Meindert "Mike" Hendrik de Jong

On his 35th birthday, August 21, 1972, Mike de Jong emigrated from the Netherlands to the United States. With him were his wife, Ronny; their daughters, Annemieke and Jacqueline; their ten-week-old son, Dennis; and their Chow Chow, Roy.

Meindert Hendrik de Jong was born in Weert, North Brabant, the Netherlands, on August 21, 1937, to Hendrik de Jong and Cefina Johanna Stenvers. The family later moved to Rotterdam. On May 10, 1940, German forces bombed Rotterdam and invaded the Netherlands. During the final year of the five-year war, known as the Hunger Winter, Mike was sent to live with his grandparents in the north, where food was somewhat less scarce.

After his parents divorced, Mike lived with his father and his father's new family in Ede until he was ready to pursue his higher education. In 1956, he graduated from Textile College in Enschede. He then spent six months working for Etam, a loungewear and lingerie company in The Hague, while awaiting his military service. It was there that he met his future wife, Ronny, then a freshman studying English at Leiden University. They became engaged in 1960.

In the army, Mike quickly demonstrated his leadership abilities and was admitted to officer training in Amsterdam, graduating as a first lieutenant. Following his military service, he worked as an assistant textile buyer at De Bijenkorf, a large department store in Amsterdam. When he learned of an opportunity to spend a year and a half in the United States under the auspices of the Netherland-America Foundation, he applied and was accepted. He was scheduled to leave for New York on January 13, 1961.

On December 23, 1960, while traveling by train with Ronny to their parents' home for Christmas, they decided to marry and begin their American adventure together. Following a lovely wedding and reception in Nijmegen on January 10, 1961, they left for New York and settled in Corona, Queens.

Both found work in New York City. Mike joined Bloomingdale's, the renowned department store on Lexington Avenue, while Ronny worked for Dutch Cheese Exporters at Rockefeller Plaza.

After a year in New York, Mike accepted a position with a supplier to Sears, Roebuck and Co. in Los Angeles, where they lived for another six months.

In August 1962, Mike and Ronny returned to the Netherlands, where Mike went to work for the Menko Textile company in Enschede. Their daughter Annemieke was born in 1964. Mike was later promoted to production manager at Kerssemakers, a knitting mill and subsidiary of Menko in Beek en Donk, and the family moved to nearby Son. Their daughter Jacqueline was born in 1966. When the knitting mill relocated to Enschede in 1971, Mike accepted a position as vice president of Kijo-Tricot, a baby-clothing manufacturer in Tilburg.

Six months later, Mike received an offer to become production manager for the John Fulmer Company, a women's and children's sportswear company in Montebello, California. He decided to wait until the birth of their son, Dennis, before making the move.

And so, on his 35th birthday, Mike emigrated to the United States with his family. They settled in Pasadena, California, and Mike became a Rotarian in 1973.

After one year with the Fulmer Company, Mike left to become vice president of Cole of California, the celebrated swimwear company. Three years later, he returned to the Fulmer Company as a vice president. Mike was efficient, dependable and exceptionally well organized - qualities that benefited every company and organization he served.

In August 1990, after all three children had left home to pursue their college educations, Mike retired from the corporate world. He and Ronny moved to the Big Island of Hawai'i, where they had purchased a home in Onomea in celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary. Mike joined the Rotary Club of Hilo Bay, became active in the Hawai'i Island Chamber of Commerce and served as deputy director of the Hawai'i Tropical Botanical Garden. Their all-time favorite church was the Hilo Coast United Church of Christ in the small town of Honomu.

After twelve years, gases from the ongoing Kilauea eruption led Mike and Ronny to return to the mainland. They built their dream home in Hassayampa, a gated golf-course community in Prescott, Arizona, where they lived for fifteen years. From 2006 through 2009, Mike served as director and treasurer of United Way of Yavapai County.

Before Mike's 80th birthday, he and Ronny decided to move to North Carolina to be closer to one of their children. After five years in a garden cottage at a retirement community in Cary, they purchased a lovely home in Apex, even closer to their son and his family.

During his final years, Mike faced increasing mobility challenges and slowly progressing dementia.

Mike was a man of integrity and punctuality. He loved traveling, particularly throughout the South Pacific, and listening to the music of André Rieu. He was a happy man who deeply loved his family and his dogs - and whose love for his Ronnetje never wavered.

Every other year, in celebration of their wedding anniversary, Mike and Ronny brought the entire family together for a reunion. These gatherings gave them the great joy of watching their grandchildren grow and of keeping their family close across the years and miles.

Mike is survived by Ronny, his devoted wife of 65 years; his daughters, Annemieke (Leslie) and Jacqueline; his son, Dennis (Stephanie); and his seven grandchildren, Jack, Morgan, Ben, Lindsay, Chandler, Luke and Grant. He is also survived by his brother, Frank (Silvia), and his sister, Truus (Laurens).

He was preceded in death by his parents and his sisters, Fitan de Jong and Els de Jong.

Above all, Mike will be remembered for the life he built with Ronny, the family he cherished and the steady devotion with which he cared for them throughout their remarkable journey together.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Hawai'i Tropical Botanical Garden at https://hawaiitropicalbioreserveandgarden.donation.veevartapp.com/donation/view/home/mike-h-de-jong-memorial-fund