kolff: de colve: de colve I: 1
Article taken from De Colve I - 1996: Cousin Willy tells us... (1/3)
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 I
got to know the family Kolff in 1950 through friends of my parents,
Sara Kolff (CBCF XVz1) and her second
husband Henk Oudenhoven, who lived at Schiedam. One day my mother
and I got invited for dinner there. Several other guests were present,
amoungst which was Nico (CBCF XVz2),
the brother of Sara. "I have placed you next to my little brother,"
said Sara, "I am sure both of you can have a good conversation." Well,
the conversation went well and when it was time to leave, Nico hurried
to accompany my mother and me to our house at Voorburg. This was quite
a journey: first by tram to the railway station, then by train to
Voorburg, then walk to our home. And after that, Nico had to continue
to Leiden, using the famous Blauwe
Tram that has - to the pity of many - long disapeared. My mother
thought that this accompanying us was somewhat overdone.
However... overdone or not: soon after, on an icy cold Saturday, Nico walked into the antiquarian bookshop where I worked then. He bought a pile of books and, after, asked whether I'd like to join him for dinner. I was wearing a checquered woolen dress (I mean to say: what kind of dresses did one have at that time, so short after the war?) and I felt embarrassed to go out for dinner like that. But to go back all the way to Voorburg to find something else to wear was also kind of complicated so I put up my best face imagining that I was dressed according to the latest fashion. And we went for dinner at De Doelen on the Tournooiveld (The Hague). |
The food was excellent. Nico met an acquaintance
with whom we had a lovely discussion. On the way back to my home he
asked me to marry him, but because he was mumbling so much I could
not quite understand what he had said. It felt strange to ask him
"What did you say?" The next day all became real clear: in an kind of 'proper old style' way he came to visit my mother... and we were engaged! Part of getting to know the family was the introduction to the closer aunts and uncles. Whom of the older Rotterdam generations doesnot remember uncle Jan from the Westersingel? A neat little man with the nickname Jan Kriel (CBA XVIj)(transl.: Jan Small Potatoe) (see note on nicknames) or Jantje Zakformaat (transl.: Little Jan Pocket-Size). I never met Great Aunt Sara (CBCF, XIVp), living at Rotterdam on the River Maas, except from the stories. During the bombing of Rotterdam in May 1940 she was saved, with great difficulty, with a rowing-boat, but she died, nevertheless, in an other battle: while playing one of her favorite games of bridge. More on the aunties.. happily we were travelling around to meet them all, and so we also came to visit aunt Heleen (CBCF, XVy) and her sweet daughter Til (CBCF, XVy1) at the 'Nimmerdor' estate in Amersfoort. We were to be picked up at the railway station by the car and the driver of the Ladies, but oh dear, travelling from Leiden to Amersfoort in those years was rather complicated. |
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| Note: Jan Kriel: the company Kolff & Witkamp exported potatoes and other goods (see also the note at page 3 of this article). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||