Cemetery of Witteveen
The topic of the 5th GYR carnival is Obituaries:
The “challenge” for the July 2009 edition of the GYR Carnival is obituaries. That’s right! This one is going to be a challenge of sorts. The “rules” are quite simple: Find a grave, then find the obituary, or vice versa.
That is indeed a challenge: Obituaries are uncommon in The Netherlands. Celebrities get newspaper obituaries, of course, but most other people only have a death announcement.
Some associations publish obituaries in their own publications, though, for those who played an important role for the association. An obituary like that will focus on what the deceased meant for the association, and usually not have any genealogical information.
Theodorus Joannes Adrianus Gerardus Pardoen (1915-1978) – my grandfather – did a lot for the NCGOV, the protestant association of the Dutch temperance movement, and the NCGOV published the obituary below when he passed away. I will talk about the NCGOV in a future post, as it played an important role in my family history. The NCGOV was declining at the time of my grandfather’s death, but all four of my grandparents were still a member at the time.
I will not transcribe and translate the entire obituary here, just the first and last paragraph. If you understand Dutch, you can read the text for yourself. Click to enlarge.
In memoriam
| In memoriam Theo J.G.A. Pardoen | In memoriam Theo J.G.A. Pardoen |
|---|---|
| Op 24 januari j.l. overleed op de leeftijd van 63 jaar Theo Pardoen. Misschien zullen er velen zijn, aan wie deze naam niets of slechts weinig zegt. Maar tal van oud-schakelleden zullen zich hem herinneren, als een voortreffelijke drankbestrijder van-de-oude-stempel, een man, die in al zijn bescheidenheid, met overtuiging stond voor de zaak, die hem lief was. | On 24 January [1978] passed away at the age of 63 Theo Pardoen. Maybe there will be many, for whom this name does not ring a bell. But many former schakel members will remember him to be an excellent old-style teetotaller, a man who stood with conviction for the cause that was so dear to him. |
| [..] | [..] |
| Bij de velen, die hem toen dankbaar hebben herdacht, voegen ook wij ons met al die “oude” drankbestrijders, voor wie hij een voorbeeldige medestrijder was. Mogen zijn weduwe en zijn kinderen moet putten uit de wetenschap, dat hun man en vader voor velen veel heeft betekend. | We join the many, who commemorated him at [the funeral], with all those “old” abstainers, for whom he was an exemplary fellow-abstainer. May his widow and children be comforted by the knowledge, that their husband and father meant much to many. |
Note: Schakel is the youth club of the NCGOV. My grandparents first met at an outing of Schakel, and in later years they were both youth leaders at Schakel.
Images: Top: The tombstone in 2005. Above: Obituary in the NCGOV publication. Below: Death announcement in the newspaper (names of children and grandchildren removed for privacy reasons). Bottom: The grave in 1978, a few days after the funeral. Photos ©Van Kampen family, all rights reserved.
Newspaper death announcement
The grave shortly after the funeral
Henk, I very much this post about your grandfather. I admire his determination and his abstinence. The grave markers are beautiful, too, as well as the park-like setting. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks Judy.
It’s a beautiful cemetery, but a bit far from where I live. That’s why I did not take a photo for this blog post, but used an old photo.
BTW, abstinence played a big role in my family history. My grandmother (now 94) is probably the only teetotaller left in my family.
How wonderful to have all this information about your family!And that is a lovely headstone.Thank you for sharing!