Beth McAdam (nee Price) will be remembered as a totally committed mother and homemaker who was also a very popular member of a greater family in the Eastern Cape.
Beth McAdam (nee Price) will be remembered as a totally committed mother and homemaker who was also a very popular member of a greater family in the Eastern Cape.
She is sorely missed by her husband Mark, children William, Lucy and Jack as well as her parents Murray and Lenore; her brothers Charles and Philip; sisters Janet and Diana; and the many, many friends she has made in Grahamstown.
Beth finally lost the battle against colon cancer on Sunday, 10 February after bravely undergoing more than a year of chemotherapy.
Elizabeth Susan Price was born in Queenstown on 18 February 1970 and grew up on her family’s farm outside Tarkastad. She attended Queenstown Girls’ High School where she excelled in sports and was selected to play provincial hockey for her age group.
She was also the deputy head girl of the school in her matric year in 1988. After she completed her matric exams Beth studied industrial psychology at Stellenbosch University where she met her husband-to-be, Mark McAdam.
She completed her degree in 1991 and then took a gap year gaining experience in the United States and in Europe.
When she returned to South Africa she moved to Cape Town to learn about the retail business at Truworths.
Beth and Mark were married on 25 November 1995 and they went on to work together to develop the Bushman’s Kloof Lodge in the Cedarberg Mountains.
Beth took care of administrative matters and soon had the business ticking over smoothly.
The year 2000 was a year to remember for the McAdams family as they moved to Hunters Moon Safaris in the north eastern part of the Karoo in April and a few months later, in August, Beth gave birth to their first son, William.
As the Hunters Moon business developed so did their family with the birth of their daughter Lucy in February 2002 and their youngest son, Jack in October 2004.
It was not long before the children were approaching school-going age that Mark and Beth decided to move to Grahamstown to ensure that their children could have an excellent education at the St Andrew’s family of schools.
They bought a house in Milner Street in 2006 where Beth stayed to look after the family, while Mark continued to work at the Hunters Moon Safaris.
Beth quickly became involved in school activities, joining committees and helping out wherever she could so that on hearing the news of her passing, the school said that "everyone on our campuses are feeling it".
A representative of St Andrew’s Prep lamented, "St Andrew’s Prep staff and pupils say goodbye to a wonderful mother, parent and friend. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the McAdam family. Beth gave so much of herself to all she knew and she will be sorely missed".
