Evening star., 1953-03-02
Society News
By Duisy Sheridan

MIS-. SlSGST Q6 Wddlp WllG O1
the new South African Military
Attache. is pretty, tiny and tall
ented-her main interest, people
her chief enemy. lack of time.
This vivacious newcomer has
silvery gray hair. sparkling pale
blue eyes and a peacheS-and-
cream complexion. In we'll
modulated voice she speaks with
a combination British and Scots
accent. Although most of her
expressions come from across the
seas, some have their origin right
here in the U. S. A.
Some things do in a half
baked fashion, I'm afraid"
sighs Isobel de Waal, but you see
time is ones chief enemy" Her
accomplishments range from
cooking to politicking, to say
nothing of being the proud
mother of two sons.
We Disagree
The way she describes doing
things does not quite measure
up to her results. The De Waals
arrived here on February 5 with
Isobel de Waal a little the worse
for wear. The crossing from
England had been rough and the
lady of the house is not a good
sailor-add to that the first thing
Washington gave her, the flu
and you have the condition OF the
new distaff member of the diplo-
matte group.
BY the middle Of last week
q house had been rented in
Chevy Chase, their goods and
ehattelS in place Gncluding fur
niture which had been shipped
from South Mrica), freshly
laundered curtains in the win
dows and preparations in order
for Q house guest to arrive that
evening from New York.
"The attitude Of men toward
women Is vastly different here
than in our country" said Mrs.
de Waal. Her reference was
to politics and women in ma
tional affairs which has been
one Of her great interests. She
has been a member Of the League
Of Women Voters and IA years
after women won the right to
vote she was elected a member
of the TranSvaal Provincial
Council.
Pretoria Is Home
Headquarters for the De Waals
has been in Pretoria where Brig.
de Walls last post was as naval
and marine chief of staff. A
marine and lifetime soldier, this
is his first diplomatic post. He
is due for retirement the end
of "a when he reaches the age
of 55. The new Military Attache
has travelled a great bit, having
spent Is of his over 80 years in
service in England and other
posts. During the last war he
spent year on Gen. Eisenhow-
er's staff.
Mrs. de Waal is the former
1sobel McLaggan and the daugh-
ter of first-generation Scots to
settle in South Africa. Her
father left his homeland to fight
in the Boer War.
One of ISobel de Waal'S main
interests came at an early age.
She was graduated from Cape
town University and returned
there to teach speech until she
was married. Her life for the
next few years was surrounded
with cooking. sewing, painting
and gardening, to say nothing of
Pieter, jr., now 81, and Duncan,
II.
PIoy Producing Mixed
The next thing she undertook
was play producing. THAT didn't
last very long since my husband
objected" she recalls. "It seems
that problems in production al
ways come up when one Is at
the soup courSe!"
A more calm and regulated
enterprise presented itself then
charity work. Mrs. de Waal
went back to her Speech-making
to help raise funds for such
things as civilian blind and child
welfare.
The next step was the children
off to boarding school and moth
er to politics. She was elected to
the council (of which there are
four in the Union of South Afri-
ca in 1945 for a f1ve-year term
and resigned in 1949 so that she
could accompany her husband
for a years duty at the Imperial
Defense College in London.
Thrilled to Come
When she heard the news
Of their coming to the United
States, II was thrilled" says
Isobel de Waal, who had been
here in 1889 to see the Worlds
Fair.
Brig. de Waal has three
months leave coming to him
which they will spend travelling
throughout this country and
Canada. The Military Attache is
also accredited to Canada.
When they arrived here with
vivaciouS Isobel de Waal in
weakened state (most unusual
for herr they stayed at the West
chester for few days. Mrs. de
WAL dragged herself from her
bed to go house hunting. The
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