Obituary

 South African travel
industry stalwart, Loekie
Lavery, died on February
4 at the age of 68. Loekie
began working in the
industry at the age of 18,
when she joined Lufthansa
in the reservations
department in 1962. She
stayed with the company
for 30 years, also working
as part of the sales team.
She moved, briefly, to
Austrian Airlines
before joining
Kenya Airways,
where she worked
in the sales
department for 10
years. Loekie then
launched her own
business, Loekie
Travel Promotions,
which she ran for two years
before being approached
to join the Planhotel
Hospitality
Group, where
she was working
in the marketing
department at
the time of her
death. Loekie
was a past
president of
Travelbags, the
Johannesburg-based
South African women’s
travel club