Flying Dutchmen Twins

Our Parents

Dina DeVries and Hendrik VanNoord met in Holland.   When the Germans occupied Holland in mid 1940, she was pregnant with the twins, Hans and Jan.   Dina was very dexterous, like so many Dutch during the war.  Hans and Jan remember sleeping in a haymow, with mice, because their home had been bombed.  Dina mended their socks by a homemade candle in the dark.  Two more children arrived after the war --  Tirza, and Will Van Noord.  They emigrated from Holland to Canada in 1956.  Hendrik taught carpentry, and Dina taught piano.

For a well written history of the Dutch life under the Third Reich, google "A Forgotten Chapter:  Holland Under the Third Reich."

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  Mother, Father, Hans, Jan, and Tirza
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  Tirza, Mom, Will, and Dad
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  Hans, Jan, Tirza, Mom and Dad
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  Father
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  Grandmother & Grandfather
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  Hans & Jan as kids
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  Mamma
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  Mamma
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  Mamma & Tirza
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  Mamma in Dutch costume
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  Mom on James Arness' boat, "Sea Smoke"
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  Mom, sitting on KFC's Colonel Sanders lap, with Jannie
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  Mom
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  One of Mom's favorite photos: Jans and Han
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  Hans, in the Royal Canadian Guards, as a sharpshooter
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  Dad built this clock; everyone in the family has one.
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  Jan is in the top middle; in the Royal Canadian Artillery
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  Mom and Will on Hans' ski-boat
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  Dad, Hans, Jan, and Mom
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  Hans, Jan, Mom, Dad, and Tirza
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  In Europe, before the family emigrated to Canada