My father, Hendrik de Jong, assisted my mother during my birth, something I have been excluded from doing when I became the father of seven children. Since I was the third baby in the de Jong family, my father was by now somewhat used to the hectic activities surrounding a home birth. I’m told that I wasn’t a lively new-born … probably all that fat was in the way!

My father came from Terschelling, an island in the northern part of the Netherlands. There were too many brothers to continue working on the family farm, thus one became a baker, another brother become a butcher, another a sea-captain and my Dad went to the school where supervisors were formed. These supervisors were the core of a newly formed company, Nederlandsche Heidemaatschappij. The population of the Netherlands had almost doubled between 1900 and 1930. More food was needed and more agricultural areas to grow that food. My Dad would change sandy heather regions into fertile soil, make sure that clay grounds would be drained from excess water, dig canals to dump all that water in the ocean, etc. etc.

Hendrik de Jong was a quiet man, like most of his brothers. He would never forget the island Terschelling where he grew up. With his growing family he vacationed on that island from year to year, and it was during these vacations that he almost became a changed man … he was home again!