Brother Hans sent me a letter that Opa Willem sent to us in 1961. Het talks about his stay there and the heat. Some things in the letter were unknown to me. Cousin Betty Victory explains.
Letter
Friday, August 18, 1961
Beloved ones,
John, Fran, and the kids, congratulations on your birthdays! Those days just keep passing me by. Can you please lean back a bit for me, Fran, as I’m still having issues with worms. How is everyone doing? It’s been a while since I’ve heard from you.
I heard from someone, though I don’t remember who, that Fran went home with Rudy because Rudy was sick. (RS 2025: presumably the family was on Ameland) Is that better now? That was surely due to all that bad weather. You really hit a rough patch, especially with that terrible weather.
Well, today is quite different here, it’s 88° and it has been like this every day, not just this summer, but they say it’s like this every summer. Since I’ve been here, we’ve had four thunderstorms, and otherwise, it has never rained during this time. They seem to like it here, but I do not. You definitely need a few years to get used to it, but I can’t stand it.
Here everything else is still fine. It’s a pity that Klaas is so incredibly busy. He often leaves at 6:00 AM and usually doesn’t come home until after eight. I’m here every day with Annie and the kids. They only have a little over three months of vacation, and that gets boring in the end.
By the way, they have plenty of space here, and it’s all sand. The new house they are currently working on has thirteen are of land as well. That’s about 100 meters back from here. It’s beautiful land, all sandy soil on a sand hill, six feet above the road, with 25 lovely oak trees surrounding the house.
In about three weeks, it should be finished. The bricklayer is currently working on the wall around it. He is a Latvian who speaks Russian, German, and English, but he doesn’t know Dutch. I go there quite often, but of course, I can’t communicate with him. Yesterday, I was busy shoveling sand for the garage, but it was too hot for me to do much. It’s a double garage, where they can fit both their car and small truck.
I don’t think she will want to have it for long. It has already been bid at $18,000 (it costs $15,000). He is asking for $22,000 and it seems to me that it will be sold quickly for that price.
The money is nice, but then they will never have a permanent place, and yet that must be the case because Klaas has actually become a half wreck with both of his falls.
That’s why he also started with Jan Kersaan. But it’s going terribly wrong. He wants to stop again, but it’s not that easy. They have forms worth $7,000, a big truck for $5,000, and a smaller one for $2,200. Jan has paid for it, but Klaas is of course responsible for half if they stop, and it can’t continue like this. He’s just slacking off and does everything wrong when Klaas isn’t around. Recently, they even built walls that were 10 centimeters crooked. Klaas is furious, and that news spreads throughout the whole city from one contractor to another. Then you lose your customers.
Auke sometimes goes out in the evening with me to different places. Last Saturday, van Biesen and his wife picked me up. That woman is a sister of Mrs. Pijp from Noordwolde. Then we went to Olthof. He is married to a sister of vegetable Pijp from Zuidwolde. I need to send them my regards. They live quite a way outside the city.
On Monday, Klaas, Annie, I, Jan Unreadable, an old Ten Boerster, and his wife – a daughter of shoemaker Huizinga from Bedum, are going out for a day. In a week from tomorrow, we will go to P. van der Sluis. It will be quite a journey, they live 500 km away from Chicago. I should probably stop now.
I have often encouraged Klaas and Annie to write, but they haven’t done it. Best regards to everyone from all,
Pa
Memories Betty Victory
I remember some of the things that Opa talks about in his letter. Mom told the story that it was summer when Opa was by us and very hot. Opa was wearing his woolen underwear and Tshirts. Mom went to the store and bought him cotton under things and Opa was so happy with the lighter under things. My Dad worked in construction pouring concrete walls, sidewalks, driveways, etc. But, he couldn’t do this type of work in the winter. So, he would buy lots and build houses on them during the winter. He would then either sell the house and make a little profit or we would live in them for several years and then sell them. When Opa came by us, Dad had sold the house we were living in but, the new house was not ready yet. So, we lived in an old rental house that was joined by the yard to the new house Dad was building. The old house we were living in had mice. So, Opa would set mouse traps and when he had caught a mouse, he would take the dead mouse and drop it in the hole where the new house was to be built. I often walked with him across the lots to do this. I also remember that the new house had a big flower box built on the front. Dad and Opa would go to a farm of a friend and get horse manure and Ope would shovel the horse manure into the flower box.
The new house we lived in before Opa came had no garage. So, one winter Dad built a garage onto the house. On the back of the house/garage it was very high off the ground so Dad had to stand on a ladder. It was winter, the ladder was on snow and ice. And when Dad was on the top of the ladder, it slipped and he fell more than 20 feet. He was in the hospital for quite a while with a broken ankle and wrist. He also had multiple cuts and bruises. He was in a cast for 9 months. That was a bad time for our family because Dad couldn’t work so there was no money coming in. That’s why he was always working when Opa came by us. Plus he was in business for himself which also meant working all the time.
The business with Jan Kersaan did not go well. Dad did end that partnership and continue on in the business by himself.
I was just 4 years old when Opa was by us. But, I remember him a bit. He used to sit on the couch with his legs crossed. We would sit on his foot and he would swing his leg up and down.
Auke was not married yet. He was going to college and during the summer he would work for my Dad. He and Anita were dating at the time that Opa was by us. When Auke and Dad brought Opa to New York for the voyage back to the Netherlands, they visited with Anita’s parents who lived in New Jersey.
Sad to say but there are no pictures of Opa when he was by us. There are no pictures at all of those years. Do you think Aunt Anita would have any pictures?
Piet Vander Sluis that he wrote about was a brother to Oom Klaas Vander Sluis.
I hope you are doing well and life is treating you good.
Betty