The Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-05-08, Page 81°y.
a r7? 1','
ti.
earning Engiish was difficult...
'rN►n,� pow. 37
of his parents' house since the war
Started.
"My parents said 'come out, it's sate
now', but they wouldn't. It took us a long
time to get them to come outside," he
said.
hi the years before he decided to come
to Canada, Mr. Van Loo worked in a
cousin's bake shop in Deventer for five
years then returned home to Daarlevien
to work for another year -and -a -half
before his papers were ready to come to
Canada in 1951.
Mr. Van Loo and his wife Kaatja decid-
ed to come to Canada mostly because of
the crowded conditions in Holland after
the war. He and his brother-in-law, Gys
VanderHaar, who also lives in the Clin-
ton area had also tried Australia, and
South Africa, but Canada accepted them
into the country first so they went ahead.
They all boarded a boat at Rotterdam
for a 10 -day voyage to Quebec City. The
trip was marred by storms which forced
them to stop for two days. His first
recollection of Canada was the hilly
land, an unusual site in comparison with
Holland's flat landscape. Mr. Van Loo
was also alarmed at the number of
shacks which lined the St. Lawrence
River.
"When we came up the St. Lawrence
River, we looked up on the banks and we
saw all these shacks. Isaid to my
brother-in-law "I wonder what we have
done (by coming to Canada)," he said.
After taking a train to Stratford, their
spohsor picked them up and took them to
his farm near Clinton, where they were
required to work for a year. Mr. Van Loo
Holland welcomed him
back, but Canada is
home for Bob Van Loo
soon learned there was a bake shop in
Clinton and immediately went seeking
employment. Three days later he had a
job at Bartliff's Bakery in Clinton. He
worked there for 34 years and retired last
January.
Mr. Van Loo said the biggest problem
with working in Canada was,the battle of
learning a new language. He said some of
the words spoken by his Canadian co-
workers took on a different meaning in
Dutch.
"Sometimes when the men spoke they
said 'you know' at the end of a sentence. 1
though, 'why are they talking about
ducks' because in Dutch, Juno is a duck.
Sometixnes they would say '10 dozen
buns' and I would think 'man oh man,
10,000 buns' because duizen in ,Dutch
means 1,000," he said.
He said he soon familiarized huself
with the language although he still ad-
mits he has problems reading English.
Last year, Mr. Van Loo, his wife and
his son went back to Holland for a four-
week visit. He said they experienced one
of the greatesttimes of their live. They
finally met his wife's younger sister who
was three months old when they left for
Canada but is now 24.
All the family members who still lived
in Holland rented a hall for the occasion
and erected a sign which said "Welcome
to the Old Country," said Mr. Van Loo.
He plans to return for a brief visit next
year.
While there, he was asked if he would
ever consider leaving Canada to return
to Holland, but he refushed.
"1 said no way..i've lived for a longer
time in Canada then I did in Holland," he
said.
Congratulations
to the Tow, of Clinton
on your fifth annual Klompen Feest
Wishing. you continued
success in the future
JAMES RICHARDSON & SONS, LIMITED
ESTABLISHED 1857
GRAIN MERCHANTS TORONTO ONTARIO
NOW IN OUR 128TH YEAR