Saturday, May 5, 2018
I recently visited her in her apartment and she loved talking Dutch after so many years being in Canada. Together we drank tea and I promised her to come back soon to show a TV documentary about Dutch immigrants to Canada after WWII. Unfortunately, I am too late.
We remember "Mevrouw Hage" as a very strong and independent woman. She talked very warm over her children and grandchildren. She showed pictures from her childhood in the Netherlands and from her travels to her sister in New Zealand. Their farm in Noord Holland (near "Oude Zeug" was in the same county as were my husband grew up. The dike was bombed near their farm at the end of WWII. She and my parents-in-law as well as with my husband shared memories about the area together.
Even after she broke her hip last year, she recovered amazingly fast and was able to walk without a cane. In the summer of 2017, she visited us at our place in Brandon and sat down on our picnic table. She didn't want a comfortable chair but just wanted to sit at the picnic table. Even after her hip injury. She loved flowers and mentioned a few times that she loved speaking Dutch after so many years. I could even speak a few words "Frisian" with her.
She knitted many warm hats and covered coat hangers with crocheting. She recently gave me some of those coat hangers. I will keep them in warm memory of her.
We met in Brandon and came to know each other because her niece Tiny lives in the same street as my husbands' mother which is in the town of Wieringerwerf in the Netherlands.
Dear family, even we didn't met each other (yet), your mother and grandmother talked warmly over all of you. We will remember her with great gratitude. May she rest in peace.
Erik, Ingrid, Sophie and Marith Been
