Wondergem, Ineke (nee Staal) With sadness we announce the passing of our wife, mother and grandmother who left us on July 16, 2012 at the age of 82.She will be deeply missed by her husband Michael, daughters Micheline (David), Maryke (Tom) and son Fred (Coreen), her sister Hanneke and her precious grandchildren Megan, Sean, Katie, Mark, Michael, Amanda, Kayla and Amanda and Kayla's mother Sandy. Family and friends may wish to pay their respects at the Blair& Son Funeral Home, 15 Gore Street West, Perth on Monday, July 30th, 2012 from 4:00 to 6:00 P.M. Following the visitation there will be a short service in the Blair & Son Chapel. The family would like to thank the wonderful staff at Lanark Lodge for their loving care. Those so wishing may remember Ineke's life through a memorial donation to the Alzheimer's Society of Lanark County or any other personal preference. Ineke’s Story Ineke was born in a small hospital in the city of Sukabumi on West Java. Her Dutch father was the Administrator of a large tea plantation up in the mountains. Communications were not of the best and coming down from the hills was a major undertaking. So for the first baby the parents decided to take the side of caution and have it delivered under medical supervision. All went smoothly and only a week later Ineke was introduced to her family home. Being well above sea level the climate was ideal and so was the living standard. Early in the morning dad would take his horse for his daily inspection tour through the plantation. He loved that time of the day as the early morning haze slowly lifted off the vegetation. The tea pickers already were out there, softly singing as they went about their duties. But his highlight always was returning to the house for breakfast and wrapping his new princess in his arms. On week ends friends would stop by for visits and sometimes they ventured to the city of Bandung for shopping or a fine dinner at one of the popular restaurants. Ineke grew up quickly and loved riding her own horse or frolicking with her sister Hanneke in the private swimming pool. She lived too far from school, so in the early years Mom would be the teacher and she sure was a strict one. Home work had to be completed on time and was then mailed to the city school for evaluation. When it became time for high school things became more complicated and it was decided to rent an apartment in Bandung together with another family. The mothers would share the responsibilities and take two week turns looking after the children. The arrangement worked well but as it turned out would not last very long. When the threat of war became too serious they moved back to their individual family homes. Within weeks the Japanese army took over the island and ordered all male adults to report for duty. Parts of suburbs were fenced off and turned into temporary concentration camps and it was not long before all Dutch women and their families were ordered to move into these camps. Ineke, her sister Hanneke, and their small brother Eric with their mother were assigned to the garage of a small villa. But the Japanese were not finished with them yet as they constructed long sheds in true concentration camps. All families were ordered to assemble in the square with their belongings, but were not permitted to bring more than two suitcases per family. They stood there for many hours as a tropical rainstorm unleashed over their heads and soaked their luggage. After being transported to their new accommodation in a freight train it turned out that each person was allotted only sixty centimetres of sleeping space. Ineke’s mom pooled with a good friend and her family and for the seven of them blocked off 420 centimetres on the raised platforms. They hung a bed sheet at each end to create some form of privacy. Ineke was given the duty of working in the vegetable garden and looking after the pigs. If someone had died she also had to help collect the body and bring it to the gate. Food rations were not very generous and she had to stand in line for hours to at the communal kitchen for her ration of watery soup . One day her mother asked her to try and exchange her wedding ring for some food. Being a tall, slim girl she fit into the sewages pipes and managed to crawl under the fence and traded for food with the locals. On her way back she heard a warning that the Japanese were going to flood the pipes and as she rushed to get out one leg got caught in some rusty barbed wire. It did not take long before gangrene set in and the decision was taken by the camp doctor to amputate her leg. Thanks to a very strong willed mother that did not happen and eventually her leg was saved. After four years living in such hard conditions the Japanese capitulated but were asked to police the camps until the allied forces could take over. Until then none of the women knew of the fate of their husbands and mature sons but now news started to dribble in slowly and once in while men would arrive at the camp to search for their wives. But one day a casualty list appeared of those men sent to Thailand to work on the Burma Railroad. Ineke’s dad’s name unfortunately appeared on that list and she would never get over that loss. In anticipation of repatriation to the Netherlands the families were moved to a hotel in Batavia (now Jakarta) were life became dangerous once again. Although protected by Sikh soldiers they were constantly attacked by Indonesian rebels. Eventually though, space was found on the liner "New Amsterdam” and they started their journey back to The Netherlands. Initially Ineke and her family moved in with relatives. Holland was in an accommodation crisis but eventually a room was found in an old mansion, in the town of Zeist. Having missed four years of education Ineke was slotted into a new program, especially designed for those returning from the East Indies. Ineke adored small children so it was only logical for her to continue her education in child care. After a stint at an orphanage in Amsterdam she applied for a position with a steamship company and ended up in charge of the nursery of an immigrant ship. I first met Ineke in Halifax. I was Assistant to the Chief Steward on the same ship and it turned out we both had befriended a Dutch family emigrating to Canada. We ran into each other in a CNR railway carriage to say good bye to them. I looked at them all dressed up, sitting on wooden benches for the next four days en route to Western Canada and jokingly said to Ineke to remind me to never to emigrate to Canada. From Halifax we sailed to New York, picked up a load of wild students and dropped them off at Le Havre. On the last day I met Ineke again as she mentioned she was going to quit sailing and work ashore. I begged her to stay on for one more trip. It would be a trip around the world and I hoped to get to know her a bit better. Needless to say that I was a happy person when I saw her again at departure for that trip. I asked her to go out with me in Curacao but lucked out when I was assigned duty and could not go ashore. The next opportunity came in Bilbao but we ended up pub hopping with a large group. Next stop was Tahiti and I invited her to go for a hike in the mountains, which she excepted. Unfortunately two other chaps had similar plans and so we tripped off with the four of us. After a while one got bored and hooked off to go for a beer and I was down to a competition of one. As we rested under a coco palm Ineke pointed at a large nut and announced that she would like to have it. Fortunately I was more athletic than the other chap and I got hold of the nut. (We still have it, fifty seven years later) As I asked her to become my girl friend she declined but softly squeezed my hand. Obviously not the time to give up and as we sat on the poop deck watching Melbourne slowly disappear into the distance she finally agreed to give it a try. I was so emotional by that time that I forgot to kiss her. Adoringly I watched her as she went about her duties in her white apron and her long, brown legs, but a ship is an island and to avoid gossip we stayed well apart. In Surabaya it was dangerous to go ashore but safe to walk on the dockside. So we went for a stroll and set down on a rock to watch the sun set. This was the moment for my first kiss and just as I made my move I ended up with a bayonet under my ribs. A mean looking soldier with his helmet almost on his nose asked for our passports. It took him forever to leaf through them and it took me almost as long to work up courage for that first kiss. The moment I tried again the bayonet was back so we packed up and returned to the ship. It was a long trip back to Holland, but at least we had time to make some plans. We quickly agreed that we did not want a marriage with one or both partners at sea. A month later we lived in Montreal where Michael landed a job with an airline company and later our first baby arrived. Needless to say Micheline was the most beautiful girl in the world. Within a year we were transferred to Toronto and gave life to another pretty baby named Maryke. Transfers seemed productive for our family as Fred arrived after we moved to Vancouver, but we figured out how to stop once we returned to Montreal and eventually Winnipeg. From there Michael joined the Foreign Service and we moved to Khartoum, Sudan, followed by the USA, The Netherlands, Turkey, Mexico, Barbados and Brunei Darussalam. In every country Ineke played the gracious hostess and loved to roam the country side and the local markets. It was an adventurous time and she loved every minute of it. Retirement came too soon but we were clever enough to choose beautiful Perth as our final destination. Here also Ineke was a happy lady although when the winters were too cold she did not complain as we headed South for a few months.. But the best part was living close to the grand children and watching them grow up. They now also join us in the sadness of her departure but burst with pride and love of having known such a wonderful grandmother. We shall sorely miss her but heaven is an angel richer.