More on Mom & Dad

Dad worked at his family's bicycle shop - they had their own brand of bike - the Houvest brand. Hou - from Houben, and Vest - from Vesjtens (my dad's mom's maiden name). He often rode his bike from farm to farm trading for food. He also won many bicycle races in Heerlen!





Here is a photo of dad's family - in the centre in the white shirt is my grandfather, most of the older people around him are dad's sisters, brothers & their spouses, and the kids in front are the grandkids (or dad's nieces & nephews.








Here is another earlier picture of the Houben family. Grandpa Houben is on the left in the light coloured suit.



I will do a separate post on my grandparents.

Mom and dad lived at dad's home initially when they got married. They had a stillborn son, and then on March 24 1952 they had my eldest brother - Antoon Mathais Houben.

Then in July of the same year they emmigrated to Canada and settled on the west coast in British Columbia. They came by ship on the Rotterdam. I still have the menu's from the ship and they are in my scrapbook!

The next set of posts will be on the Grandparents... then I will do each of my brothers & sisters.