Hendrik de Haan (1890-1981)

Hendrik de Haan (dutch link) was born 28 Mar 1890 in Nieuwe Pekela in Groningen. He was the eldest son of Ulpen de Haan en Geertje Starke, and the brother of my grandmother Afina de Haan, thus my granduncle. But because my grandmother married her 1st cousin, Hendrik is also my 1st cousin once removed.

He married Elina Kruidering in 1920, she died relatively young in 1948 at age 56. They had no children.

I remember we once visited Uncle Hendrik. It must have been the first year after my father died; we went on vacation to Leek, a small village in Groningen, about an hour from Winschoten. We had a car, my mother had learned to drive in the early sixties, before my father got sick (my father never drove.) Later my husband and I visited him once together, and he was a witness at our wedding.

Hendrik was a teacher, and later the principal of an elementary school. Of course, by the time we visited, he had been retired a long time. But he was full of stories and jokes. One of his sayings was: Eat desert first, if the house catches fire, you have had that at least. Not profound, but I do remember 🙂

When Hendrik died, we were already in the US, and we did not go back for his funeral. But I have some very fond memories of him