Petro Naude's Goose Bumps Moment

I've been engaged in research since 2005. The Visser research went well but with the Coetzee family it was slightly different. My grandfather died a long time ago and there was little contact with the Coetzee side of the family. It appeared to me that they were a rather small family. I have his names, Petrus Stephanus Coetzee - but no dates and I only know he was married to a van der Merwe girl.
I can search as I like - but I do not find him on NAAIRS, he apparently had no estate. His wife after his death married his brother, Uncle Jan - no Christian names or dates. I refrain from researching for a few months and then I think to myself, try again. But nothing changed.
One day at the library I decided to page through the LDS's resources page, I actually searched for a Visser child that I also find no trace of. I started scrolling through the Civil death records for Witbank 1952 to 1972. I have many relatives on both sides of the family that stayed in Witbank during that time. It would probably be a good idea to request this tape and work through it.
Sandra at the library of the Heritage Foundation where Northern Transvaal's library is also hosted called me with the news that the tape has arrived. With trepidation I went to the library, will I find anything worthwhile? There is nothing dramatic that I am looking for - but confirmation of known information is always welcome. I am soon despondent from browsing through the microfilm. I retired a few times to the gardens outside the library and Sandra kept plying me with black rooibos tea, I kept on browsing. And there he was. Petrus Stephanus Coetzee - died 1964 born in 1892, 68 years old at death. I'm so excited I could die. Everything worth the effort.

Now I can look further because I have dates. Back to NAAIRS, but still no information. In September, I went with my mom and her sister to Witbank cemetery - after all I am the cemetery kingpin. They're going to show me some family graves. I ask about their grandfather PS Coetzee, I would like to see his grave. But we do not find it. Eventually they decided among themselves that the grave might never have been completed - there was great controversy in the family at the time of his death. Is this perhaps the reason why I find no trace of him on NAAIRS?
I have reached a dead end - I have dates but there it ends. How do I determine whether he had brothers and sisters, who his parents were? I move the research aside once more , but this time I've made some progress!
I attended the Concentration Camp Conference and again am overawed by events. I decided (with my new 3g connection) to surf the Internet and see if I can find traces of my family in concentration camps. I know there were Engelbrecht's in the Balmoral Camp and that some died there.
After completing the Engelbrecht's I started looking for other surnames - including Coetzee. There is a Petrus Stephanus and I quickly looked at my database to make sure. My PS Coetzee had been about 9 in 1901 and this little boy was only 5. Still nothing and completely discouraged that this Coetzee is not the one I am looking for.
One Sunday I visited my mother for dinner and decided to take my laptop along and show her what I'm doing. They always ask and if I tell how many hours I spend they find it incredulous. I want to show her on the laptop so that she may have a better understanding.
And there we were, between screens on the internet and my database I could show her how things fit. I showed her grandfather PS Coetzee (her grandfather's) profile and why I say it's not the one in Middelburg camp because he was too old. She put her finger on the screen and ask - is that how old he was when he died? Yes, 72. Never, she says, she knew he was not yet 70.
What? Go back. Fortunately I took pictures of the LDS's information. I do not have to have second thoughts that I made a mistake when I wrote it down. Get the picture, no, there it was, he was 68. And the dates? I wrote it down correctly but the information in writing that says he was 68 and my mother remembered that he could not be 70, I look at the birth date again. I do not doubt the date of death because that's included chronologically in the records. Apparently, he was 5 when he was in Middelburg concentration camp! I sit and jump on my chair and laugh and want to just hug someone! I looked at my mother and she had tears in her eyes - it's wonderful for her to see the detail of her grandfather. Suddenly everything falls into place we have his father's name and his brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, his mother was recorded as "Mrs. Johannes Petrus Coetzee," but I am confident that I will find her. At least I now have a few clues!