Dawn Botha, a Horsham optometrist who was a prominent figure in the local community for more than 25 years, passed away earlier this year following a battle with breast cancer.
Tributes said Botha would be missed by many including her colleagues at Vision Express. She had a loyal patient base and after the acquisition of Batemans at The Carfax by Vision Express, her patients followed her to the West Street Horsham branch of Vision Express, in December 2010.
Colleagues described her as popular and held in high regard by local residents and patients. A friendly and experienced ophthalmic optician, Botha assisted many patients with referrals for sight-threatening conditions during her career, they said.
She studied at the School of Optometry in Johannesburg in her native South Africa, and qualified aged 20 to receive her Dip SA optometry diploma in 1969. Her first professional role was with Muller & Son in Johannesburg.
Botha met her future husband at college and lived in London from 1972-1977. She completed her British Optometric Exams to hold all the British qualifications, working in Leeds as a locum for a variety of practices in 1979.
She worked in Germany, England and South Africa, where she managed her own practices in Bloemfontein and Thaba ‘Nchu, before returning to the UK in 1986. She first moved to the Horstmanns Dorking practice, before finally settling in Horsham in 1987.
Away from her profession, she enjoyed travel, theatre, classical music and a shared love of opera with her opera-singer husband. Following retirement due to ill health, she became a very accomplished artist. She died in January, and is survived by her husband, two daughters, one granddaughter and two grandsons.