I remember very well that in Drachten we did not yet have running water, but we had a pump. A copper pump inside and a big wooden pump outside. You had to swing the handle back and forth and then the water appeared. That was real water, right out of …
Here is the second letter, this one on the occasion of Afina‘s (dutch link) birthday. Nieuwe Pekela, Dec 1918 Dear Son and Daughter, Today we are reminded of your birthday, Afina, hoping you will pass that day in health, we stand before a new year, hoping that we will be …
In 1918 my grandparents Ulpen (dutch link) and Afina de Haan had moved from Groningen to Limburg, a very long distance in those days. I’m sure they missed their family, but Ulpen’s job required it. Two letters from Afina’s parents to the young couple have survived. Here is the first one. …
My maternal grandmother was a large woman, tall (of course I was little) and by present standards definitely overweight. Her thin white hair, braided into a thin braid and then twisted into a bun, made her round face ever rounder. When she combed her hair out at night, it was …
My maternal grandparents Ulpen and Afina de Haan (dutch link) were the first ones in the family to have a car! It was a Goggomobil, a German micro car. Here they are standing proudly next to car. Their license class did not allow them to go faster than 20 km …
