Information About W. van den Beemt

Memories

Memories are based on documents, family lore or personal experiences. They give more information about a person, but are not necessarilly complete or correct.

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My official name is Hedda Louis van den Beemt. Where I grew up I was called “our Lowieke,” which led to the name Wieke.

We often moved when I was growing up. I was born in Leiden, from there we moved to Bakkum, from Bakkum to Indonesia, then via Oosterhout to Schagen, to de Bilt, to Gorinchem. We moved so often because my father got different positions.

My father was a teacher, and I also attended class with him. Of course he didn’t want to give me preferential treatment, so it came down to me having to work harder in his class than in other classes. But, to be honest, sometimes I was a bit more naughty with other teachers than with him.

My wife Sonja came from Arkel. When we were planning to get married, she had registered for a home in that town (I had registered in Gorinchem). Arkel wasn’t that big and a whole new neighborhood was just being built, so we were quickly at the top of the list. We could move in immediately after our wedding (but not before the wedding, that was not done back then). We lived in Arkel until we moved to Gorinchem in 2000.

Veringa jewelry house

From the age of 25 I worked as a manager at the Veringa jewelery house. My boss came to the store only a few hours a week, mainly to collect the money and the orders. I had what would now be called a “profit sharing arrangement,” the more sales I generated, the more I earned. He wanted to stop at some point, which is when I took over the store. Now my daughter is the owner.

Sailing ship Schienvat

For a long time I had a Swedish seaworthy yacht of 12 meters, a sailing ship called “Schienvat” (“shining keg” or lantern, in honor of my father’s houseboat of the same name) and we always sailed to Scandinavia in the summer. The peace and space there were always wonderful for us. The ship was sold in 2018 and we delivered it to the new owner near Copenhagen in March 2019. We have decided to do a different kind of vacations now, such as cruises, air travel, and the like.

Born in Leiden, I came to live in Gorinchem (after moving many times) in 1956. First in the “first Kremlin” which was just finished, because there was no proper house for my father, who had become a teacher at the ULO in Boerenstraat. After a period of two years we received an offer from the municipality to live on the Schelluinsevliet. This property was purchased by the municipality because there were plans to build an office complex here in the future. At that time the Schelluinse Kom was then still in place, it was filled in later.

A piece of land was reserved along the touwbaantje to temporarily dry the dredge of the canal around Kazerne Square before the dirt was removed. Because a lot of refuse from the kitchen in the barracks ended up in the canal, including tomatoes, a year later that field was full of tomatoes. In addition, all kinds of objects came floating up in the dredger that had been thrown in over time. I found many inkwells and other objects there as a kid. Much later there was the OLV flat, all the houses from the Duinhouwer-Starink family and van Es had to be being demolished. The plans for the Schelluinse Kom were canceled and in the end City Hall was built there.

I myself started in the fifth grade at the Oranje Nassau school, where it was already said that as soon as the Poorterschool was finished, that would become my new school. Two years later I also attended my father’s school, the ULO. That was not always easy because of course I had to set a good example, together with my brother Dick who was 2 classes higher.

In order to show my classmates a bit that I was not favored, I often did some naughty things. One of the nicest but afterwards most dangerous things was the following. During the lunch break I went to Buiten de Waterpoort in good weather and saw a part of a bee’s nest in the park under a tree that had fallen out. The bees were still a little stunned and then I thought if I would take this with me and hide it in the class at the back. Maybe they wake up again and then they start flying again.

I found a box and put it in the nest and went to school, it was still well before the lesson and it was the attic on the Boerenstraat next to the Gym. Without anyone seeing it, I hid the box. The lesson had only just begun when the first bees started to fly and soon there was panic. The class was evacuated. Fortunately no one was able to trace the perpetrator and I got along well. Later on, I thought that if the bees were aggressive, something very bad could have happened.

After 2 years at the ULO, my father came up with the idea of ​​having me become a watchmaker. In principle this was only possible after obtaining a diploma, but my father managed to arrange this in Schoonhoven with a separate entrance exam and the commitment to teach me the missing knowledge of the ULO.

This did not go exactly as it should because I actually had very different interests, as a really out-door child and a lover of nature, I had planned further education after my ULO to do something in the Biological direction where I could do a lot in nature to be.

Because of this, I was not such a best student, not because of my brain, but more because I did not like it at all, even though I was very handy with technology. I just left my books at school in the drawer of my workbench. Because of this I had to redo the first two classes. As a result, in third grade, I was again a student of the same age as my classmates,

In the same year I met Sonja and I started thinking seriously about the future. My second interim report went up by 11 points. And after a moped accident on van Hoorneplein I was allowed to take the exam late. Everything was set in motion that day to make this possible, an independent examiner and the technical teachers were all present to take the practical exam for me. The theoretical part was also made separately because of course I did not have the same questions as the rest of my colleagues.

The exam went well and I passed the test. Now another internship year in Utrecht and that also went well. Sonja and I now had plans to get married, only in Utrecht the salary was not negotiable and it remained almost an internship wage. I then quit my job and luckily found a new job in Kesteren just before my wedding as a watchmaker.

Jewelery house Veringa

Veringa started in 1969 in Gorinchem. Veringa had taken over the business of Baltus Meijer. Baltus was his first name, but his wife Riek (daughter of contractor Verheul) did not think a single name sounded grand and therefore always called herself Mrs. Baltus Meijer. A monogram in silver of these letters also adorned their cars.

The Veringa family had a jewelry store in Dordrecht on the Voorstraat. Two sons of Mr. Veringa (after having done other work for a number of years) wated to continue the business of their father and the two brothers decided it was time to expand the business. First a large store on Statenplein and in Den Bosch in the Schapenmarkt. A few years later two more stores were added, one in Rotterdam on the Meent and the second in 1969 through the takeover of the store of Baltus Meijer in Gorinchem.

Veringa was looking for a manager and I applied. After a good conversation I was told that the choice had fallen on me, but they still thought I was too young and therefore went for number 2. But after a year a letter came asking if I wanted to have a conversation because it had not been the right choice and that I went from second to first choice again. I did not have to think long about this and after my resignation with the jeweler in Kesteren I joined Veringa.

After I became a manager it felt like my own store and because Veringa himself was only in our shop behind the scenes for 3 hours a week, I soon got the name Mr. Veringa from customers or acquaintances said Wieke. That is why I never changed the name later.