Memories are based on documents, family lore or personal experiences. They give more information about a person, but are not necessarilly complete or correct.
1920 and 1930s
Rudolf and Ab Grivel, ca. 1926.
Ab Grivel is born in Djokjakarta in which was then the Dutch East Indies, now
Indonesia. He grows up as the son of an important official. Their
free-standing house has a wrap-around porch and servants for the
housework. They have a monkey as pet, with which the children play tag
(the monkey usually wins).
He comes to Holland with his parents when his father retires in 1936. The
house and household are sold in an auction and the whole family travels
by boat to Europe, up to Marseille, and then by train to Holland. They
settle in The Hague, in a house in the van Beuningenstraat. Ab attends
the Derde Gemeentelijke HBS (high school) at the Beeklaan.
1940s
25th anniversary of Ab’s parents, April 1942.
Ab graduates high school in June 1941, during the German occupation. His
plan is to follow in the footsteps of his father and both his grandfathers
in making a career in the Dutch Indies, and he chooses the agricultural
college in Wageningen, where he plans to study tropical forestry.
In 1943 the German occupiers call up all students to work in Germany. As
agricultural student Ab is placed at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für
Züchtungsforschung near Müncheberg (about 35 miles east of Berlin).
On April 19, 1945 they are liberated by the Red Army but it takes until
June before he is able to return to Holland.
After the war Ab volunteers with the army. Because the Dutch army doesn’t
have any facilities of its own yet, his training is in the south of
England, where is is assigned to a communications division. He complets
his service here, and when on leave visits his uncle
G. Muller.
1950s
After his military service Ab returns to Holland, where he moves in with
his parents. He lives on the third floor of the house at the Valkenboslaan.
Partly because of the typewriting course he took at the end of his
high school, he is hired by the NIWO (“Nationale en
Internationale Wegvervoer Organizatie”), where he works until
his retirement.
In 1954 Ab marries M. Kraan, then divorces her
two years later. He spends a lot of time with his NIWO friend
A. Schicht, taking several vacations with him.
1960s
Ab Grivel with his son Eric, December 1961.
Arno introduces Ab to M. van den Beemt. Although she is
technically Arno’s aunt (the 20 year younger sister of Arno’s mother),
because of the age difference she is really of Arno’s generation. Ab and
Maria get married in 1960 and Maria moves in with Ab at the top floor of
the parental home. Ab and Maria have two children,
E. Grivel and T. Grivel.
When his father dies in 1962, his mother moves down to just the ground floor
and Ab and Maria start living on the first and second floor. Although their
households are strictly separated (Ab pays regular rent to his mother),
there are moments of friction with Ab’s mother.
The NIWO gets a computer system and Ab takes evening courses to be the
system administrator. He will eventually become the manager of the
IT department.
Starting with 1965 Ab takes his family on a big vacation abroad (Spain,
Austria) ever other year; in the years in-between they have smaller
vacations in Holland.
1970s and 1980s
Ab Grivel with Eric and Theo in Rojas, Spain, 1970.
The family continues to have regular vacations abroad, but with the exception
of the Norway vacation in 1976 there is a point in every vacation when Ab
“has already been there.” Ab has never been shy about traveling,
which he continues to do through almost his entire life.
Ab’s mother moves to a care home in 1979, after which Ab and Maria take
over the ground floor. Over a period of months they renovate the whole
house. The kids get the third floor with their own rooms and a bathroom,
the parents have their bedroom, office and a bathroom on the second floor,
and the first floor has the living room, dining room and kitchen.
Stress at work starts to take its toll and Ab goes on sick leave early
in the 1980s, followed by an early retirement in 1985. With the kids grown,
Ab and Maria sell the house in 1985 and move to Bergen op Zoom.
1980s and 1990s
Ab Grivel in Indonesia, 1986.
The move to Bergen op Zoom is the start of a new part of their lives.
Ab and make new friends in their neighbors and they go on vaction once or
twice a years, to Indonesia, India, Kenya, Costa Rica and other countries.
In 1996 they move to a service flat, where they get their hot meal delivered
every day. They get to know a lot of new people and become part of the
bridge club.
Ab Grivel dies in 2001 at the age of 79.
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