Mrs. Johanna Margaretha Van de Velde

Born: April 19th, 1919 – Passed on January 20th, 2017

Johanna was born in The Hague, The Netherlands. As a child she already displayed a great talent for singing and as a young woman she loved performing, especially in operettas. Her favorite performance took her to the Scala Theatre in The Hague where she sang in the operetta Orpheus in the Underworld.

With the arrival of the Second World War, and the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, for so many life became uncertain, difficult and terrifying. For Johanna, even more so after deciding to actively fight the Nazis, becoming a courier for the Dutch resistance, risking her life to pass on vital information.

In 1943, in Nazi occupied Holland, she gave birth to her son, Gerry de Klerk, from a Jewish father, David Niekerk, whose parents were being hidden by her family. Although loving him till she died, they were destined never to marry. She was a beautiful woman, wearing makeup during a time when women did not use much and had many opportunities to marry deciding instead to raise her young son as a single mother with all of that era’s stigma. That took chutzpa! She married Leo van de Velde in 1951.

In 1967 Johanna, her husband and son decided to leave The Netherlands for a new life in Canada. She loved dogs and Canada welcomed her three dogs without quarantine. They ended up in Edmonton Alberta where Johanna would live for 10 years until moving to Vancouver, where she remained until her passing in 2017, living the last 7 years at Amica in West Vancouver. She tried in vain to teach all she met Dutch and had an endearing way of getting by with Dutch mixed with English, “Nenglish”, as we like to call it. Sometimes this combination was hilarious but she was a great sport and had a good sense of humor.

To her grandchildren and many who knew her in her later years she was known simply as Oma. She loved to hug people, give any dog she met the dog cookies she always had in her purse, and was never in public without makeup.

She was a huge Andre Rieu fan and we brought her here most weekends where she sat viewing his concerts and absorbing the music often with tears streaming down her face as she gently hummed along. Our treat was to see her also enjoy the Dutch food we cooked and as a tribute to her we have many Dutch dishes from a Dutch chef, Wouter Schipper of Chef Lekker to share with you today.

A woman who lived a rich and full life till the ripe age of 97 plus, using Facebook and FaceTime all the way till her last days, she touched all of us in ways that we hope to share all together today in celebrating her life.

She leaves behind her loving family: son, Gerry de Klerk, daughter-in-law, Irene Nelson, granddaughter, Melanie de Klerk and grandson, Richard de Klerk as well as her caregiver of 10 years, Nicole Sovac, and dear friend of 30 years Agnes Fuchs who she also felt were like family!

https://www.lghfoundation.com/projects/johanna-van-de-velde/