Here I would love to share with you our travels and adventures as international mushroom consultants. MEMOIRS about husband Pieter Vedder, who was a SCIENTIFIC PIONEER in Mushroom Cultivation Education. His practical handbook is in 9 languages and is called the MUSHROOM BIBLE: https://mariettesbacktobasics.blogspot.com/2020/08/modern-mushroom-growing-2020-harvesting.html
You have read my blog posts about Pieter's older brothers being deployed in Indonesia for several years.
Pieter's Mom was the loyal writer and you have seen one photo where she is penning a letter...
This photo where she is in DEEP Thoughts while penning a letter... She also enclosed news paper clippings to send along with the letter, as well as some money...
Then, scooping up the leftover clippings, for throwing them into the stove - she ACCIDENTALLY grabbed her leather wallet instead!
So Pieter recalls this incident very vividly. The bulging leather wallet inside the flames and by the time they tried to rescue it, with something - it was too late.
Engulfed in flames, wallet and household money went up in smoke... SAD!
~ My Dear Mother-In-Law has been a loyal letter writer.
Till her death on November 21, 1989 she almost weekly wrote us a letter, just as I've done all those years. She was 94.5 years old and a colon cancer survivor.
Below is her final letter to her family:
Zij die ik teleurstelde
Vergeef mij
Zij die mij teleurstelde is het vergeven
Zij die mij zoo dierbaar waren help mij door uw gebed
Dat mijn heengaan een blijde opgang moge zijn naar God.
Ik dank allen die mijn leven zoo mooi maakten.
Blijf elkaar genegen.
Moge mijn ziel met u in vrede rusten
Verder hoop ik dat de familie band sterk moogt bewaren.
Dit is mijn laatste wens, Moeder
~
The ones I let down
Forgive me
Those who let me down are forgiven
Those who loved me so much help me through your prayer
That my passing may be a happy onset to God.
I thank all who made my life so beautiful.
Keep affection for each other.
May my soul rest with you in peace
Further I hope that the family bond will be kept strong.
This is my last wish, Mother
My Mother-in-law also was very active for decades in the Elderly
At the local café in Groessen, The Netherlands, Mr. Holland, also coalman and grocer, had set up a make-shift studio.
That make-shift studio came from Apeldoorn, a bigger city in the Province of Gelderland.
GELUIDSTECHNISCH BUREAU - SOUND TECHNICAL BUREAU
JAC van Wijk, APELDOORN
Once again: Grateful to NIMH The Netherlands for extracting its contents! See for more info link below from first post at bottom where I explain about donating these records to the Dutch Institute for Military History
Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie
Ministerie van Defensie
Photo is from a couple of years earlier where Pieter played on his Hohner.
This recording he did with his beloved Soberano.
Husband Pieter playing on his accordion two songs for his Marine brother serving in Indonesia...
Aan de over van de Beuly in Dutch
On the banks of the Breuly
Between Ooy and Zevenaar
A frog sat loudly crying
With his hands in his hair
Dear little one, the mother spoke
See yonder that stork
't Is the murderer of you father
He ate him with skin and hair
Dammit, spoke the little
Did the tall one do that
When later I'm big and strong
I'll sure beat him up
The little one grew up
Again he saw that stork
And you won't believe it
He ate him with skin and hair
On the banks of the Breuly
Between Ooy and Zevenaar
A frog sat crying loudly
With his hands in his hair
Cheerio Holland
I sing you a song full of sway and pleasure
Of Holland, proud but small
The land of the dunes, the forests and sea
Where all those mills are
From the flower bulb fields, the butter and cheese
Foremost of Dutch generosity
Where, that they are free again
And again be so welcoming
There I prefer to be of all
refrain:
Cheerio! Cheerio! In Holland there they sing like this
Away with the worries and away with the sadness
We will get there, even though we are not there yet
Because the boys of Tromp and Piet Hein
They will not get them down
We had the moth in it for five years
But now things are turning
And Dutch we want to be
The Dutch engineers are known
They make this country great
They dig channels and dampen the sea
Exactly if it is just a ditch
And it is again so beautiful in the forest or the heath
The Betuwe and in the Gooi
And the girls, blast it
That is Holland's glory
With that Holland is so beautiful
refrain
That country is known for its Deventer Cake
Oysters from Zierikzee
Pipes from Gouda, its Peace Palace
And by its Heroes of the Sea
Because of its great civility, Moerdijk (technoport), K.L.M (Royal Dutch Airlines)
The folklore of Volendam
And Dutch prosperity
The good old gin
That wonderful drink from Schiedam
refrain
On June 17, 1949 Pieter's Parents had their 25th Wedding Anniversary but the two boys were not yet home...
After numerous letters and this very unique Gevaphone greeting, the brothers finally got home after the 25th wedding anniversary in 1949... Toon (Anthony) departed from Indonesia on September 3, on the Vessel Kota Inten. Toon was in the possession of some personal items from one of his comrades that did NOT make it back out alive. He was not able to deliver them to the young Marine's Parents though but requested Pieter to do it for him... So Pieter went to the place of Elst, as he recalls, amidst the many fruit trees in that area. He remembers vividly the emotions that came with that. Of course, they invited him inside and asked several questions to which Pieter only could reply, sorry I cannot give you any more information as I was not there... He never will forget the very emotional impact it had on his young life! While the two older brothers served, Pieter was summoned to serve. One of the City Council Members advised Pieter's Dad to request dispensation as he already had two of his older sons serving at war and he needed a hand for his greenhouses as he himself had severe back problems. So Pieter drove with his Dad, in their Volkswagen Beetle to Arnhem, the capital of their Province of Gelderland, to see Dr. Hoefnagels a famous specialist for back problems at the Arnhem Hospital. Somewhat timidly Pieter's Dad stepped in at the doctor's office who asked him in some surly and authoritarian way, 'what are the problems?!' Pieter's Dad shyly replied: 'My back' to which the doctor snarled: 'What back, where back?!' To which Pieter's Dad said: 'If YOU don't know where the back is, I'm at the wrong place here.' Pieter's Dad turned around and Pieter can still hear his voice saying: 'You just go and serve, I don't need this!' All in all, Pieter was rather proud of him, regardless the result of this visit. And thus, husband Pieter had to serve!
Pieter's Mom and Pieter himself went again to the special studio for a spoken letter to Marine Brother Toon
Marine Antonius (Toon) P.M. Vedder
The second son had to go overseas in 1947 to Dutch Indonesia, for the Indonesian National Revolution. He'd joined the Marine on March 5, 1947 and after some special training they left for Indonesia.
On July 30, 1947 he left on the old 'Volendam', from Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Once again: Grateful to NIMH The Netherlands for extracting its contents! See for more info link below from first post at bottom where I explain about donating these records to the Dutch Institute for Military History
Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie
Ministerie van Defensie
Pieter still being only child at home and this was with Easter, on March 28, 1948, a goose egg being boiled and painted.
Pieter on the left, his Mom and his Dad.
This is my hand, holding the thin paper envelope around this Gevaphone record mailed out to Marine Antonius Vedder...
The Gevaphone record with spoken letter by Pieter's Mom and by Pieter himself, written down in Dutch.
Again it turned out to be 'speed-speech' for trying to say as much as possible in 1.5 minute!
Thanks to the help of Gillis Video we could hear it in slow motion for capturing the words!
Translated into English above:
Mother: And now I'm going to talk to you, it's not going to be that smooth yet, but I'll do my best.
First, Toon, everything is still going well with us. What are you saying? Are you as healthy as chicken? Yes you looked like you used to look like you were with us and now, according to the picture, I can't say you've changed a lot.
And now that you’ve become assistent cook now your tummy will grow in size.
Because the proverb says who's closest to the fire warms himself best.
Has everything been repaired again that they don't need so many technicians and bench mechanics anymore?
Then you're ahead of us here in Holland.
And now I first want to move to our own surroundings.
We slowly are moving into summer.
Now I'm glad we've had the winter behind us because sitting in the cold isn't always fun either.
If only we had a bit of the cold here (she means warmth!) from you!
We live in the country for heat you can say, so every human has something.
East West, it's not that good at home.
To stay in Groessen, we are gradually sowing and planting again.
In the greenhouses, the lettuce and cauliflower are fine and the plants under the flat-glass also.
Finally, Toon, thank the nuns on behalf of your parents for all the fun time you have spent there.
And now I end up with a firm handshake from your Father and your Mother and Piet will fill the rest of the record.
the plants under the flat glass... like in this photo showing flat glass gardeners click it
~
Yes, that is to say the voice of mine.
I'm talking to the microphone here for a minute and a half, but that's not that easy.
Oh, dude, you should have seen and heard those preparations! You'd have roared with laughter.
You’ve lost your mind says one, you can't put that in, who knows who's going to be there when they play that record.
You know what you're doing, said another, you can just write everything you said to Theet, you'll change a few things.
Yes, that's all well, but if they ever will switch it, you'll end up looking stupid.
We're all fine, you've heard that.
And a lot more, I don't have a towel for you either.
If you start picking on someone, you'll say exactly as Willem Kruis: 'You don't get any supper tonight.'
But then Thé, who writes that they're not so generous with the food. I told him see to it that you're pretty much back home again with Henk Lubbers, by then we'll make sure we have fattened a pig.
We are now also in the big fasting (Lent)!
But now no nonsense. I'll take the accordion and play a tune.
For Theet I played the Blue Danube but for you I have to turn down a few others because you're not that classic and then you can always trade it.
Well there it goes with the best greetings of your brother Piet Vedder.
Genbat is genie bataljon or genius battallion...
Pieter still only child, with his Mom to the left and Dad to the right, while his older brothers were at war for almost 2.5 and 3 years...
Pieter's Mom enjoying her cup of tea while reading one of her son's letters from Indonesia...
Pieter's Mom, penning letters to her two eldest sons at war... Difficult times but they made it back home safe!
Listen to Pieter's Mom (side A) and Pieter talk (side B) to Toon... All merged together.
De Indië-Gangers 1945-1950 The Indonesia-Goers 1945-1950
A book with compilation of stories by e.g. A.P.M. Vedder about his Marine period. He proudly shows his received copy on December 9, 2003. Pictures from his eldest daughter Myriam, Pieter's Goddaughter. Toon died almost 3 years later but he leaves quite a legacy behind for his descendants... Next post is about Pieter playing his accordion for his Marine Brother.
It was quite something for hearing this SURPRISE coming off one of the WAV files that got extracted from the Gevaphone records we donated to the Dutch Institute for Military History. Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie Ministerie van Defensie 1948 March GEVAPHONE recording Pieter playing 'On the Beautiful Danube' with his Soberano Accordion (not on the Hohner shown in this picture from WWII era photo...)
Grateful to NIMH The Netherlands for extracting its contents! See for more info link below from previous post where I explain about donating these records to the Dutch Institute for Military History
To the left in back row: Marine brother Toon, Pieter center and Thé in uniform for which Pieter played on his accordion.
Pieter's Mom and Dad in the front.
1948 March GEVAPHONE recording Pieter playing 'On the Beautiful Danube' with his Soberano Accordion (not the one in this earlier photo!) While his brothers were serving in Indonesia, Pieter was quite musically involved.
'Cauber Elsje' Accordion lessons and he already sang in the big choir during the summer of 1946 in the Rhineland Operette 'Cauber Elsje', where he also danced with partner Willemien Janssen. Pieter also was requested to play his accordion at a wedding of Tilly Stokman's neighbors, she was an acquaintance of Pieter.
While doing so, someone turned violent and wanted to grab Pieter's accordion and throw it into the water well... Tilly managed to guide him out through a backdoor into the grain field... WOW!
Brother Thé, for whom Pieter played his accordion, was almost 3 years deployed, without any return home. As soon as he got home, after the Marine brother, husband Pieter was wearing his uniform!
No 3 brothers at once could serve...
Pieter's Mom & Dad in 1950, with standing behind them from left: Pieter, Thé and Toon.
Husband Pieter in uniform... the youngest of three brothers serving.
Next post is a spoken letter to his Marine Brother...
