Christmas letter of 2013

December 1, 2013

Greetings to All,

… and may you all have a healthy, happy, and safe Christmas and New Year. Here in Barriere, we are all doing well and slowly getting used to Dad not being here with us.

The first part of the year, Wim and I were busy keeping up with the bills and with Sylvia’s help, getting the estate all sorted out and into our names. This has all been completed, so we are all set for the time being. The bills… well, that’s a work in progress. (Isn’t it always!)

In July, Antoon asked if he could stay with us for a while, so he has moved in, here in Barriere. Initially, he came with three dogs, Kidu, Charlotte, and Maggie – all lovely (big) dogs. Two of the dogs, Maggie and Charlotte, actually belong to his previous roommate, and eventually Maggie was sent back to that roommate who had in the meantime moved to California. Kidu and Charlotte are still with us. Antoon, and sometimes Wim, take them several times a day for rambling walks all around Barriere. During the summer they got to play in the river; they’ve chased deer a few times; and now they are getting used to snow. This is Charlotte:

Antoon has been a great help so far, doing some odd jobs around the house (with Wim’s help, of course), such as the fencing in of the back yard, so that the dogs have a nice, safe area to play in – and so that they don’t go around chasing our neighbour’s chickens! You should hear Charlotte when she gets excited (like when she sees a horse) – you’d think someone was killing her! She is slowing getting used to horses and other ‘strange’ things.

Cleo, my cat, was initially quite put-out about having dogs in the house. She is now 17 years old, and not very fast anymore. She is also quite scared of dogs. Luckily, we are able to keep the dogs out of most of the house, so she’s getting used to things again. This last month (November) she’s started coming back upstairs again on a regular basis, and, while her ears twitch a bit when she hears them bark, she no longer runs back downstairs at the sound. She’s also getting used to seeing Antoon and only runs from him if he moves particularly fast. Last week, for the first time, she actually sat on Wim’s lap! Yay!!!

We’ve got another great-niece on the way. My niece Donna, who lives in Australia, is pregnant and is expecting a girl! Yay!!! The baby is due in mid December. All the rest of our nieces and nephews and their children are doing well. I hope all our cousins and their extended families are doing well also!

Sylvia has moved to her own little basement suite – still in Merritt, though. If any of you want to write to her, her new mailing address is Box 1925, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8.

Robert and Loretta still live in Vancouver and are writing their own Christmas letter to everyone on their letter writing list.

Merina has been doing well in her studies which are still ongoing. She’s had a variety of marks: C, C+, B-, B and A (not necessarily in that order). She doesn’t have full time work, so she is struggling a bit with raising enough funds each semester for her tuition fees. Otherwise she is doing well. For those of you wishing to send her a Christmas card or letter… she has moved again. Her new address is 7116 Fleming St., Vancouver, BC, V5P 3H9, Canada.

The garden is doing nicely, with the grapes in the front yard growing every year. This coming spring I will need to make a bit of a trellis for them to climb. After last fall’s pruning, all the trees did pretty well, except for the apple trees. There was only one apple this year. Next year should be much better. The cherry and plum trees had lots of fruit busy forming, then we had a sharp frost which killed pretty much all of the cherries, but only a few of the plums. Hopefully this spring there won’t be a late frost. The pear tree was covered, and I had to pinch off most of the fruit as it would have killed the poor tree (it’s still quite small). I ended up with about 17 or 18 pears. Yum! My work on the Family Tree is going well. If you want to see what I’ve got, go to geneanet.org and search for the surname ‘Houben’ from the town of ‘Sevenum’… then look down the resulting list for entries by ‘nebuoh’ – that is my ‘name’ on that sight (it is Houben backwards). All but the most recent additions are there. I will eventually update it with the latest additions. For those of you on Mom’s side of the family, if you have a chance to look at it, please let me know if you have any names or corrections to the information for me. I would greatly appreciate it!


In September, for the World Wide Paint Out, which the local Art Council participated in, I did some painting for the first time in about 7 years… here’s one of the resulting paintings:

How are all of you – friends and relatives – doing? Are you all well? Happy? Any new additions to your families? Pets?

I wish all of you all the very best for the Holidays and God’s Blessings for 2014!

Merry Christmas to all and a very happy and healthy New Year!

Fröhliche Weihnachten und Ein Glückliches Neues Jahr!

Prettige Kerstdagen en een gelukkig Nieuwe Jaar!


Love,
 Margaret, Wim, and Antoon!

Also found - two letters!

Along with the tags and employment stuff, Sylvia also found two letters - both of which where received by mom and dad during their first months here in Canada.

The first is dated August 13, 1952 (they came over on the boat in June of 1952).  According to the envelope, it is from a J. H. Haan of Brunssummerweg N.30, Nieuneendagen bij (Heerlen).  The postage cancellation stamp on the back of the envelope is dated Sep. 23, 2pm, 1952, Vancouver, BC Canada.  It was addressed to Heer Houben, 1555 Robson Street, Vancouver BC Canada, but the 1555 Robson Street is crossed off in pencil, with c/o Fred Deely, Bicycle Dept. written next to the original address.

The letter itself is in Dutch and therefore rather tricky to read, but the gist is that the writer is hoping come out for a visit.  (If I'm wrong please correct me... my Dutch isn't the best.)

 

The other letter is dated November 20, 1952 and was mailed from Brazil (note postage stamp on back of envelope, and one of the cancellations also mentions Brazil.  It was addressed to Mr & Mrs Ant. Houben, 2085 W 8th Ave., Vancouver, BC Canada.

 

The letter is from a Padre Jaime, or Father Jaime... possibly the priest who married them?? Not entirely sure though, that is just a guess.  The letter, as was the previous one, is in Dutch.

Exciting items found in garage!

Well, it's been a while, but found something very worth while to upload here.  While getting the garage ready for the sale last weekend, Sylvia found the following items.

From when mom & dad emigrated to Canada - their luggage tags!

The top two are the same - one shows the front, the other the back, and the third one is different and has nothing on the reverse.

The next two items were for dad's first major employment in Canada - working for Alcan!

I had to fiddle with the exposure on this one, as it was very faded.  It says:
Aluminum Company of Canada, Limited
Kitimat Works
Place - Vancouver B.C.
Date - July 7th 1954
Transportation and room and board agreement
It is understood and agreed:
(1) That I, the undersigned, will purchase my own transportation fare from Vancouver to Kitimat
(2) Tha the sum of $49.00 will be refunded to me in full when I have completed six months satisfactory service (not to be less than 140 working days, as defined under the Company's regulations Governing the Status of Employees and the Computatin of their continuous service)
(3) That until such time as I elect to occupy married quarters at the job site the Company will supply me with room and board at the rate of $2.00 per day for dormitory or winterized hut accommodation, or at the rate of $2.50 per day if I occupy a single room, the charge for which is to be deducted from my wages.
(4) Tha the room and board provision set out in (3) above, will be subject to review by the Company and may at any time after August 1st, 1954, be amended, revised or cancelled in its entirety.
Signed... (dad's signature)
Witness...(another signature)
Personnel Manager or Agent
(To be prepared and signed in duplicate.  Original to be retained for Company file and duplicate to be given to employee.)

The other form is the employment agreement and is not as faded:

Christmas Greetings, Dec 13, 2012

 click on the 'pictures' to see larger version or to print

Gone Home - Antoon (Tony) Houben

                               Antoon (Tony) Houben
                      March 26, 1928 – August 10, 2012

It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden passing of our father, Antoon Houben, on August 10, 2012.  He was born on March 26, 1928 in Heerlen, Limburg, the Netherlands. He was the second youngest of 12 children.
He is predeceased by his wife Ruth; both his parents; his brothers Jan, Scra, Sjef, Piet, Harry, and Leo; and sisters Mia and Dienje.  He is survived by his sisters Lieske, Nelly and Jo; his sons, Antoon, Wim and Robert (Loretta); and his daughters Merina Matthew (Fred), Sylvia Boyd (Gary), and Margaret Houben.  He is also survived by his six grandchildren, Leah May Lynn (Kevin), Tammy Lynn Leavitt (Ethan), Donna Lee Pidgeon (Daniel), Jared Monds (Laura), Matthew John Robert Houben, and Ruth Elizabeth Akefa Azu (Sam); as well as nine great grand children.
Tony grew up in Heerlen, Limburg, the Netherlands where he worked at the family bicycle and electric shop.  He was an active scout before, during and after the war, and indeed, was involved in scouting right up to the end, being an active member of the 28th Baden-Powell Guild in Kamloops.  As a scouter he received several awards, including the medal of merit and the bar to the medal of merit.
He met his wife Ruth, square-dancing at the Hexeberg. They were married on May 17, 1950 and emigrated to Canada in 1952, coming straight over to B.C. where they remained.  They celebrated their 50th Anniversary in 2000, with all their children around them.  The following year Ruth passed away.
Tony worked as a millwright for many years before he retired, working at a variety of mills, from Alcan in Kitimat, to Fraser Mills in New Westminster.  He was a hard worker, but still found time to do things with his children.  He enjoyed going for long drives with all of us packed in the car, and would often find the most unlikely of roads to explore.
He moved to Barriere in 1994 with his wife, Ruth and son, Wim.  He loved it here in Barriere and enjoyed the small town life, making many friends.
Tony had a great sense of humour and liked teasing and joking with those he met.  Often, when asked how he felt, he would respond “very carefully, I don’t want to get my face slapped”, or if asked how he was doing, he’d reply with a grin: “without”.    He will be greatly missed by all his family.
The service will be on August 25, at St. George’s Catholic Church, 5024 Barriere Town Road, at 11 a.m.  The reception will be shortly after the service, at 1 p.m. at the Barriere Senior’s Centre, 4433 Barriere Town Road.
Those wishing to make a donation are asked to donate to Scouts Canada or any scout group in their area.

Thank you to North Thompson Funeral Services for handling the arrangements.

Coffee HAG

Aha! - found out what Coffee HAG is - wikipeadia had it -
Café HAG is a worldwide brand of decaffeinated coffee owned by U.S. multinational Kraft Foods.
The brand originated in Bremen in Germany in 1906 and took its name from the company title Kaffee Handels-Aktien-Gesellschaft, or Kaffee HAG for short.

Ship's final menu for June 21, 1952

This is the last one, the "farewell" dinner menu. There are 4 pictures, the front and back cover first, and then the inside two pages - it was too big to scan the outsides and insides as one shot each.