The Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-05-08, Page 570.
lovo made thestron
John and Nellie Van Ninhuys - 1985
By Shelley McPhee
"Hardships. War and poverty. Sad
times and losses. These words can all be
used to describe the life of John and
Nellie Van Ninhuys of Goderich
Township, but the description doesn't
end there. Determination, love, good for-
tune and appreciation also must be in-
cluded in the list.
Life is comfortable now for the Van
Ninhuys. They enjoy life in the country,
where John still manages a. large garden
and helps his son Martin manage the
large dairy operation and herd of
purebred Holstein cattle. `1'he Van
Ninhuys are devoted to their church,
their family and to each other.
John and Nellie celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary on April 24, 1985.
While they admit that 50 years has seem-
ed like a lung time, they look back on the
memories of their life together with few
regrets or feelings of remorse.
John and Nellie grew up together in
Holland. John remembers, "I could see
her place from my place."
Families were big back then, Nellie
came from a family of 12 and because of
the large number of children in the area,
there were separate schools for boys and
girls.
Somewhere along the line in her grow-
ing up years, Nellie set her sights on John
Van Ninhuys. Courtship and dating were
virtually non-existent, except for John's
Sunday visits to Nellie's home. John was
painfully shy as a young man and Nellie,
tired of waiting for her beau to propose,
finally asked him to marry her. John,
relieved of not having to propose the
question himself, gladly accepted.
Four years later they were married.
The country was in the middle of the
depression. Times were tough and lux-
uries few, but the newlyweds looked for-
ward to a bright future.
Their wedding celebration lasted two
days. On the wedding day family came to
celebrate the special occasion. The se-,
cond day of festivities was reserved for
neighbors and friends.
In those days, John noted, "You never
heard of a honeymoon." So after the wed-
ding celebrations were completed, John
and Nellie moved into their new home.
Their possessions were few. Any fur-
niture and appliances that the young cou-
ple owned were purchased by their
11
parents. The traditional custom required
the bride aad groom to give money to
their parents before the marriage so they
could purchase the ,necessities required
to set up a household. 4
John was a private in the Dutch' army,
a job he enjoyed during peacetime, but
only a few short years after John and
Nellie's marriage, World War 11 was
declared. Holland was engulfed in a
deadly war and for John and Nellie the
bombs and blood came too frequently.
The Van Ninhuys lived in the province
of Limburg, close to the German border.
Limburg, Holland's most southerly
province dangles precariously at the end
of the country sandwiched between
Belgium and Germany. The province
was once described as "war's cockpit for
centuries" by writer H. George Franks.
World War II was no exception. Planes
roared overhead, bombs shook the coun-
tryside, flames filled the sky night after
night. The people knew no peace or safe-
. V. The Van Ninhuys home was near an
air strip and the relines. -They -lived-
constant fear and danger from 1939 to
1945.
At nights, John remembers, "We were
afraid to sleep in the house."
Windows in many homes were covered
with wooden shutters 'at night in an at-
tempt to hide the lights from.the enemy.
Still there were no sure guarantees of
safety.
The Van Ninhuys, like other people in
the area, spent many nights, hidden in
the black confines of shelters secretly
concealed in the basements of their
homes. Nellie and the children would
hide in the shelters, while John slept
under a grain stack in a nearby field.
The Van Ninhuys can recount endless
stories about the war. John's three
brothers were sent to Germany to work,
one escaped and the other two returned
to Holland after the war. A brother and
sister of Nellie's both hid Jewish people
in their homes. Nellie's voice still echoes
the disbelief and amazement when she
explains, "And we didn't even know."
One time the Van Ninhuys had to flee
from their home to escape a battle
between the Germans and the Dutch
underground.
The family had furniture and bicycles,
chickens and cattle stolen during the
war. John remembers, "We only had the
clothes on our backs."
Through strange coincidence and a
touch of miracle, the family did have
their stove returned from Germany after
the war.
Despite the danger and the violence,
John notes, "I wasn't afraid of the Ger-
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