Ann "Ans" de Jongh

Ann "Ans" de Jongh, beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and the last of her family's storytellers, passed away on October 27, 2026, at the age of 89, after a battle with cancer. Her life spanned three countries and three cultures, and her story is one of remarkable resilience.

Ans was born on January 9, 1937, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the youngest child of Jan and Annie Verspeten. In 1942, when she was just five years old, she, her mother, and her sisters were taken by the Japanese to the Sewoe Galor internment camp, where her mother served as camp leader for nearly 500 women and children. Ans endured hunger and hardship there, and the family later mourned her brother John, who died at 19 in a Japanese labor camp in Burma. After the war, the family reunited in Semarang in 1945, where her father ran the Semarang Protestant Children's Orphanage.

In 1951, a young man named Robert "Bob" de Jongh came to live with the family while attending junior high school. Although his family moved to Holland in 1953 he never forgot her. He was waiting for her when she arrived in 1955. Bob rode his bicycle all the way from Den Haag to Rotterdam to greet her. She worked at the Hollandse Bank Unie and later as secretary to the CEO of the Holland America Line. They married in Amsterdam in May 1960 and emigrated to the United States that September, settling near Boston before moving to Portland in December of 1967. Portland remained her home for nearly 60 years.

Above all, she loved her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren with all her heart.

A celebration of Ann’s life will be held at 10:00 a.m., Friday, November 13, 2026, in the Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery mausoleum.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her siblings, John, Dee, Willy, and Ben; and her husband, Bob. She is survived by her children, Audry, Steve, Lisa, and Gaby; her grandchildren, Stefanie, Tahner, Simone, and Roman; and her great-grandchildren, Tilliah, Haisley, Evelyn, Jolene, Robert and Olliver. That is her legacy and her greatest source of joy.

Bedankt voor alles, Mama. Selamat jalan. She sleeps with the angels now.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Ann’s name to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.