Elout and Adriane Starreveld

Adalei was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1934. She spent part of her childhood in a Japanese concentration camp where she helped her mother (a nurse) care for others. That experience inspired her to become a physician. She was an accomplished pianist, but when the time came to make a choice, she chose to study medicine. She continued to play piano her entire life, and enjoyed gardening and sewing.

Elout was born in Amsterdam in 1938. His early life was also deeply impacted by the war in the form of German invaders and bombs. He was a competitive rower in university and played tennis until last year. He was an avid woodsman, trapping beavers and building paths and bridges.

Elout was close friends with Ariaen, Adalei’s younger brother, with whom he attended medical school. That is how Adalei and Elout met. They were married on 20 November 1964.

They moved to Canada in 1973 with their three children, one of whom was only 6 weeks old. Trudy Walraven had already worked with Adalei in her practice since the age of 13 and loyally accompanied the young family to Canada helping them in integral ways as the children grew up.

Adalei was a family doctor in Holland for several years, retrained as a radiation oncologist in Canada, eventually becoming Director of Radiation Oncology at the Cross Cancer Institute. Elout redid his neurology training in Canada and had a private practice in Edmonton. He founded the Adult Convulsive Disorder Clinic at the Glenrose Hospital, and directed it for many years.

Elout wrote Oscar and His Second Life in 2021; a novel about a gifted pianist living with epilepsy. Adalei fine-tuned the manuscript, their daughter Anne helped edit it, and their granddaughter Mariah created the artwork for the cover.

They will be missed by their children: Yves (Tonya), Anne, and Tim (Laura), their grandchildren, Brennin (Kiara), Mariah, Darius (Mikala), and Belia, Nora, Maria, and great-grandchild, Christopher. Elout is survived by his brother Rogier.

A celebration of their lives will be held at the Royal Glenora Club (11160 River Valley Road NW, Edmonton) at 1pm on Sunday November 15, 2026.

In lieu of flowers, and to help continue their lifework, donate to Wellspring Cancer Support (https://wellspring.ca/alberta/ways-to-give/donate2026/) or the Edmonton Epilepsy Association (https://edmontonepilepsy.org/donate/).