Daniel and Els Vander Hoek Family

Our family left Rotterdam aboard the S.S. Waterman on April 15, 1952. I was eight years old and the only thing I recall about the trip was being so seasick, I never left the room. Needless to say my mother and father must have had their hands full with eight children and my mother expecting the ninth. I remember arriving at Pier 21 and sitting on the wooden benches, waiting for all of us to be checked by a doctor - my parents were so worried.

I was given crayons and scrapbooks with Valentines to colour at the Pier. I recall getting on the train and sleeping in the aisle. My parents made their home in Chatham, Ontario. It was difficult to find a landlord in Chatham willing to rent his house to a family with eight children so my Dad told the landlord he only had five children and whenever the landlord dropped by, three kids had to hide.

In 1954 they moved to London, Ontario. Both my parents are now deceased. My brothers and sisters are all living. Two brothers and two sisters live in London. I lived in Chatham, Ontario until 2004 when my husband and I moved back to London following our retirement. One brother lives in Vancouver, one sister in Toronto, one in Guelph. Our youngest sister, who was born in Chatham, Ontario, in 1953, lives with her family in the Netherlands.