Jan J. H. Schoo

Alumni Type: Immigrant
Country of Origin: Netherlands
Ship Name: Groote Beer
Port of Entry: Halifax
Date of Arrival: May 1, 1958
Age on Arrival: 23

The story of Jan J.H. Schoo and Joan J.A. Greenfield

My father, Jan Schoo, (photo 1) was born on November 14, 1935 in Leiden. He was the 2nd son, 3rd child of 6 children of Jan and Mien Schoo, he was named after his father. He grew up in Warmond, a small village on the Kagerplassen. From an early age he had to contribute to the family income. He worked as a luggage boy, (photo 2) this meant that he had to transport the suitcases of customers from the station to the hotel in Warmond with a cart, a distance of about 1 km. At the time it was discovered that his legs were not quite straight and he had to wear a brace/support to ensure that his legs would remain straight. Despite these braces, he transported the suitcases from the station to his cart and then walk to the Hotel. In the end, his legs turned out well, so much so that he became 2nd several times in the 100 and 200 m running. It was always the same boy who came in 1st and my father always 2nd behind him. (photo 3) He was a very welcome figure at the athletics track in Leiden and he also had a nice group of friends around him. After secondary school he started working for the navy in Oegstgeest as a telegraph operator and in his spare time he liked to go dancing in Noordwijk. There he met a girl. Unfortunately she was of Protestant descent and my father was Catholic and they were not allowed to associate with each other at that time. They both had to break off the courtship on each other's side. A couple of friends from the Bataven (the athletics association from Leiden) came up with the idea to emigrate to Canada and whether my father wanted to come along. He didn't like his job very much, his courtship was over and he was ready for a new challenge in his life. A fresh start. And so it happened that Jan Schoo arrived on May 1, 1958 at Pier 21 with the Groote Beer (photo 5) from Rotterdam. Upon arrival, the group initially headed for Calgary. There 2 of the group had been offered work, my father would travel on to Lethbridge to try his luck there. The group fell apart and everyone went their separate ways. My father could not really find his way and went to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Up and down between Vancouver and Toronto as a purser. After a while he wanted to settle in Toronto because there were more Dutch people there. He missed the Netherlands very much. It was hard for him and there were so many immigrants looking for work that finding work was not easy. Still, he managed to join a group of friends, including Joan and her husband.

And this is where their life together began, and their togetherness of more than 62 years!

Joan Greenfield, (photo 4) In 1957 my mother, Cardiff Wales, ran away from home to get married in Gretna Green Scotland, where you could get married from the age of 16 without parental consent. She then emigrated to Canada with her husband.

My grandfather and grandmother tried everything to stop my mother, but my mother was convinced that she could change this man.

Unfortunately, my grandfather and grandmother were right, my mother was abused, was not allowed to have contact with her parents and had no money of her own. (in those days you had no mobile phone, internet etc).

One evening, Jan saw my mother running along the road crying, with no shoes, bruises and a broken lip. He then took her in the car and never let her go. It turned out that my mother had again been beaten up by her husband, because the food was not to his liking. My father then went to him and made it clear to him that he should never touch my mother again, otherwise he would have to deal with my father. Meanwhile, my mother had moved in with a friend and did not want to return to her husband. She wanted to divorce him, but that was not done at the time. Her husband had told her never to divorce her, if she wasn't his, no one would get her.

On December 20, 1958, Mom and Dad agreed that they would continue as husband and wife. This date has always been their wedding anniversary and we, and all their families, didn't know any better if this was true. And somewhere in that time I was conceived….

I was a love baby, obviously, but an illegitimate one, and that was bad at the time. As my mother's pregnancy progressed, she also got complications, I would be too big for my mother, clearly a Dutch child with a cheese head. My mother wanted to go home to her parents. So when she was 7 months pregnant she went back to Cardiff with money borrowed from friends. Dad couldn't come, they had no money for that anymore. I was born on October 16, 1959. In January 1960, Dad had enough money to go to Cardiff too and finally see his daughter. Mom now worked in a brewery in Cardiff and my grandmother took care of me. Work was also sought and found for my father. My grandfather and grandmother were so grateful to my father for taking their daughter away from that terrible man. They hired a lawyer and tried to officially divorce him. This man did not cooperate. Her name was officially changed in the meantime, my mother was known everywhere as Mrs. Schoo-Greenfield. When my father's contract was not renewed, he went to the Netherlands and when he had a job he sent for my mother and me to come to the Netherlands.

In 1978 my mother received a message that her husband's father had died and a lot of money was released, mom then indicated, since I'm still your wife, I want half of that or you sign the divorce papers. He did this immediately and 3 days later my parents were officially married, I don't even know this date. (photo 6)

All her life my mother was afraid that authorities would find out that they had not been legally married for a period of time. Especially if they asked me at school for your parents' marriage certificate, I could never show them. The excuse was always that they were married in Canada and they have no marriage certificates there. Mom and Dad have always worked very hard but never went back to Canada. In 1964 they also had a son named Patrick, who was also born in Cardiff. And then in 2016, Ian their oldest grandson immigrated to Canada. He had met a Canadian woman during the traverse du Lac St Jean QB and he was admitted to Canada. He has since started a company there called VDH-geo.ca (photo 7) and the circle is complete. Ian is the one who initiated this memorial stone together with Pascale.

Dad passed away on April 4, 2020 and Mom on October 28, 2020, 6 months after her husband, Mom literally passed away from a broken heart. They have been together for 62 years and have supported each other through thick and thin, of which they have been married for 42 years. Mom and Dad had 2 children, Birgitta and Patrick, 3 grandchildren, Ian, Daley and Willow and 3 great-grandchildren, Lily, Mila and Jake. (photo 10-11)

Eventually their DNA ended up in Canada via Ian and Lily (photo 8) and dreams are made true.