Thursday, October 23, 2025
Dear aunt Betty, dear Maryanne, Cathy and Norbert,
The news of the passing of my dear uncle and godfather has touched me deeply. We, back here in the Netherlands, were thrilled, the couple of times you came to visit. On one of these visits, uncle Bill said to me that he surely was a lousy godfather, because he never was there! True, me living in Amsterdam. But how wrong he was! He was very special to me, with his generous laugh, his energy, his curiosity (when on one occasion we drove the Dutch highway, he wanted to know all about the engineering principles behind the infrastructure of the Netherlands, of which, of course, I knew nothing and still don’t). On that visit, he brought me a present: a huge book with pictures of the Sixtine Chapel. Just beautiful. How did he know I love art? He just knew. I will rembember him that way, a warm and loving man, and am grateful for having had such a wonderful uncle. Love to all of you from Amsterdam and Berlin. Pauline