About me

My former working life:

I was born in Nederweert in the southern province of Limburg in the Netherlands in 1947. After graduating from high school, I moved to Tilburg to study at an arts and crafts school. My theoretical exams in 1969 were unsuccessful as my interests extended more toward activities surrounding greater democracy in the country.

I moved to Delft and started working part-time at the Delft University of Technology – Faculty of Architecture. Aside from this, I studied labor market policy (now HRM). I was also active in the democratic movement during that time. Almost every student there was male in those days. I was elected as a member of the Faculty Council for the so-called non-scientific personnel, which was followed by my appointment to the Faculty Board for two years. I was the first woman ever on a board at that university.

My portfolio included HRM and communications. Shortly after that the number of students increased enormously as a result of the baby boom after WWII: from 350 to 3000 students, including many female students. I was asked to start a communications office.

After finishing my part-time study, I worked at the Employment Office in Rotterdam for some time.

On December 1, 1980 I became the first remunerated National Ombudswoman in The Hague, which was originally a foundation of feminist volunteers. The aim of the foundation was to improve the treatment of women in the job market and the work place. We were supported by female politicians: the Kamerbreed vrouwen overleg (KVO) (consultations among the females in parliament – only twelve females in total in those days) and regularly published a column in Opzij, a feminist magazine.

After that, I became an HRM conference developer at Elsevier, an academic publishing company and I also led the so-called HRM pre-master school.

After recovering from a burnout, I worked as a communications consultant for the Provincial Executive of the Province of South Holland.

When I turned 57, the former minister of Internal Affairs, Remkes, was convinced that the civil service had become ‘too elderly’ so civil servants aged over 57 could take early retirement. That was great for me and I decided to return to Limburg. Actually, I didn’t really want to leave Rotterdam, the city where I had lived for over 25 years, but I preferred to return to the countryside.

I found a great little house – plus garden – in the village of Cadier en Keer, part of the municipality of Margraten. I spent my time painting, writing and hiking.

My second career:

In 2008, a national project ‘Heritage of WWII: eyewitness stories’ was launched as part of preparations to commemorate the country’s 65^th year of liberation in September 2009.

As part of this initiative I started the ‘Fields of Margraten’ oral history project with the local heritage organization.

We decided to record interviews with farmers who witnessed the US Army bring thousands of dead bodies to their fields to be buried. Those were victims of the Battle of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. A large cemetery known as the Netherlands American Cemetery was developed by the ABMC.

A short while later, I discovered that the US Army was completely segregated. This fact characterized my work until May 2023.

See Publications and Spin offs.