Johannes Frederikus (Jan) Croezen was mijn 22 jaar oudere broer. Jan heeft in mijn leven een heel belangrijke rol gespeeld. Van jongs af aan kon ik goed tekenen. Ik wilde later 'tekenaar' worden (Drents voor 'illustrator').
Iedereen om mij heen zei dat ook:"Jij moet tekenaar worden!".
Maar HOE dat zou moeten, dat wist ik niet en mijn ouders al helemaal niet.
Ik was 14 jaar oud toen mijn vader overleed; mijn moeder was vijf jaar daarvoor overleden. Ik was opeens wees en werd opgenomen in het gezin van een oom, maar die overleed twee jaar later.
Ik was toen 16 jaar. Mijn broer Jan heeft mij toen opgenomen in zijn eigen gezin met al vier kinderen, waarvan de oudste net vijf jaar jonger was dan ik.
Na een jaartje verhuisde het hele gezin, inclusief ikzelf, naar de grote stad Groningen. In Groningen was o.a. een Universiteit én een Kunstacademie. Mijn broer Jan kreeg een baan bij de Universiteit en ik kon na een poosje naar kunstacademie Minerva.
Jan heeft mij in al mijn keuzes gesteund, vooral in mijn voornemen 'tekenaar' te worden.
Hoewel ik de kunstacademie in het eerste jaar al achter mij liet, ben ik toch goed terechtgekomen.
Met praktijkgerichte cursussen zoals ontwerper/reclametekenaar en visualizer heb als zelfstandig ondernemer voor veel reclamebureau's en uitgeverijen gewerkt.
Met het verdiende geld kocht ik animatieapparatuur, want mijn echte passie lag en ligt bij het maken van tekenfilms.
Ik heb nu een goed lopende online animatiestudio met animatoren op afstand. Sinds een paar jaar werkt mijn oudste dochter Sophie, die wél een opleiding animatie heeft gedaan, bij mij. Dit jaar is ook mijn tweede dochter Lucie mee gaan werken als cut-out designer. Croezen & dochters!
Jan is voor mij heel bepalend geweest, niet alleen voor mijn carrière, maar ook mijn persoonlijke leven. Zonder hem was ik nooit gekomen waar ik nu ben en ben hem onbeschrijfelijk dankbaar.
Jan overleed, tot mijn verdriet, al op 75-jarige leeftijd, in juli 2007.
John Croezen, Groningen
November 2020
Johannes Frederikus (Jan) Croezen was my brother, who was 22 years older than me. Jan played a very important role in my life. From when I was young I could draw very well. I wanted to be a ‘tekenaar’ when I was grown up. (That’s ‘illustrator’ in my dialect).
Everybody I knew would say: ‘You should be an illustrator!’.
But I didn’t know HOW I could be one, and neither did my parents.
I was 14 years old when my father died; my mother died 5 years before him. Suddenly I was an orphan and went to live with my uncles family, but he also died 2 years later.
I was 16 years old at that point. My brother Jan took me in, even though he himself already had a family with four kids. The oldest was 4 years younger than me.
After about a year the whole family, including me, moved to the big city of Groningen. In Groningen was among others an University ánd an Art Academy. My brother Jan got a job with the university and after a while I could enrol at Art academy Minerva.
Jan always supported my choices, foremost my resolution to become a ‘tekenaar’.
Even though I left the academy after just one year, I did end up in a good place.
I followed different advertising and designer courses that focused on real life-skills. With those skills I worked for many advertising agencies and publishers as a self-employed entrepreneur.
With the money I’d earned I bought animation equipment, because my real passion was and is the making of animated movies.
I now have a well running online animation studio with independent animation artists. A couple of years ago my eldest daughter Sophie started working for me, who, unlike me, díd complete an animation study. This year, my other daughter Lucie also started working for me as a cut-out designer. Croezen & daughters!
Jan has had a big influence on my life, not just in my career but also in my personal life. Without him I would have never gotten as far as I have and I couldn’t be more grateful.
Jan died, to my great sadness, at 75 years old in July 2007.
Wiecher Pool is tijdens het bombardement op Coevorden om het leven gekomen.
Op 21 februari 1944, precies 75 jaar geleden, werd Coevorden gebombardeerd door Amerikaanse vliegtuigen. Het bombardement en de zeven slachtoffers die daarbij vielen, worden vandaag herdacht.
De 34 Amerikaanse bommenwerpers zouden die dag eigenlijk Lingen in Duitsland bombarderen, maar daar was het bewolkt. En dus kregen de vliegers de opdracht om hun bommen te laten vallen op een ander doel: Coevorden.
Bij het bombardement werd onder meer de aardappelmeelfabriek en de strokartonfabriek Hollandia geraakt. De laatste leverde houtjes voor de houtgasgeneratoren van de Duitsers. Die hadden op dat moment een tekort aan benzine.
Wilhelm was born in 1943 in the Industrial heart of Germany. He loved football and examining how electrical things worked. When the boat he was on broke down in front of the Dutch coast in the late 1950s he met his future wife while on a short leave. He emigrated to the Netherlands to be with her and there they raised a family.
When the opportunity arose he went to work in Sierra Leone for 1,5 years to build a power station near the capital of Freetown.
He loved working together with the local people! After returning to Netherlands he remained in contact with his closest Sierra Leonean colleagues for 15 years.
Due to the civil war in the country that broke out in Sierra Leone in 1992 all contact was unfortunately lost in 1996.
He loved talking about the years in Sierra Leone, some of his fondest memories. This love for African countries and all its people lives on in his family.
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Edward (also in this register) and Wilhelm had quite a few things in common, growing up as an only boy with only sisters. They both traveled abroad, fell in love and got married. Both were very generous men, they would do anything for you: strong men with kind hearts. And both died too young from cancer, Edward was 68 and Wilhelm was 73.
They are missed by all who knew them. In memory of their lives the bike ambulance is a fitting tribute to them: helping others like they done throughout their lives, at a time when someone needs it most. In life they never met, they would have gotten on really well. Now their names are joined together in Malawi on the ambulance bike in Lilongwe - Malawi
Edward was born in 1941 in Dublin, Ireland. He loved the hustle and bustle of city life. It gave him the opportunity to talk to new people, make them laugh and experience new things. It was only natural that travel was in his blood.
He emigrated to the UK where he raised a family. After initially travelling only in Europe, in later years he traveled to Latin America, North America and North Africa.
Talking with him in his final weeks at home while leafing through the newspapers. he mentioned he would have loved to go around the world, visiting countries he hadn’t been to. Due to his health this was no longer a possibility, but talking about it was the next best thing, sharing a lot of stories, beautiful memories.
He never visited any sub-Saharan countries in Africa, something he expressed missing in those last days. When he watched or read about the situation in which people found themselves in this region he would express empathy and concern about their welfare.
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Edward and Wilhelm(also in this register) had quite a few things in common, growing up as an only boy with only sisters. They both traveled abroad, fell in love and got married. Both were very generous men, they would do anything for you: strong men with kind hearts. And both died too young from cancer, Edward was 68 and Wilhelm was 73.
They are missed by all who knew them. In memory of their lives the bike ambulance is a fitting tribute to them: helping others like they done throughout their lives, at a time when someone needs it most. In life they never met, they would have gotten on really well. Now their names are joined together in Malawi on the ambulance bike in Lilongwe - Malawi
