Antoon Mathjis Houben is the eldest; while we called him Tony when we were little, he now likes to be called Antoon. He is the only one of us kids not born in Canada.
He was born in Heerlen, Limberg, the Netherlands, on March 26th 1952, weighing 7lbs 8oz, (3.4kg), 51cm.
Here is a photo of mom & dad & Antoon just after they had emmigrated to Canada.
Taking after his dad, he was active in scouting, and attended several Jamborees and has many a tale to tell if one thinks to ask.
Knowing how to cook and his enjoyment in cooking probably stems back to his days as a scout... when on camping trips the boys (from about scout age and up) were expected to cook for themselves.
Here is a pic of Antoon and the next eldest, Wim, playing with their chemistry set. In the photo you can just see the red ceiling - it is red for a reason!
(Too many explosions!)
He is very bright - he skipped 2 years in high school and attended the University of BC from 1968 to 1971... he was 16 when he started at the University!
And just imagine, when he was in university, computers filled rooms and used punch cards!!!!
We were all very proud of him!
It wasn't easy for him either when he was in university, because in Nov of 1971 we moved from Burnaby to Mission. This meant he had to stay behind - move out on his own.
Mom felt bad having to do this, but they were being evicted by the owner of the house they were renting, and the only places they could afford to buy were out in the valley.
Things worked out well in the long run - he is a very successful computer programmer; he has travelled around the world (Russia, Australia, Germany... to name a few places); and he is a great brother!
Here he is in a recent photo with my sister Sylvia and her grandson Jack.
I love the first photo; I hadn't seen it before! What a neat post.
ReplyDeleteCorrection. The last word of your post should be "Daniel."
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