wvandergroef , yeah it's me
FRANCINA VAN DER GROEF (1919 - 2003) , a life hung by a thread .... three times even .....
# My dear aunt FRANCINA (SIEN) VAN DER GROEF at the age of about 18 years - the picture must have been taken in Middelharnis , her dwelling-place at the time , in the late thirties , when everything in the country of the Netherlands was still very quiet and peaceful , yet .......
# The life of my late aunt Francina van der Groef , born on February 20 , 1919 in the village of Middelharnis on the former island of Goeree-Overflakkee in the province of Zuid-Holland in the country of the Netherlands , did hang by a thread so to speak for indeed three times during her , what , against the odds , would turn out to become a rather long existence on this earth of more than 84 years ..... and the very first life threatening event even took place before she was born .........
The start of life of my aunt Francina , who was generally called Sien , can be described as highly dramatical ...
Sien was the daughter of Leendert van der Groef and of Pieternella van den Tol .
Before Sien came to this world , already two other children had been born within this family (and after Sien three more children would be born into the world) , bút when mother Pieternella was expecting Sien , the pregnancy would turn out to be quite different and much more difficult than the pregnancy had been and would be of all the other children ......
For the entire world , including the Netherlands , and therefore also including the island of Goeree-Overflakkee , the year 1918 was an exceptional and uncommon dramatic year , for two different reasons : 1918 was the last and decisive year of the first world war , and it was also the year in which the globe was confronted with one of the most severe epidemic deceases ever : the Spanish flu .....
In the course of the year 1918 , while being in expectation of her third child , Pieternella became sick , véry sick , so sick even that the doctor who was consulted started fearing for the life of both mother and unborn child , since Pieternella was diagnosed with ..... Spanish flu ...
Because of the gravity of the situation yet another doctor was consulted and this man , who must have been working in the city of Rotterdam a short time before , could not recollect one single case of a pregnant woman diagnosed with Spanish flu there who had survived ........
Without any exageration we can state that health conditions of both mother Pieternella and unborn child Sien were very alarming back in 1918 and both of their lives were really hanging by a very thin thread then ......... bút both mother and daughter surmounted this immense attack on their lives , completely recovered ánd were bound to live long lives !! Pieternella would finally pass away shortly before her 80th birthday and my aunt Sien would even reach the age of 84 (though I must add that throughout her life she remained convinced that several health problems she had to endure in her lifetime could be blamed on the fact that the first months of her unborn life had been under so severe and dangerous attack of that horrible decease)
* Without having been born yet Sien van der Groef had already gone through the eye of the life-needle ...... and certainly nót for the very last time in her existence ......
Being a young adult woman Sien left the island of Goeree-Overflakkee and moved to the city of The Hague where she , shortly after the war , married Bernardus (Ben) ten Wolde , the man who was the love of her life , the man with whom she would share the coming 45 years , 'in rain and shine' , but most certainly with the emphasis on the latter , fortunately !
But their long and happy matrimonial alliance could have been cruely interrupted as a result of two different events that took place in the years that followed the special and happy day of their marriage ....
In the years shortly after the end of the war , conditions of life in Holland were far from ideal . It was a time of reconstruction and prosperity wasn't bound to come within the coming years .
When for instance a stove had to be purchased (a coal-stove that is , since we still find ourselves somewhere in the forties ...) a lot of people couldn't effort to buy a new stove , and therefore had to buy a secondhand one , with possible dramatic consequences .....
Some day , on a ordinairy working-day of the week , Sien , Ben and their young daughter Elly woke up , all three suffering of some unexplainable complaints , like a strange feeling in the head and feelings of nausea . Though not feeling all that well , Ben decided to go to work and his complaints started disappearing like snow under a hot sun , for hím they did ........
Íf Lena ten Wolde , the mother of Ben , who was living in those days just around the corner of the street , hadn't decided to visit Sien and young daughter Elly that morning for a cup of coffee , and hadn't entered the house , thán that ordinairy working-day could very well have turned to a dramatic , sinister and horrible one ........
The moment Lena entered the living-room she was seized with fear when she saw both Sien and Elly in a dead faint lying on the floor of the room .......
Immediately Lena decided to open up all the windows of the room and , to her enormous relief , she witnessed that Sien and daughter Elly soon regained consciousness .
When , a short time later , mother and daughter were medically examined , it turned out that they both had been victim of carbon monoxide poisoning , due to a leaking coal-stove .......
What míght have happened to mother and child íf that day not a single visitor would have come to their home , is a horrid thought we all better not stop at for too long .........
* Just a few years later the lives of all three of them were once again under great threat .....
On January 31 , 1913 the parents of Sien had been married and now , in the early years of the fifties , the day was getting nearer and nearer that they all could commemorate the fortiest year of their marriage , and for this special occasion all of the children with all of their wives , husbands and children were invited to come to the island of Goeree-Overflakkee , to the village of Middelharnis , the place where the parents of Sien were living at the time - and so they all came on January 31 , 1953 , when already there was a strong wind blowing ........
But nevertheless Ben , Sien and daughter Elly went and traveled that day by bus , train and boat (it was still quite a complex journey in those days !) , from their hometown The Hague to their final destiny Middelharnis .
Since the following day happened to be a sunday , it was planned that they would all stay overnight in Middelharnis and , in the course of that following day would return homewards , to The Hague and to Rotterdam , the place where my father and his family used to live at the time , bút the next , following day was sunday the first of February in the year 1953 , one of the most notorious days and dates in the entire history of the Netherlands .........
During that night the southwest of the country was struck by an unforseen , unprecedented catastrophy . Due to a tragic combination of springtide and very heavy storm the dikes one after an other started collapsing and seawater started flooding parts of the country , including almost the entire island of Goeree-Overflakkee ánd the village of Middelharnis .....
And there they all were , right in the middle of the catastrophy , and to make things even more horific : notably that quarter of the village of Middelharnis where Sien , Ben and their daughter spent the night was severely hit by the water .....
But the worst , the very worst that might have happened to them all , like it happened to so many other fellow-sufferers in that area then , didn't occur , there díd come an end to this awful nightmare , since they ,and also all other members of my family , were finally rescued by means of boats , after many long , many véry long hours of intense life threatening feelings .........
The houses with all the furniture of several of my familymembers were completely lost in the Flood ....
The total psychological impact of the Flood on all the people who were right in the disaster area must has been beyond description and must have even lasted for years and years and years ....
Eventually Sien , Ben and Elly could return home , to The Hague , bút Sien's sister Ida and her family for instance , had lost everything , their house and all of their belongings , and where could these people stay now ?? For this reason Ida , her husband and son went along with Sien , Ben and Elly to The Hague and in the rather tiny appartement of Sien they all lived for months to come until new houses had been built in Middelharnis and they could return and settle again on the island .
* The year 1953 was an exceptional and highly dramatic year for most of my close familymembers , including my aunt Sien , her husband Ben and daughter Elly , leaving behind marks and scars in the minds of oh so many other inhabitants of the country .....
After that dramatic year of 1953 there wouldn't occur any life threatening event in the life of my aunt any longer , very fortunately !!
Her daughter Elly got married and had a baby . The happy marriage of Sien and Ben would last for 45 years , and finally ended on that very sad day in the month of September in the year 1991 with the rather sudden death of her husband Ben at he age of 74 .
12 years later my aunt Sien was struck my a very serious stroke , and though there was a slight recovery - so one might say that , once again , my aunt had managed to overcome a life threatening event in her life - the consequences of that stroke were so severe that my aunt had to spend the last year of her life in a nursery-home , both fysically and mentally very severely disabled ....
The light of the candle of her life started shining weaker and weaker , until , a few days before the turning of the year (2003/2004) she passed away , after a long life of 84 years , a life that míght have ended before it had really been started yet ......
~~~ I cherish all my good memories and feelings to both my dear uncle Ben and my dear aunt Sien - they will both stay in my mind , thoughts and heart for ever and ever .... ~~~
FRANCINA VAN DER GROEF (1919 - 2003) , a life hung by a thread .... three times even .....
# My dear aunt FRANCINA (SIEN) VAN DER GROEF at the age of about 18 years - the picture must have been taken in Middelharnis , her dwelling-place at the time , in the late thirties , when everything in the country of the Netherlands was still very quiet and peaceful , yet .......
# The life of my late aunt Francina van der Groef , born on February 20 , 1919 in the village of Middelharnis on the former island of Goeree-Overflakkee in the province of Zuid-Holland in the country of the Netherlands , did hang by a thread so to speak for indeed three times during her , what , against the odds , would turn out to become a rather long existence on this earth of more than 84 years ..... and the very first life threatening event even took place before she was born .........
The start of life of my aunt Francina , who was generally called Sien , can be described as highly dramatical ...
Sien was the daughter of Leendert van der Groef and of Pieternella van den Tol .
Before Sien came to this world , already two other children had been born within this family (and after Sien three more children would be born into the world) , bút when mother Pieternella was expecting Sien , the pregnancy would turn out to be quite different and much more difficult than the pregnancy had been and would be of all the other children ......
For the entire world , including the Netherlands , and therefore also including the island of Goeree-Overflakkee , the year 1918 was an exceptional and uncommon dramatic year , for two different reasons : 1918 was the last and decisive year of the first world war , and it was also the year in which the globe was confronted with one of the most severe epidemic deceases ever : the Spanish flu .....
In the course of the year 1918 , while being in expectation of her third child , Pieternella became sick , véry sick , so sick even that the doctor who was consulted started fearing for the life of both mother and unborn child , since Pieternella was diagnosed with ..... Spanish flu ...
Because of the gravity of the situation yet another doctor was consulted and this man , who must have been working in the city of Rotterdam a short time before , could not recollect one single case of a pregnant woman diagnosed with Spanish flu there who had survived ........
Without any exageration we can state that health conditions of both mother Pieternella and unborn child Sien were very alarming back in 1918 and both of their lives were really hanging by a very thin thread then ......... bút both mother and daughter surmounted this immense attack on their lives , completely recovered ánd were bound to live long lives !! Pieternella would finally pass away shortly before her 80th birthday and my aunt Sien would even reach the age of 84 (though I must add that throughout her life she remained convinced that several health problems she had to endure in her lifetime could be blamed on the fact that the first months of her unborn life had been under so severe and dangerous attack of that horrible decease)
* Without having been born yet Sien van der Groef had already gone through the eye of the life-needle ...... and certainly nót for the very last time in her existence ......
Being a young adult woman Sien left the island of Goeree-Overflakkee and moved to the city of The Hague where she , shortly after the war , married Bernardus (Ben) ten Wolde , the man who was the love of her life , the man with whom she would share the coming 45 years , 'in rain and shine' , but most certainly with the emphasis on the latter , fortunately !
But their long and happy matrimonial alliance could have been cruely interrupted as a result of two different events that took place in the years that followed the special and happy day of their marriage ....
In the years shortly after the end of the war , conditions of life in Holland were far from ideal . It was a time of reconstruction and prosperity wasn't bound to come within the coming years .
When for instance a stove had to be purchased (a coal-stove that is , since we still find ourselves somewhere in the forties ...) a lot of people couldn't effort to buy a new stove , and therefore had to buy a secondhand one , with possible dramatic consequences .....
Some day , on a ordinairy working-day of the week , Sien , Ben and their young daughter Elly woke up , all three suffering of some unexplainable complaints , like a strange feeling in the head and feelings of nausea . Though not feeling all that well , Ben decided to go to work and his complaints started disappearing like snow under a hot sun , for hím they did ........
Íf Lena ten Wolde , the mother of Ben , who was living in those days just around the corner of the street , hadn't decided to visit Sien and young daughter Elly that morning for a cup of coffee , and hadn't entered the house , thán that ordinairy working-day could very well have turned to a dramatic , sinister and horrible one ........
The moment Lena entered the living-room she was seized with fear when she saw both Sien and Elly in a dead faint lying on the floor of the room .......
Immediately Lena decided to open up all the windows of the room and , to her enormous relief , she witnessed that Sien and daughter Elly soon regained consciousness .
When , a short time later , mother and daughter were medically examined , it turned out that they both had been victim of carbon monoxide poisoning , due to a leaking coal-stove .......
What míght have happened to mother and child íf that day not a single visitor would have come to their home , is a horrid thought we all better not stop at for too long .........
* Just a few years later the lives of all three of them were once again under great threat .....
On January 31 , 1913 the parents of Sien had been married and now , in the early years of the fifties , the day was getting nearer and nearer that they all could commemorate the fortiest year of their marriage , and for this special occasion all of the children with all of their wives , husbands and children were invited to come to the island of Goeree-Overflakkee , to the village of Middelharnis , the place where the parents of Sien were living at the time - and so they all came on January 31 , 1953 , when already there was a strong wind blowing ........
But nevertheless Ben , Sien and daughter Elly went and traveled that day by bus , train and boat (it was still quite a complex journey in those days !) , from their hometown The Hague to their final destiny Middelharnis .
Since the following day happened to be a sunday , it was planned that they would all stay overnight in Middelharnis and , in the course of that following day would return homewards , to The Hague and to Rotterdam , the place where my father and his family used to live at the time , bút the next , following day was sunday the first of February in the year 1953 , one of the most notorious days and dates in the entire history of the Netherlands .........
During that night the southwest of the country was struck by an unforseen , unprecedented catastrophy . Due to a tragic combination of springtide and very heavy storm the dikes one after an other started collapsing and seawater started flooding parts of the country , including almost the entire island of Goeree-Overflakkee ánd the village of Middelharnis .....
And there they all were , right in the middle of the catastrophy , and to make things even more horific : notably that quarter of the village of Middelharnis where Sien , Ben and their daughter spent the night was severely hit by the water .....
But the worst , the very worst that might have happened to them all , like it happened to so many other fellow-sufferers in that area then , didn't occur , there díd come an end to this awful nightmare , since they ,and also all other members of my family , were finally rescued by means of boats , after many long , many véry long hours of intense life threatening feelings .........
The houses with all the furniture of several of my familymembers were completely lost in the Flood ....
The total psychological impact of the Flood on all the people who were right in the disaster area must has been beyond description and must have even lasted for years and years and years ....
Eventually Sien , Ben and Elly could return home , to The Hague , bút Sien's sister Ida and her family for instance , had lost everything , their house and all of their belongings , and where could these people stay now ?? For this reason Ida , her husband and son went along with Sien , Ben and Elly to The Hague and in the rather tiny appartement of Sien they all lived for months to come until new houses had been built in Middelharnis and they could return and settle again on the island .
* The year 1953 was an exceptional and highly dramatic year for most of my close familymembers , including my aunt Sien , her husband Ben and daughter Elly , leaving behind marks and scars in the minds of oh so many other inhabitants of the country .....
After that dramatic year of 1953 there wouldn't occur any life threatening event in the life of my aunt any longer , very fortunately !!
Her daughter Elly got married and had a baby . The happy marriage of Sien and Ben would last for 45 years , and finally ended on that very sad day in the month of September in the year 1991 with the rather sudden death of her husband Ben at he age of 74 .
12 years later my aunt Sien was struck my a very serious stroke , and though there was a slight recovery - so one might say that , once again , my aunt had managed to overcome a life threatening event in her life - the consequences of that stroke were so severe that my aunt had to spend the last year of her life in a nursery-home , both fysically and mentally very severely disabled ....
The light of the candle of her life started shining weaker and weaker , until , a few days before the turning of the year (2003/2004) she passed away , after a long life of 84 years , a life that míght have ended before it had really been started yet ......
~~~ I cherish all my good memories and feelings to both my dear uncle Ben and my dear aunt Sien - they will both stay in my mind , thoughts and heart for ever and ever .... ~~~