# On this picture , taken in the thirties , in or around the year 1931 , three very close relatives of mine were being portrayed as children - from left to right :
> my father WILLEM VAN DER GROEF
> my uncle AREN VAN DER GROEF
> my uncle CORNELIS VAN DER GROEF
Cornelis (Cor) and Willem (Wim) van der Groef were twin-brothers , but as you can see - beyond any reasonable doubt I might add - they were definitely part of a nón-identical pair of twins ...
The three brothers were all born in the little town of Middelharnis on Goeree-Overflakkee in the Netherlands , thén still a island , but after the devastating flood ('de Ramp') on February 1st 1953 , the Dutch authorities decided to link the island to the mainland with bridges and dams , but in the early thirties Goeree-Overflakkee (or 'Flakkee' in the language of the people) still very much was an (isolated) island .
These three brothers , including their two sisters , their parents , their spouses and other members of the family , were all victims of that horrific water-disaster in 1953 that took away , in one single day , the lifes of more than 1800 people ; also my family members lost a lot of their possessions , some of them even lost their houses , bút , most importantly , none of them lost their lifes or got seriously injured , so that after some time , normal life could continue , though their common fear of stormy weather would never seem to go away ......
The three brothers were all born in the little town of Middelharnis on Goeree-Overflakkee in the Netherlands , thén still a island , but after the devastating flood ('de Ramp') on February 1st 1953 , the Dutch authorities decided to link the island to the mainland with bridges and dams , but in the early thirties Goeree-Overflakkee (or 'Flakkee' in the language of the people) still very much was an (isolated) island .
These three brothers , including their two sisters , their parents , their spouses and other members of the family , were all victims of that horrific water-disaster in 1953 that took away , in one single day , the lifes of more than 1800 people ; also my family members lost a lot of their possessions , some of them even lost their houses , bút , most importantly , none of them lost their lifes or got seriously injured , so that after some time , normal life could continue , though their common fear of stormy weather would never seem to go away ......
None of the three brothers is alive any longer , regrettably .
My father Wim van der Groef lived from 1920 until 1984 , his brother Arend , the youngest brother and also the youngest child within the family , lived from 1922 until 1994 , and finally , their brother Cor van der Groef , who was born in the same year and on exactly the same day as my father (which seems to happen quite a lot with twins .....) passed away in the year 1994 .
They were married with children , grandchildren , one or two great-grandchildren by now , and in a while possibly ........well , who knows ....?!?
They were married with children , grandchildren , one or two great-grandchildren by now , and in a while possibly ........well , who knows ....?!?
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten