• JOHN GROBLERDAVE SALMON, a former photojournalist, founding member of The Namibian and fearsome fast bowler in his day, passed away at home in Windhoek on Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours after he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
Salmon, aged 57, had had a bad fall three weeks ago and upon finally agreeing to being X-rayed Friday afternoon, was told that he had lost the use of his right lung.
After spending the rest of the day doing what he loved most – watching cricket highlights from a recent international game – he briefly engaged his family before passing away in his sleep at 14h00 Saturday afternoon, his wife Birget said.
David Robert Salmon, younger son of City water engineer George, and Centaurus teacher Esther Salmon, was born in Windhoek on 26 January 1958 and completed his schooling at Kingswood College in Grahamstown, South Africa.
He briefly studied at the University of Cape Town before returning to pre-independence Namibia where he joined the staff of the Windhoek Observer, then still edited by the legendary Hannes “Smittie” Smith, in the early 1980s.
His first love, however, was cricket: his ranginess and strong wrists made him a fearsome fast bowler and general all-rounder, and he played for various clubs’ first teams over the years. In later years, he also coached cricket at the Namibian Defence Force on a voluntary basis.
Following Gwen Lister’s demotion as political columnist by Smith and co-proprietor Thurstan Salt in 1984, Salmon had organised a petition among staff to have her reinstated, Lister recalled on Sunday.
“When they refused to do that, we all walked out on the owners of the paper,” Lister said. She had promised everyone that she would offer them jobs if she got her own newspaper going, and in 1985, Salmon was among the first staff members of The Namibian – then a weekly paper, and today Namibia’s biggest-selling newspaper.
“Dave [Salmon] did everything: from covering stories to delivering the paper, always willing to help,” said Lister.
Salmon’s political activism eventually got him into hot water several times – on one occasion he had to be bailed out of jail to open the bowling for the Wanderers cricket team, his wife recalled.
Following a break in 1987 during which he travelled Europe, Salmon returned to Namibia to join the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation as a presenter and sport reporter. He later resigned to become a freelance tour guide, before marrying in 1996 and settling down to raise his daughter.
During the past few years, Salmon developed a back problem which he sought to treat himself. This led to a bleeding ulcer, however, that nearly caused his deaath from internal bleeding five years ago.
This was followed by an acute bout of pneumonia – Salmon’s love for Texan Plain cigarettes was a trademark he refused to part with – that the family believe may have helped trigger the lung cancer that utterly consumed his one lung.
Salmon had wanted to be cremated, but with the City of Windhoek’s crematorium out of commission, the family was seeking to make alternative arrangements.
“We will organise a social cricket day with all the friends in honour of Dave after we have sorted things out a bit,” his wife, Birget, said yesterday.
Salmon is survived by his older brother, Stephen, his wife of the past 19 years, and his 15-year-old daughter, Rayne Skyler.
