Caledon Villa, beautifully restored - click to enlarge

Ode Krige was born on 13 May 1939 in Pretoria as eldest daughter of Hymne Weiss and Paul Friedrich Detlev Weiss.
Her father was minister in the Dutch Reformed Church Pretoria-Oos.
The family moved to Stellenbosch in 1948, where he established the Department of Semitic Languages at the local University.
Ode matriculated from the Bloemhof Girls' High School in 1956.
She enrolled at the University of Stellenbosch and received a BA in German and Anthropology cum laude. As student she was on the editorial staff of Prisma and Die Stellenbosse Student. She was appointed junior lecturer in Ethnology from 1960 - 1962.
In these years she also enrolled as part time student at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town.
In 1963 she moved with her parents to Pretoria and married Johan Dawid Krige on 6 July of the same year.
In 1963 she passed her MA in Anthropology (cum laude) on the functional art of the AmaNdzundza. After receiving a scholarship from the German Government, the couple stayed in Cologne, Germany for a year, where she studied while her husband joined a consulting firm as civil engineer.
Back in Pretoria in 1965, she worked as editorial assistant at SABRA before their 5 children were born: Hymli (1968), Retief (1970), Maia (1971), Detlev (1975) and Dawie (1977).
At the end of 1978 the family moved to Stellenbosch where she had the opportunity to write a series of articles in Eikestadnuus (1982 - 1984) about prominent historical figures in the Stellenbosch of the previous century. She received recognition for her research and was commissioned to write 3 books with a historical context, as well as the libretto of the Huguenot Cantata in collaboration with composer Hubert du Plessis in 1988, celebrating the tricentennial commemoration of the arrival of the Huguenots.

Ode Krige died on 29 September 2021.

Photo: Ode in Bloemfontein 2013 - click to enlarge

Awards: Honourable mention in the 1984 Wynland award for journalism
Ode Krige received the prize and trophy as overall winner of the Poetry Category writer's competition of the Bloemfontein Skrywersvereniging (Afrikaans Society for writers).
Her poem has been included in INKVARS 2013 which can be ordered from the Bloemfontein Skrywersvereniging (at R75).

Ode was a member of the following boards and councils:
The Genealogical Society of South Africa, The Huguenot Society, (editor of the Huguenot Bulletin 1987 - 1991); the Stellenbosch Heemkring, the National Festival Committee Huguenot 300, editor of Die Wakis (annual edition by the Voortrekkers of Stellenbosch).
She is presently member of the Troubadours and Saamleeskring of Stellenbosch and the Genootskap van die Kerkversameling van Moedergemeente Stellenbosch.

Since 1992 the Kriges are the owners of Caledon Villa, a national monument, built by ds. Koos Krige on his retirement from Caledon where he served the D.R.congregation for 30 years. He is the grandfather of well known Kriges like Uys, the writer and Francois, the painter. Gideon Krige (M.P.) a brother of ds. Koos, lived on the farm Oude Libertas and was the great-grandfather of Johan. Caledon Villa is presently a guest house where the main emphasis in the daily communication with visiting guests from all over the world, lies on culture and history.

Ode is the designer of the dust cover of: Die geel Kruik by Hymne Weiss 1958
and illustrator of Skewe Fees - kersverhale by Hymne Weiss 1974.
Writer of various articles in: De Kat, Vlieënde Springbok, Die Voorligter, Familia, Hugenote-Bulletin and Eikestadnuus.

Hobbies: Painting, writing, music, reading and historical research.

Ode signing her latest book, Carl Otto Hager, at the launch in April 2015.