a major funk, berate us for wasting time and resources, and disappear into the library for days at a time. Patrick seemed traumatized by his time in the South African army whose sole function seemed to him to be to enforce the Apartheid that he so loathed. Patrick felt that his parents were making great sacrifices to send him to Yale and at one point he got into a cycle of increasing his study hours day after day, eating into his sleep (which didn’t help with the mood swings). There were days when he was quite cross with us for not being more serious.

We loved Patrick, though. His heart was always in the right place, and he was thoughtful and generous. He gave my mom a wool blanket from South Africa with pictures of wild animals that she just loved and kept through the years.

I am trying hard to remember exactly what happened to Patrick, but as I recall we all went home for Christmas vacation and when we came back, Patrick was in a psychiatric ward at Yale New Haven hospital. Soon thereafter he was on a plane flying back to South Africa, accompanied by someone from the hospital. As we were later to find out, he was hospitalized for some time in Cape Town, but eventually was able to finish school and do some work as an engineer in Cape Town. About 15 years later, my wife and I had an opportunity to visit Cape Town so we decided to try to meet up with Patrick. Unfortunately, it was obvious that he had continued to struggle with his mental problems. He was driving a car that literally was held together with duct tape, was smoking a lot, and generally seemed in poor health. It left us feeling sad.

I miss Patrick and still think of his effervescence, wit, intellect, and companionship. We had a lot of fun together and I am still so sad that mental illness took him from us at an early age.