Nécrologie de Marie Cecile van Berkom

van Berkom, Marie Cecile Marie Cecile van Berkom (nee-van Dijck ) born on June 8, 1924 in Soerakarta, Indonesia (former Dutch East Indies), deceased January 31, 2017 at the Glebe Centre, Ottawa. She is predeceased by her husband, Yon van Berkom (1991), and three out of her four sisters (Lottie, Emmy and Kitty) and has one surviving sister, Willy, in Kelowna, BC. Their father worked on the island of Java as an inspector of schools. The family of seven moved to The Netherlands when Marie was 10 years-of-age. Marie met Yon van Berkom during WW2 in the south of Holland where she was studying to be a nurse. They married and their first child, Sebastian, was born in 1946 followed by Jeroen in 1947, Lidwina in 1948, Ezra in 1949 and Judith in 1950. In 1952, Marie and her children immigrated to Canada joining Yon who had gone ahead to find a job and a place to stay nine months previous. Rosemere, Quebec is where two more children were born, Koos in 1958 and Mark in 1961, and where the family settled for the next 20 years, Yon working as a graphic designer in Montreal and Marie raising seven children pretty much singlehandedly, on a shoestring budget. We children remember fondly the firm guidance Marie used to raise us, always the tea with cookies after school and home-cooked meals every day of the week. Marie liked to be busy. She kept in contact with her friends over the years, was involved in her church, and continued to host dinners for family and friends well into her eighties. Friends became family and she treated all in the same open, hospitable way. She loved a home full of people. Marie loved to travel. She travelled with her sisters to Indonesia in the early 90s and revisited the country where she was born and raised. Other travels included China, the east and west coasts of Canada, various states in the US, Italy, Switzerland, Cuba, Holland several times and Israel on two different occasions. An accomplished stain glass artist, she made lamps for her children and grandchildren and designed and created a large stain glass window for the Marcoux Bible Church she attended in Alexandria, Ontario. And of course there are the gardens she always had everywhere she lived, filled with the flowers she loved, and the large organic gardens she planned and planted when she lived on the farms in Richmond and Dalkeith. Marie lived life to the full. She will be dearly missed by her children, Sebastian (Ghislaine), Roen, Lidwina (John), Ezra (Suzanne), Judith (Al), Koos (Brenda) and Mark, her 11 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and her many friends. Visitation will be held on Friday February 17, 2017 at Hillcrest Funeral Home, 151 Bond Street, Vankleek Hill from 10 am to 1:30 pm , Funeral Service at Knox Presbyterian Church, 29 High Street, Vankleek Hill at 2 pm followed by a reception in the church hall. Spring interment Breadalbane Cemetery, Dalkeith. In memoriam donations to the Alzheimer Society P.O. Box 1852 Cornwall, Ontario K6H 6N6 would be appreciated. To express your condolences, make a donation, send flowers or light a candle in memory of Marie please visit www.hillcrestfuneralhome.ca