WINDMILLS UPDATED | Let the Turbines Spin, by Alice Tepper Marlin

The daughter-in-law of Hilda van Stockum updates the story of The Winged Watchman by showing how windmills can create energy in new ways. 

The largest U.S. array of new windmills in the ocean is being planned for the end of Long Island.

Let the Turbines Spin by Alice Tepper Marlin | The East Hampton Star

CONTEST | Winner

The Prizes Are Presented to the Winner at the Oxford
Home of Brigid's Son Chris Oakley, Who Looks On.
September 20, 2017. Photo by Alice Tepper Marlin.

The results of the first Hilda van Stockum contest are in.

The prize was for finding the most error in a short biographical sketch of Hilda van Stockum.

The winner is BRIGID MARLIN of Berkhamsted, Herts.

ERRORS CAUGHT BY THE WINNER

1. "Dutch children’s book" writer. Ambiguous. She wrote in English. Only two of her books have been translated into Dutch.

2. Olga should be Hilda. 

3. Hilda had six children (Olga, Brigid, Randal, Sheila, John, Lis), wrong birth order.

4. In the photo the order of names is unclear and Mother is left out,

5. Below the photo, the name of the organization is wrong the "Society of Art of Imagination" -should be "for" Art of Imagination.

6. Society name again wrong – in "Art Imagination" the OF is left out.

7. Inaccurate –"Psychic Subjects"? Does he mean Psychological Subjects? We didn't deal with ghosts & other phenomenon

8. Firsthand – she didn't know the war stories firsthand. She was in the USA during the war. Her sources had information firsthand; for her it was secondhand.

9. Dihon?

10. "A Day on Skate"- missing the final "s".

OTHER ERRORS (To be added at leisure.)

1. John Tepper Marlin is called John Boissevain twice.

WW2 | Willem van Stockum Gravesite

I have posted elsewhere the memorials to the crew of the two airplanes that crashed during the week of  D-Day.

My wife Alice Tepper Marlin and I attended a reunion of the relatives of the crew members in June 2014, 70 years after the downing of the planes.

In HvS's diary of her travels in 1954, she mentions the trauma she felt on finding her brother Willem van Stockum's gravesite without a marker.

The explanation for the absence of a grave headstone is in the letter dated Feb. 21, 1955 at left from the Imperial War Graves Commission.

Apparently the British were in charge of all the headstones for this gravesite and they made 13 headstones for the British and Commonwealth countries, including the Australian who piloted the second plane.

The Dutch Government was in charge of providing the headstone for Willem. They asked HvS what she wanted written on the headstone and she said: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13."

The headstone was delivered by the government, but without the inscription.

Related Posts: Memorials to Air Crews . HvS Diary of Travels, 1954 . New Edition of The Borrowed House (about WW2) . Letter 1 about The Borrowed House . Letter 2 . Letter 3 . The van Arkel Portrait . Time Bomber

HvS | RHA Exhibitions, 1990-2000

Visit at High Elms Manor yesterday.
L to R: John Tepper Marlin, Sheila
Marlin O'Neill, Brigid Marlin Oakley.
Photo by Alice Tepper Marlin.

Yesterday my sister Brigid and I visited with our sister Sheila at High Elms Manor, Watford, Herts. My wife Alice and nephew Chris were also on the visit and their photos appear in another post.

Sheila passed on to me copies of several Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts exhibition catalogs for the year 1990-2000 that contain references to the art of our mother Hilda van Stockum, HRHA (1908-2006).

I have started below a list of the art at the RHA exhibitions, with thumbnail photos by permission of the Estate of Hilda van Stockum, as a step toward the day when someone might prepare a more ambitious lifetime catalog of HvS art.

Our Dad, E. R. (Spike) Marlin (1909-1994), personally supervised the crating and delivery of art each year until he died in 1994. After that the Exhibition became a joint effort, as I understand it, of HvS and her two artist daughters Brigid Marlin and Sheila Marlin O'Neill. Maybe they will add to this post over time, as will I. If you have additions or corrections, or can add the current location of any piece of art, please send this information to me at teppermarlin@aol.com.

HvS, Bottles and Glasses,
RHA 1990.

RHA 1990 
160th Exhibition, April 24-May 26

410. Heather and Winter Jasmine

        Oil
        16x19.5"
        IR£2,300

411. Bottles and Glasses (Photo at right)

        Oil
        20.5x15.5
        IR£2,500

412. Apples and Copper Kettle

        Oil
        20x23.5
        IR£2,500

HvS, Orchids and
Jasmine, RHA 1991.

RHA 1991
161st Exhibition, April 30-May 25

508. Icelandic Poppies
        Oil
        13x15"
        IR£1,800
509. Orchids and Jasmine (Photo at right)
        Oil
        25x18"
        IR£3,800 (Photo at left)
510. Three Bottles
        Oil
        17x13"
        IR£3,000

RHA 1992 
162nd Exhibition, April 29-May 23

490. Old Dutch Coffee Pot and Pears

HvS, Tomatoes and Crackle-
Glazed Vase, RHA 1992.

        Oil
        17x21", IR£3,000

491. Red Pears in Copper Pan
        Oil
        12x14", IR £3,000

492. Tomatoes and Crackle-Glazed Vase (Photo at right)
        Oil
        19x29", IR£4,800

RHA 1993
163rd Exhibition, April 27-May 22

393. Fruit Bowl and Tankard (Photo at right)

HvS, Fruit Bowl and Tankard,
RHA 1993.

        Oil

        15x15.25"

        IR£2,500

394. Canterbury Bells

        Oil

        15x12"

        IR£1,500

395. Copper Kettle and Apples

        Oil

        14x18"

        IR£2,300

RHA 1996
166th Exhibition, April 23-May 18

456. Brass Kettle, Cup and Jug (Photo at right)

HvS, Brass Kettle, Cup and Jug,
RHA 1996.

        Oil
        27x22"
        IR£2,000
457. Rose Bowl with Flowers
        Oil
        19.5x18"
        £IR1,600
458. Peaches in China Bowl
        Oil
        25.5x21"
        IR£2,000
459. Copper Bowl with Apple

        Oil

        19.5x18"
        IR£1,600

In his review of the 166th Exhibition, Brian Fallon in The Irish Times says that Hilda van Stockum "still rules the field in still life" (see clip at right).

RHA 2000
170th Exhibition, April 11-May 13

HvS, Still Life with Apples, 
RHA 2000.

394. Still Life with Crystal Vase

        Oil on gesso paper

        22x15"

        IR£1,000

395. Still Life with Apples (Photo at right)

        Oil on gesso paper

        16x23.5"

        IR£1,000

HvS BIRTHDAY | Feb. 9 - Celebrating in Berkhamsted, UK

Four of HvS's Six Children (L to R): Sheila, Brigid, Lis, John. Photo by
Chris Oakley.

We celebrated our Mom's 107th birthday at Brigid's house in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, UK  over the weekend of the birthday.

Jo, Alice, Chris. Photo by JT Marlin.

Great-uncle John with Jo's kids.

Lis and John.

Alice Tepper Marlin and I are staying with Chris Oakley in his new house on Shotover Hill in Headington, just outside the Ring Road in Oxford. Chris drove the three of us to Berko.

We were 12 at the lunch - four of HvS's six children, plus Alice, Brigid's sons Chris and Desmond Oakley with Des's wife Anna, and Lis's daughter Jo with her husband and two kids.

Lis kindly primed me with two magic tricks involving coins and ropes, and this got the attention of the boys. But then, she is an expert grandmother. She and Sheila just wrote together the Grandmother's Survival Guide. The link takes you to Amazon where you can get your copy, grandmother or not.

Chris and his Mom Brigid enjoy a joke.

Alice and Lis. Photo by JT Marlin.

Des's birthday is coming up this week, on February 14. The birthday cake was therefore jointly dedicated to Des and his grandmother HvS.

Lis and her grandkids.

Besides the book she wrote with Lis, Sheila has recently written a book for children about two seals born in Blakeney in Norfolk, England, Flip to the Rescue. She painted 32 realistic water-color pictures for the book and accompanied each picture with a poem. The moral of the book is that siblings need to look after one another, a fitting theme for the day.

Sheila reads from her new book to Anna and Des. Photo
by JT Marlin.

Alice is heading off to Mumbai to meet with some executives of Tata Steel and give a couple of speeches, followed by some vacation in Kerala.

Postscript

My next stops were in Amsterdam to study the Dutch Resistance, Bilbao to look at the Guggenheim Museum and then Pamplona to visit my fourth sister, Olga.

MARLINS | Reunion of 4 in Berkhamsted

John, Lis, Sheila, Brigid Marlin, a.k.a. Timmy, Catherine, Angela, Patsy Mitchell.
Photo by Alice Tepper Marlin. Painting by Brigid Marlin.

I am visiting my three sisters in the UK - Lis, Sheila and Brigid. We have just had dinner at Brigid's house in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, UK. The painting behind us is by Brigid and signifies the attempt by a young girl to repair a wounded church symbolized by the dove.

We have 11 children among us, grandchildren of Hilda van Stockum and Spike Marlin. Lis and Sheila have multiple grandchildren and they are writing a book together on caring for grandchildren. I was surprised to learn that people who care for grandchildren have a lower life expectancy than those who do not. When I cogitated on why this might be so, it made sense, mostly because of whose children are likely to be in the care of grandparents, and the challenges that small children pose for older carers.

Alice and I are on our way to Oxford for the Alumni Weekend.

House at 8 Castle Hill, Berkhamsted, formerly owned by
Hilda van Stockum after Spike's death in 1994.

At the bottom of Castle Hill, near the top which is Brigid's house, before dinner, I snapped a photo of the former home of Hilda van Stockum at 8 Castle Hill. Between the time of E R ("Spike") Marlin's death in 1994 and HvS's own death 2006, the house suffered a bit on the maintenance. The renovations seem to be timely. Spike extended the dining room in the front and built a  studio in the back. It's not clear what is being done with the studio.

During the days when Spike was alive he would buy frames at auctions and would then have canvases made to fit them. He bought gorgeous frames at knock-down prices because who could use the frames but artists, and how many of them went to auctions?

From left: Sheila, Brigid, Lis, Alice (behind Liz). Photo
by John Tepper Marlin.

Brigid and Alice prepared a delicious meal with a whole fish and lots of veggies. The dining room is filled with art and sculptures by Brigid and her artistic colleagues. Brigid is deeply involved in promoting the hundreds of artists who are members of the Society of Art of Imagination.

Sheila's High Elms Manor has become a great success as an events venue since it was chosen as the subject of a "Country House Rescue" show.

Lis has retired from full-time work as a medical dean but continues to consult, mentor and write, as well as help care for her grandchildren. She is working on a project to integrate the various components of services provided by medical teams. The teams try to ensure that there is a common plan for the patient's route to wellness. It seemed to overlap with the management systems element of the SA8000 workplace standard.