Thea

I was born in the Netherlands. My father worked for a co-op, and he wasn’t making a lot of money. There were six kids at the time, and my mother was pregnant, so we came to Canada. We landed at Pier 21 in Halifax. I was so young, so I don’t remember much, but I went back to Pier 21, and it is amazing.

I didn’t speak a word of English. After landing in Halifax, we came to Picton on Thursday, and I started school on Monday. We picked everything up through osmosis. I remember my sister was sick, and I had to tell a nun that she was sick, but the only word I knew was puke, and I knew that wasn’t the right word.

I worked for a little while, and then I got married in 1967. I worked at Stacey’s, which is mainly a clothing store, but they also sold other things. I started as an elevator girl and then ended up being the front cashier. I liked the job, but I was pregnant and felt so sick that I just couldn’t do it anymore. I was a homemaker, and we had two kids. Then, we became foster parents. I did it for eight years and 64 kids in total, mostly infants. I remember, as a teenager, walking down Montreal Street to go to the library and seeing a little kid, four or five years old, sitting on the sidewalk by himself. All I wanted to do was pick him up and take him home. I also had a friend whose parents were foster parents, and that really inspired me.

After that, I went back to college. I didn’t finish high school, so I got my GED and went to St. Louis College for three years to be a child youth worker. I worked for Children’s Aid for a while as a Parent Aid, which involved going to the home to help parents with handling kids, grocery shopping, and that sort of thing. It was mostly single parents. Then, I worked as an Educational Assistant for the Limestone School Board. I had a bunch of different jobs. I also did surveys for a health unit for a while.

I have two boys and five grandchildren. I have six brothers and sisters, and I was the third oldest. My family was kind of divided up, always the three oldest and the four youngest. I

think being a middle child does make you more independent. Now, I have one brother here, a brother in BC, a sister in Calgary, a brother in Kitchener, a sister in Peterborough, and a brother in Nova Scotia. We’re really from one end of the country to another. I took a trip with Maple Leaf Tours to go to Halifax to see my brother. I told Maple Leaf Tours, “You’re going to have to do something to the West so I can go see my sister.” We’re really quite close.

I volunteer three times a week at the senior centre, and I’m taking a course on cross-stitching. I’ve done it forever, so I don’t really need a course, but it’s a social thing. I used to knit too. When my husband was alive, we went for a drive every week, and I knit mittens in the car. In November, I sold 31 pairs of mittens. I like to keep busy.

I encourage everyone to have a hobby. I think sometimes kids don’t have hobbies. I also tell people that when they retire, do something. Don’t just retire; you have to retire to something.