HENRIETTE VAN MARLE | Ireland, 1953

L to R: Hilda van Stockum and
Henriette van Marle.

I ran across this photo of Hilda van Stockum, looks like Ireland, probably Blackrock or Dalkey.

Brigid just reported back to me who it is standing next to  HvS:

That's my cousin Henriette van Marle! It could be Dublin. She visited us there when we were teenagers. I was 15 and she was 19 or 20. I wrote about her in my book, A Meaning for Danny. We were great friends when we were in Holland after the war. I was 11 and she was 16. 

Yes, I remember that summer. We were at De Leemküle in Hattem, near Tante Hessie [van Hall] and her Kolkhuis. It was a holiday camp in the woods, with common cooking facilities and little cabins.

Brigid reminded me that Henriette's mother and sister traded names within the family. Hilda Boissevain de Booy and Olga Boissevain van Stockum were the middle two of daughters of Charles and Emily Boissevain. Charles was the editor of the Algemeen Handelsblad, now the nrcHandelsblad. 

Henriette's older sister was called Hilda and her Mother was called Olga. This Olga /Hilda exchange was started by our granny Olga, and our great-aunt Hilda Boissevain [de Booy]. They agreed to name their daughters after each other. Their daughters did the same. The tradition stopped then because our Olga didn't have kids, I didn't have a girl, and Sheila gave her girls Irish first names to go with their O'Neill surname.

This an opportunity to provide an update on family news:

• My sister Sheila Marlin O'Neill, sadly, died in September, a month before her 78th birthday. Her funeral in England was last month.
• HvS's cousin Tom de Booy (son of Hilda and Han de Booy) recently died at 93. Our cousin Charles Boissevain is writing Tom's obituary for the nrcHandelsblad.

KIN | Charles Boissevain, Aviva and Her Famly

Three generations of Boissevains. To the left of Charles
 is his daughter Aviva. To his right is granddaughter
Florence.

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, September - I am staying at the Rho Hotel, on Nes off the Dam at the center of old Amsterdam.

The hotel used to be a theater–Nes was once a row of theaters.

Yesterday morning I met in the lobby of the hotel for the first time with two second cousins twice removed–Héloïse and Florence.

Florence is at the head of the table in the photo at left. Across the table from me is Charles Boissevain, my second cousin. Our grandparents include two siblings, i.e., Charles's grandfather Charles E. H.  Boissevain and my grandmother Olga Boissevain van Stockum.

Both my sister and Héloïse are named after the same person – Emily Heéloïse MacDonnell, who married my great-grandfather Charles Boissevain.

Charles was born in 1934 and therefore turned 80 last year - the same age as my sister Olga Emily Marlin, whom I plan to see this weekend in Pamplona.

HvS KIN | Family Websites and Blogs

Hilda van Stockum in 1932, the year she married
my father in Dublin.

Since my mother Hilda van Stockum died, I have been trying to keep alive her memory and her many books for children. Along the way I have been doing research on her family. In this post I am providing a tour d'horizon of the various purposes of the different websites and blogs.

Hilda van Stockum and Her Books

The oldest website is www.hildavanstockum.com. This website was created in 2006. The last content was added in 2007. It is meant to be an extended memory of her life and remembrances at the time of her death. Updates are here on this blogsite - www.hildavanstockum.blogspot.com.

I am promoting her books at the website www.boissevainbooksLLC.com and the blogsite www.boissevainbooks.blogspot.com.

More broadly, I write about authors and illustrators of children's books at www.writers4kids.blogspot.com.

The Boissevain Family

The website www.boissevain.us is updated irregularly and includes a great deal of information about my mother's Dutch family. Updates are more regularly posted about the families of my mother and grandmother (Olga Boissevain) on two sites:

www.inezmb.blogspot.com focuses on Inez Milholland Boissevain, who married my grandmother's brother Eugen Boissevain. It focuses on the lives of Eugen and his two wives, Inez and Edna St. Vincent Millay, and related woman suffrage issues. I have posted there recently.

www.nyctimetraveler.blogspot.com covers the Boissevain family. I have recently been writing about their active roles fighting Hitler in the Dutch Resistance. I have been posting here a lot recently. Plans are afoot for a Boissevain Family Reunion in the spring of 2016. Stay tuned. Please comment on my blogs or send me an email - teppermarlin@aol.com. THANKS!!

BIRTH | Feb. 9 - HvS

Hilda van Stockum as Art Student

Hilda van Stockum was born this day in 1908 (108 years ago in 2016), eldest child and only daughter of Capt. Bram van Stockum and Olga Boissevain. She met an American, Ervin Ross Marlin, when she was attending the Royal Hibernian Academy of Art in Dublin and her brother Willem van Stockum was his roommate at Trinity College, Dublin.

She became Mrs. Marlin at a Dublin wedding in 1932. She followed her husband to New York City and then Washington, DC, where he joined the FDR Administration based on a competitive exam that took the top 300 people out of thousands of people who took the test. (He worked for eight years in several Federal agencies and during World War II he was sent by the OSS under Bill Donovan to Ireland. After the war he worked for the UN for 20 years.)

She wrote and illustrated her first book for children in 1934, A Day on Skates, published by Harper & Brothers. It had a foreword by her aunt Edna St. Vincent Millay and won a Newbery runner-up award. During the next four decades she averaged one book per year - written or illustrated or both, plus several translations from German or Dutch. After her first book, most of her books were edited by May Massee, who moved to Viking Press in 1932 and remained her faithful editor for 25 years. Her other main publishers were Constable, the Modern Library and Farrar Straus. Since 1994 about 15 of her books have been kept in print by Bethlehem Books and Boissevain Books.

One book (The Winged Watchman, published originally by Farrar Straus) has sold 51,000 copies in reprint, after all the sales by Farrar Straus & Giroux. She died on All Saints' Day, 2006.

The following remembrances of Hilda van Stockum on Her Birthday by Her Children were written in 2013, with two updates in 2014. [These were all in the form of emails, posted here by permission. Notes in square brackets by John.]

Olga Marlin [in 2013 in Pamplona, Spain for medical treatment, on leave from her Kianda Foundation family in Nairobi, Kenya – she sent this on February 8 as an email to her five younger sibs]: Tomorrow is Mom´s birthday,and a day when I pray especially for all of us. Are you following the work of John Beaumont? [Beaumont is finishing up a book on U.S. converts to Catholicism, including Hilda van Stockum.] I´m touched that he is so interested in mother´s religious background. It is built into her whole life, and always had a great influence on me. I don´t know whether he would like to read my book [To Africa with a Dream, Scepter and Boissevain Books]: it brings up quite a lot about Mom. I´m eagerly waiting for a feedback from my Kenyans on Lis´s book [Lis Paice, New Coach: Reflections from a Learning Journey, Open University Press]. I'm sure they are going to like it immensely. We have a number of philosophers coming and going in this Centre [in Pamplona]. An Ecuadorian has just left, who is studying the substance of freedom in the writings of Fernando Polo. Another, from Uruguay, is studying philosophical aspects of anthropology. I discuss their theses with them from time to time - very interesting, but out of my depth... I feel more at home in theology. I´m looking forward to April when the family visits start again!! I can walk around OK now, just using a stick outside for security. My love and a great big hug - I can just hear Mom singing: "Bind us together, Lord, bind us together..." XX

Olga 2014 - Warmest greetings from Pamplona, where I'm thinking of you all especially on Mommy's Birthday tomorrow, I'm sure she'll hear our "Happy Birthday!" in Heaven and bless us all. It has been a cold winter across the Atlantic – I hope you didn´t suffer too much. Here we are having huge tidal waves at the coast, with some loss of life and lots of property destroyed. The seaside walks have been cordoned off, to avoid people being swept away. Olga

Brigid Marlin [in Berkhamsted, UK, responding to Olga’s 2013 email] I've been missing Mum so much in different ways. We always discussed painting problems together, and if either of us had a difficulty, a second artist's opinion was very helpful. She was endlessly patient in advising about writing - I always appreciated that very much. And finally she was brilliant at interpreting dreams! And how we all miss her great love for us; uncritical, believing in us and admiring us, giving us confidence and belief in ourselves! Thank you, Mother!

Randal Marlin [in Ottawa, Canada, responding to Olga’s 2013 email] I play violin with our parish choir, Olga, and we recently played "Bind Us Together," and I thought of Mom at the Castle [in Galway]. "He will raise us up on the last day" is another reminder. I can't remember whether "Be not afraid" was a favourite of Mom's but it expresses her thoughts and is a great hymn. I'm studying Spanish with a good teacher and hope to be more fluent when I next come to Pamplona. I'll be playing "Pescador de Hombres" on Sunday, though the music is the same in English or Spanish. Maybe there's a slightly different feeling when I think the Spanish words as I play. Congratulations on your health improvement, Olga. Love to all. Randal

Sheila O'Neill [in Garston, UK, responding to Olga’s 2013 email] Hi all, I miss mother a lot but I feel her presence, watching over us. She was a strong influence on us and a great example of dedication, hard work and religious fervour. She did something right because all six of us have been very successful in our careers. I raise a toast to Mum, long may our memory of her live on! Sheila

John Tepper Marlin [in New York City, USA, in 2013; in Tiradentes, Minas Gerais, Brazil in 2014]
2014 – We think of religion as a pacifying influence, especially in Latin America. But for Mom, her references to the Oxford Group suggest it was revolutionary, and that is what religion was in Tiradentes. The revolutionaries who started the movement to make Brazil independent from the Portuguese Empire, inspired by the American Revolution, first met in 1789 in the home of Padre Toledo in this small mountain village. They were called the Inconfidencia Mineira. One of the group testified against 11 others, and they were all executed on April 21, 1792. Only Lieutenant Jose da Silva Xavier, known as Tiradentes (tooth-puller) was hanged, and since independence of the Portuguese monarchy was achieved a century later, in 1889, the anniversary of his death has been a public holiday in Republican Brazil. The flame that was lit in Tiradentes never went out. Mom lit flames like that and many are still burning.

Elisabeth Paice [in London, UK, responding to Brigid’s 2013 email] Awwww. That does bring Mom back, Brigid! And “How Great Thou Art!” She loved to get mimosa on her birthday, and Yardley’s Lavender Water, and a poem. I just reread The Winged Watchman in her memory.

WW2 | Hans de Beaufort, Resistance Fighter

I have been continuing to research Hilda van Stockum's papers about World War II in the Netherlands, where two HvS books are located (The Winged Watchman and The Borrowed House).

Hans de Beaufort is one of the Boissevain Resistance fighters. He was the son of Teau Boissevain de Beaufort, the youngest child of Charles Boissevain and Emily MacDonnell Boissevain. Teau died of leukemia in 1922 at the young age of 37.

After the war, a motorcycle racing award was named for Hans, to be awarded to a motorcyclist whose character reflects the bravery of Hans. The next section is from the motor cycle magazine.

Hans de Beaufort's Resistance Work (from Motor Cycle Magazine)

One Dutch [Motorcycle] Rider Hans de Beaufort ... was heavily involved in helping Allied Airmen to safety in Switzerland, so absolutely sad & how touching that he was later executed by the Germans on April 9th, 1942... the squandering of human life wars bring about.

Currently, author & historian Jan Melsser is compiling the story of Hans, son of a well-to-do family who became a journalist on the weekly Motor Magazine from Piet Nortier. Not a winner of great competitive prizes, he was, however, a man with a determined sense of justice & was incredibly active in his aims particularly to forge papers & help crashed Allied airmen to return from enemy held areas & was strongly active within the Resistance movement.

In February 1942, when he was 27, he left Holland by train to try to reach UK via Switzerland. He was captured in Besançon, then taken to Dijon prison where he was shot along with two other Dutchmen held there & buried there. In 1956, however, his remains were transferred to the Dutch Military Cemetery at Orry-la-Ville. In 1947 the KNMV Sport commission instituted a Hans de Beaufort Beker (Cup) only to be awarded to motor sportsmen that had not only excelled in competition but also in decency plus perseverance. Since 1947 it was not even awarded on eight  occasions when a suitable rider was not found. Someone such as this can make men humble & incredibly respectful. Thanks to Jan Meissen.

Hans de Beaufort, Letter from Dijon Prison

The following letter from Hans de Beaufort in prison, dated April 9, 1942, was translated from the Dutch by Hilda van Stockum in 1945:

I write this letter to you but it is meant for all those I have known and loved. For I must take leave of you all; yesterday a court martial has condemned us to death because we tried to escape. I need not go into the reasons why I took the decision to leave in February; I only want to explain why I didn't let you know. That was to spare you anxiety and to avoid your being considered accomplices. Now it has all gone so differently from what I had hoped I am very sorry that I did not take leave of you for the last time.

You must not worry, father. Everything is all right, for I had already in prison a presentiment that I would not live long any more. And I have tried from my heart to make peace with God and the world,which I am now going to leave. It has been most difficult to put aside all my unfulfilled plans and ideals and I would so much have liked to write down all my thoughts and experiences so other people could profit. God has given me a fine life. I should also have liked so much to make it up to people I have done wrong to. And I would have liked to have been happily married and have the help of a wife and children to raise for a better world.

But I can accept it all now wholeheartedly. I have learnt ONE important thing lately and that is that the most beautiful and most important part of prayer also the most difficult is: "Thy will be done." I think every day of you and all the others and I pray that it may go well with you. Please don't let a second of life go unused in which you can do something for one another; there is so much suffering in the world.

I only realize now how privileged I was and how many chances I've missed to make the world better for others. I feel now more strongly than ever that this whole war was caused by wrong feelings inside people. When everyone has in his heart a firm will to do right and follow God, WHICH IS POSSIBLE, then no one need ever be afraid. And fear and uncertainty are the greatest tortures a human being knows. I know I probably express myself obscurely but so much still lives in me that tries to come out.

I no longer feel hate or resentment towards anyone. I only hope that all will be forgiven me which I have not been able to make good. On Good Friday I have tried to sing in my cell all I remembered of the Matthew passion and I thought of you and of last year when we all listened to it together. I saw those last days, my whole life pass again before me, and I remembered suddenly things I had long forgotten.

I rode again with my mother in the donkey carriage and played "fireman" again with Nella and Charley. Thousands of those memories I experienced again and it was as though my eyes were opened and I could enjoy them properly for the first time. The months April and March are full of memories: the wedding of Willem and Jacky, Father's birthday, Easter. I have thought of you all and hoped you would not be too anxious.

And in a few weeks the cherry tree at home will be in bloom again and then you stand on the terrace and look out over the woods where the new green begins to glimmer. And later the lilacs bloom and the front of the house is covered with vines and ivy. Yes, life has been very good. All my life I have feared this parting but now it seems that this perhaps is the easiest way. And perhaps much suffering will be avoided when I am no longer there. Do you remember that I once said that I dreaded most to have been of no use in the world? I still mean that and I hope fervently that my life has not been in vain. There is much I would like to have done better if I got a second chance but most I could not have done differently.

I don't know when you'll get this letter and if you'll get an official notice of my death. If I may ask one thing of you: Don't go into mourning for me. (Here follows a list of things he bequeaths to friends.)

Father, I can never be grateful enough to you for all you have done for me. I know I caused you much worry and sorrow and I am very sorry that I didn't show my love for you more. God give that with this, all suffering may cease. Willem and Jack, we have also learnt to appreciate each other lately. I am sorry I so often passed by a chance to be kind.

And to Nella and Carel and their children, if they read this, goes the same. And for Uncle Theo [Hissink] and aunt Nella whom I have hurt so often and whom I always neglected. I am so grateful to aunt Nella that she brought me close to God and taught me how to pray and listen to His voice. Without God's help I could never have come through this time of fear and uncertainty.

Dear people, I must stop. I hope I have not hurt anyone more than was unavoidable. I did what I thought my duty. I did what I could but at a certain moment it is too much and you can't manage any more. From that moment you have to leave it all to God's care. Now I can happily say: "Thy will be done" and give body and soul back to Him from Whom I got them.

I greet you all with deepest love, all without exception just as I take leave of life with gratitude, hope of forgiveness, and trust in God. 

Hans de Beaufort