Siebold DE JONG

Siebold De Jong, 96 Siebold De Jong, 96, a retired Dutch-born farmer who lived in the Algonquin area (RR 2, Brockville), died February 23 at Maple View Lodge, Athens. He was born in Oudehaske, Netherlands on August, 1, 1910, the son of Obbe De Jong and the former Hendrikje Veldstra. He was raised and educated in Oudehaske and after finishing school started working as a stationary engineer in a cheese factory. He married Jantje De Boer on May 5, 1938 in Joure, Netherlands. He was a very competitive person. In his younger years he was an avid track runner and played semi-professional soccer. He also raced bikes and motorcycles and was a renowned speed skater. During the years of the Second World War, when the Germans occupied the Netherlands, Mr. De Jong served in the Dutch underground. A few years after the war ended, he and his wife decided to leave the Netherlands and take their family to Canada to build a new, free life. They arrived in the Brockville area in August 1948. First he worked as a farmhand on the Comstock farm, from 1948 to 1951. Then he worked on the Ralph dairy farm until 1953 when he and his wife had saved enough money to buy their own dairy farm, just east of Algonquin. They retired from farming in 1980 but he continued to live on the farm until 2003, when he was in his early 90s. He was a member of Bethel Christian Reformed Church, Brockville, and enjoyed stock car racing and horce racing in his spare time. He also raised pigeons (called rollers because they would fly high then drop suddenly, rolling over). He loved spending time with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Mr. De Jong was predeceased by his wife Jantje on March 13, 1998, his brother Andrew De Jong, daughter-in-law Lynda and his son-in-law Don Wallace. He is survived by his three sons, Andrew De Jong and wife Barbara of Shanly, Bill De Jong of Brockville and Frank De Jong and wife Elsie of Algonquin, his daughter Beatrice Wallace of Brockville, 13 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Friends called at the Barclay Funeral Home, Brockville, on February 27. The funeral was held February 28 at Bethel Christian Reformed Church, with Rev. Nick Cornelisse officiating. Burial followed at Maynard Cemetery. The pallbearers were Kevin Anthony, Barry De Jong, Brian De Jong, Dale De Jong, Shane Wallace and Nathan Wallace. Memorial donations were directed to Maple View Lodge and Heritage Community Christian School. # Published in Section c, page 4 in the Thursday, March 15, 2007 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times. # Posted 4:29:57 PM Thursday, March 15, 2007. Correction to obituary for Siebold De Jong The obituary for Siebold De Jong, which was published March 15, incorrectly stated that his son Andrew De Jong survived him. In fact Andrew De Jong died in 2005. Andrew's wife Barbara survives and lives in Shanly. The newspaper regrets the error. # Published in Section b, page 8 in the Saturday, March 24, 2007 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times. # Posted 9:59:55 AM Saturday, March 24, 2007.