‘We were a family with me as a love child’

‘Summer 1965, Else and Teun Stekelenburg. Dolle in love with a summer camp in Wilnis. They had just got to know each other through their two brothers who were friends. Within a year it became a must, because I was coming. They married in June 1966.

We became a loving family with me as a love child. In 1976 my sister was born and three years later a twin. That changed our family completely. There was hardly any more attention for me as a thirteen -year -old adolescent. I often had to help in taking care of the little ones. As soon as I turned eighteen, I left. I was hired at the Film Academy in Amsterdam and went my own way.

My father enjoyed working at the same organization for 35 years. My mother was more entrepreneurial. In addition to the family, she ran an antique shop, then a second -hand bookstore, organized book markets and became an antiquarian.

After my father’s retirement in 2005, they moved from Zeist to Bergen aan Zee: my mother’s dream place. They enjoyed it for years. We all experienced beautiful moments with a large family with nine grandchildren and (since 2022) my grandson.

My father died on October 4, 2023 of pancreatic cancer, after a festive Burgundian life with too little movement. Not long after, my mother deteriorated hard and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in February 2024. She now lives in a nursing home in Zeist and loses grip on her life bit by bit. So after my father I also lost my mother, the strong woman she was.

I found this photo when cleaning up their house. It gives me comfort and I think of that happy first ten years of my life. « 

To share

Mail the editors