Sjoerd Klazes de Boer was born 1909 at Pietersbierum, Friesland, in the "stjelp" (see box) on the main road to Harlingen. Not long after his birth his mother, Trijntje (or in the frisian fashion: Nynke) Hoogland, died.

Stjelp: a farm type with the long shed and dwelling under one roof, the dwelling on the shorter and normally sunny side.

Father Klaas, with help of nurse-maids, took care of the family as well as with farm-hands of the farm. In the first three years of Sjoerd's life it was, unfortunately, a coming and going of the immediate care-takers. In 1911, they moved to the farm (see father Klaas) on the Âldyk (old sea dike) under Pietersbierum.

Klaas remarried 1912, with Trijntje (Nynke) Schuiling, the former fiancé of his late brother. She had decided, after that death in 1898, to become diacones (nurse) in Leeuwarden and some time thereafter took care of her ailing uncle, Klaas Schuiling, reverend in Veenwouden. When Klaas Schuiling died, Nynke felt free of obligations. An early memory of SKdB on that final change: I remember that when the last of the caretakers of us children, Evertje Wielinga (Ee), a thickish adorable woman, had to leave, she was crying in her upstairs room while packing. [Had she hoped to marry Klaas?] There was the "faam", Anna Leistra, who made "sipelsaus" (onion stew) on the wedding day, something we otherwise never ate! For the family, father Klaas now having remarried, life became more regulated, notably for Sjoerd aged 3, Auke (7) and Ynse (12). 

Bedstee: a cupbord like closet with double doors containing a double bed, drawers below. The normal farm had several.

SKdB: Nynke Schuiling was an erudite woman, which was an advantage for the education and cultivation of us children.

Sjoerd grew up on the farm on the Âldyk (now called "Hoarnestreek") under Pietersbierum. He slept with his brother Auke in a "bedstee" (see box), Ynse had his own. The children went to school in Sexbierum, walking along the "Oerpad". In very adverse weather they were brought to school by farm-hand Piter Hansies in a hea wain (heywagon), under a thick horse cloth; the other children from the Âldyk were then picked up, too.

Terp: a centuries old man-made gentle sloped mound for a farm, often enlarged to the size of a village.

During the midday break, Sjoerd and his brothers went to Aukom and Dim on the "terp" (see box) in Sexbierum, to have their noon meal. During those years, Sjoerd appreciated his "uncle" (omke Auke) a lot (Auke Lettinga had been the legal guardian of his mother Nynke Hoogland). Aukom, the master builder of the county of Barradeel, had wide ranging interests. From him, Sjoerd learned wood work and carpentry. Sjoerd had vivid memories of the introduction of electricity on the farm, in 1921. His fascination was such, that he could experiment with low voltage circuits in his "hut" in the back of the garden. When photography became more normal, Sjoerd also practiced that (dark room). He photographed throughout his life, even later during WW II, because he had provided himself with a good supply of the necessary material.

After 5th grade in Sexbierum, Sjoerd (aged 11) went to the state elementary school in Harlingen (at 5 km form the farm) for the final 6th grade. After that, he entered high school (HBS) there. It all meant to cycle, with other children, along the Âldyk to Harlingen and back. He had to repeat the 4th year of the HBS. All this time and energy on bike perhaps had been to much and Sjoerd was lodged during weekdays in Harlingen, with the art teacher Gerrit Aalfs, who was a fervent photographer and who experimented with cinematography. Sjoerd's attick room faced north, so he could divine the parental farm from the window. The Aalfs family liked Sjoerd a lot and they bequeathed him a large painting, showing an Alpine scenery. Sjoerd passed the final exam!  SKdB: As reward for passing the exam my parents took me (with Omke Gelf and Moeike Jo) on a trip abroad: by train to Cologne followed by a boat trip over the Rhine to Mayence. I had learned german in school and thus was the interpretor on the trip!

Sjoerd went on to study medicine in Groningen, in 1928. The foto here is a cut from a family portrait of 1929. He had also been advised to go to "Wageningen" (the agriculture high school) but he felt it had to be medicine. His oldest brother Ynse had given up agriculture and studied law in Groningen, aiming to become notary public. Ynse married early (with Tite) and lived at the Bernouilliplein in Groningen. Brother Auke became the successor on the farm.
Sjoerd rented a room on the Nieuwe Boteringestraat 39a in Groningen. Some years later he moved to Poelestraat 28a.
Fellow students Sjoerd mentioned in his sparse historic notes were: Jan Schober, Jan van Leeuwen, Bert de Groot. Lifelong friends became Jan Schober and Kor Lijffering.

Sjoerd participated in many student activities. These included dinner parties at "Minerva" (the club building), the yearly "Corps Bal" (dance night), the "Kermesse" (a satiric and erotic carnavalesque display in Minerva), and various other parties. In his own notes he wrote not to have felt to be a party student, that was not so much for him. He was member of the "Linetrekkers" (the artistic club), of the photoclub (possibility to use its dark room), and of course of "Frisia" (club for students from Friesland).

Anna Frieda Magaretha Tallina Jager was born 1908 in Sappemeer in the house of the "schuierhoutenfabriek" (woodwork factory). She had 3 older brothers, Jan, Frits and Henny, all children 5 years apart. As youngest and as girl she occupied a special spot within the family.
Her mother was from Bunde (Ost Friesland, Germany), just accross the border near Nieuwe Schans. Her parents had met during exchanges of the choirs of Sappemeer and Bunde. Mother Tallina had her house decorated according her personal taste, so with curtains in german style which Frieda loathed (a child does not want to differ from peers).

Girls had an "album of poetry", with poems and good wishes. Late in 1918, Frieda was then 10 years old, her parents Tallina and Johan each entered a wish for her life. On the first two pages (mother first) one can see their handwriting (see Tallina and Johan). That of Tallina is, of course, in the (German) "Sütterlin" handwriting type (as she had learned in school) but up front is a text in unskilled Dutch handwriting. The pages thereafter contain the well-wishes and rhymes from friends and others.

Frieda went to high school (HBS) in Hoogezand. In school, as she often told, she could make everybody laugh. She was often asked to do so; and when everybody laughed she would stop suddenly, leading to a further explosion of laughter.
Her best friend became Jo Minderhoud, who lived next to the school building. This friendship lasted their entire lives. Both of them played piano fairly well and up into their old age they visited each other to play "quatre mains".
The photo shows Frieda in those school years, in December 1924, she was 16.
In those HBS years first fallings in love occured. In 4th grade (1926-27), Jacob Kuijpers wrote a poem for Frieda, that basically meant he proposed. In the poem he included negative aspects on other boys in school: "Leevers learns to well, Remmert holds to much of outfits, ...., Eppens has lips too thin, Gottlieb is ugly, Schober seems to be often startled, ..., Piet is not quite well in the head. .... O please agree, and become my wife!" Was this a poem of the kind made for fun for the Sinterklaas feast or was it all serious? Frieda did not know and nothing came of it. The mentioned Schober would later marry Frieda's friend Jo Minderhoud.

In 1927 the factory of her father went bankrupt (the great depression...!) and Frieda now had to bring in money, too. She found a job with the telephone exchange of Hoogezand-Sappemeer (see postcard; ca. 1923, from Beeldbank Groningen), that recently had been built on the Winschoterdiep, close to where she lived, just before the corner with the street to the "borg" Welgelegen. When at work one day, she witnessed the first telephone call from Hoogezand with the Dutch Indies.

But soon she registered for an education to become nurse at the "Algemeen, Provinciaal, Stads en Academisch Ziekenhuis" (A.P.S.A.Z.), the main hospital in Groningen, without consulting her parents first. Did she ask her oldest brother Jan, whom she liked a lot, beforehand for advice? The first years she was an "intern" and had a room above the gate of the hospital grounds. Having obtained her diploma she could wear the "verpleegsters kruisje" (nurses cross); hers had nr. 20429. She liked her work, it brought satisfaction. She worked in various wards. From that time Immy, who had started the training in the same year and who also had lived above the gate, became a close friend, too. Much later, Immy and her husband Bé Hovinga lived in Blijham, near Winschoten, and Frieda visited her regularly.

Frieda's friend from school Jo befriended Jan Schober from Hoogezand, who went on to study medicine in Groningen. Frieda accompanied Jo on her visits to Grongen now and then and she then complained that Jo should not be all day with her friend Jan.

Sjoerd and Frieda

During such a visit in 1929 of Frieda and Jo to Groningen she was introduced to a friend of Jan Schober, also student of medicine at the university, Sjoerd de Boer.  SKdB: "Frieda was, as was my first impression, a somewhat stiff and somewhat surly girl, rather square schouldered." But they got along ever better and on the 1st of May 1932 they got officially engaged. The photo was made at Frieda's home in Sappemeer.

During his seventh year of study Sjoerd got ill, the diagnosis was vertebra tuberculosis. A bad sign, TBC ran in his family, in the grandparents generation. Summer 1936 he was sent to the village Putten on the Veluwe area (a sandy and forested region of the Netherlands), in "Huize De Vuurdoorn". It did not cure him. So it was decided to send him to Davos in Switzerland, to the Dutch "sanatorium" there. Sjoerd did not like that time particularly.  [To appreciate the atmosphere in Davos among all those TBC patients, read Der Zauberberg (The magic Mountain) by Thomas Mann.] In this international patient population in Davos he, like many others, started to collect stamps. Later, because of the TBC, he never went to bed late, only exceptionally drank alcoholic beverages, a beer or a glas of wine, and he never smoked. Frieda followed the same line.

Marriage of Sjoerd and Frieda.  At right: Mr Duleix of the "registration civique" of Leysin, the wittness Leda Varney from the USA, and at left the other witness, Juliette Rubin.

After Davos, an "after cure" was required in Leysin (Vaud, Switzerland) with a new treatment: lying with a brace to prevent his back from healing in a false position. Having already returned from Davos to the Netherlands he now was transported by train to western Switzerland, on a stretcher. The stretcher had to be manouvred into the train through the window!
The stay in Leysin, in an appartment in "Les Collonges", began end 1936, and Frieda, committed to Sjoerd, would come along. They therefore decided to marry. Sorting all formalities would take more time than available before the travel, so they married in Leysin instead. Sjoerd and Frieda lived there, as she later recounted with a grave voice as if you were included into a dark secret, "together, several weeks unmarried". The marriage took place on the 24th of December, Sjoerd in bed (in his "marriage pyamas") and Frieda, the witnesses (both TBC patients, standing) and the civil servant to the side.
In Leysin they met people from all over the world. Stamp collecting became the prime pasttime (Sjoerd continued this hobby a good part of his life; he tried to pass this on, later, to his sons). With many ex-patients letters were exchanged for many years. Sjoerd and Frieda of course acquired fluency in French. Later, with the children, vacation travel was to the French speaking part of Europe.

They left Leysin September 1938. Sjoerd got an appointment as assistant in the Groningen A.S.P.G.Z., dermatology, with Prof. Zurhelle. This kind of medical specialisation would not require night shifts (a choice to avoid physical exhaustion). Frieda worked again as nurse, for a while. They lived at the J.C.Kapteijnlaan 25. Because of the small bed in their dwelling, Frieda worked mostly night shifts and slept during the day, while Sjoerd was at work. Then there were three further months in Leysin (January - March 1939). On their way back they explored Paris. From May till July they lived at the Josef Israëlstraat, close to Frieda's brother Jan, who was at the H.W.Mesdagstraat (both streets named after well known Groningen painters). In August 1939 they moved to their final location: Korreweg 242a.

When May 1940 WW II broke out for the Netherlands (Germany occupied the low countries) life first continued more or less normal. The work in the dermatology clinic also included research. In 1942-43 Sjoerd had a few publications dealing with the effect of treating venereal diseases with sulfur (see the "clippings and photos"). Later, with consent of Prof. Zurhelle, some people received a document attesting they had an uncurable disease, so that they would not be sent to Germany as conscripted labourers.
During the time at the Korreweg the sons Klaas (1941) and Johan Auke (1943) were born.

Sjoerd practicioner in his own right

In 1944, Sjoerd became the successor of Dr F. van Wering as dermatologist at Noorderhaven 40 and was now doctor is his own right. To the left of the stately front door a marble nameplate was installed (photo). Below it, on a seperate marble plate, the opening hours were given: from 11 - 14 hrs. The telephone number was 23324. They moved on 14 September to the Noorderhaven, with horse drawn cart: the German occupiers had confiscated all motor vehicles.
The house was a 17th century merchant and business house with high gable at the former Groningen harbour quai (see part of postcard from ca. 1900). At street level was formerly an office and some storage space, on the first floor the living quarters and on top the staple space. In the back street, the Hoekstraat, a separate house had been erected on the same lot with its own entry and stairwell. In between was a courtyard.
Now, as medical practice, the house had at ground level the rooms for the practice, at the street a study, then the examination/laboratory room. The courtyard had been covered with a glas roof and, being adjacent to the examination room, had Sjoerd's desk where he recieved the patients. The rear house had the waiting room. The living room was upstairs at the harbour side with two regular windows flanked by two bay windows (see photo). Behind it was the dining room connected by a cold (very much so in winter) passageway to the rear house with kitchen and further rooms. The attic in the main house had two bedrooms and on the side, under the steep slanted roof, a room serving as bathroom.
Both parts had a basement, the front one to store wine (which was not there) and other useful ware, the rear one had the coal for heating.

In April 1945, canadian army units approached Groningen, to liberate town and country from the german occupying army. There was shooting at the Noorderhaven and the family sought shelter under the large, sturdy table in the examination room. On the evening of 14 April, all went up into the childrens bedroom to see the red glow of the fire of the 17th and 18th century houses lining the Grote Markt, set alight by retreating Germans. Through the smoke, one looked at the Martini Tower: "hai stait er nog..." (it is still standing...).
In the Noorderhaven, the Germans had sunk numerous ships.

After the war, life slowly returned to normal. In those years, dermatologists were extremely busy (scables, venereal diseases, etc.). Sjoerd made long days and Frieda helped, when needed. The official morning hours had changed to 8-9 and 11-12. Often, there still were patients in the waiting room at 12 (see box). The afternoon hours were from 1-2 pm. After that, Sjoerd would see patients on appointment. He sometimes did house visits, and he went to the Diaconnesen hospital to treat patients there. Those visits outside were always done on bike, he was glad to be in the outside air for a while.

During the years at the Noorderhaven, the third son Sjoerd was born.

Children: 1941 Klaas, 1943 Johan Auke, 1946 Sjoerd.
    (When Klaas was 25, he officially added a second "given" name: "Sjoerds", in line with the useage in the family. Johan was soon called Han.)
The names of the children follow the traditional pattern.

Sjoerd's elder brother, Ynse, lived in those years with his wife Tite at the Bernoulliplein in Groningen. Ynse was hobby filmer and he had, even during the war, film material. Soon after the birth of each of the children of Sjoerd and Frieda he came over to take some shots. See film Klaas (1941) (about 2 min., 42 Mb), film Johan (1943) (about a minute, 30 Mb), film Sjoerd (1946) (about 3/4 minute, 17 Mb). The second and third film also feature the earlier children.

The first son was named after fathers father, the second son after mothers father (in this case with the additional Auke for Auke Lettinga, who had been so important in Sjoerd's younger years), the third son after the father himself.

Because of the big house, the three children, and assisting in the practice, Frieda always had a live-in help, who had her room in the rear house. Almost all rooms were heated with coal furnaces. It was quite laborious to fetch coals from the cellar in the rear house.

The medical practice went well and Sjoerd bought, in 1950, the stately house at Heresingel 7 in Groningen. Along these "singels" on the lushly laid-out former ramparts, many doctors had their practise. Sjoerd stayed there for the rest of his life. The marble nameplate made the move as well. The house was revamped to make it fit for the purpose. Architect Jan Jager, Frieda's brother, who then lived at the Ubbo Emmiussingel, made the design. A bike-shed was added, also having space for garden utensils. Sjoerd took care of the garden himself. he fulfilled his desire to work in the outdoors, reminiscent of his youth on the farm. To the side of the house, a garage was built in 1954, for the newly bought first car. Next to the front door was an annexe, on top of which was a balcony, accessible from the dining room. The annexe housed the furnace of the central heating, which used coke. The coke silo had to be filled through a luke on the balcony.

In the early 1950s, Sjoerd discovered oversensitivity of patients for certain new kinds of detergents. He carried out numerous test (a.o. with a UV lamp) to find the offending substance. It turned out to be the new "brightening agents", substances that make the wash appear whiter. The results of his research were made public in two presentations. The first talk, in May 1958, was at a meeting of the Dutch Association of Dermatologists in the Academic Hospital in Groningen. In 1959 he presented his results in "de Faun" in Groningen for the Hunsingo-Fivelingo-Westerkwartier branch of the "Kon. Ned. Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Geneeskunst", the Dutch Society for the advancement of Medicine (Note in Medisch Contact, 19590327, p.199). In those years, he also discoverd a substance in the margarine of "Planta" inducing allergic reactions.

Having a medical practice means there is administration. For each patient, Sjoerd had a card on which he wrote his notes. The paperwork to claim payment from the respective sick funds was, with Sjoerd's help, done by Frieda. At the end of each quarter year, the large round table in the living room was cleared to be plastered for a while with the patient cards, the declaration notes and other paper work. Sjoerd prepared the bills for the non-insured patients himself.
Over the years, Sjoerd adjusted his opening hours, especially when the abundance of dermatological issues in the population reduced (society became more prosperous, cleaner). But he always started early "to accommodate those who do not want or cannot stay away from work". In a similar vein, he was willing to see patients, on appointment, on Saturday morning. And, for a while, he had a brief time slot in the evening (only on appointment) for people with venereal diseases.
The practice, on the Heresingel at the southern edge of the old town centre, was close to the "red light district". Sjoerd had an open mind on basically everything, also on sexuality (he owned numerous books on that topic, books he lent to others to advance their understanding). Perhaps due to this attitude, he had several "ladies" as client. Several years he gave courses on hygene and, on a one to one basis, sexual education.
Often a biopsy had to be taken to be analysed in the Lab of Pathology and Anatomy of the Academic Hospital. The sample was put in a small stoppered bottle, in a fitting box. The flask had broken at some stage; Sjoerd had put it together with special glue and heavy transparent tape, and it worked! Also the box had seen various stages of repair and was discoloured. But it stayed! Frieda brought it to the laboratory, later the sons did that, too.

Daily life

Sjoerd and Frieda conciously avoided to be drawn into the social clique of specialist doctors and the richer class. Their social life was therefore home oriented with visits from and to family and friends.
To the inner circle counted Nellie and Liedje Kremer (the first had a physiotherapy clinic, the second was elementary school teacher at the Borgmanschool), the full cousins of those two, Martje and Dien Alderts (both teachers) and Ben and Rie Schaap (he, director of the united cardboard sellers who had lots of international mail, and thus stamps). These six lived at the Balistraat, giving into the Korreweg across from the Bernouilliplein. Then of course Jo and Jan Schober in Hoogezand. Jo came once a week, often in the afternoon to play quatre mains with Frieda, to stay till Jan came after his practice hours. Other friends were Kor Lijffering (co-student, now army doctor in Assen while living in Groningen), and Immy and Bé Hovinga (Frieda's friend from hospital, he director of a printing outfit producing also the Winschoter Courant). It was seen to it that the various neighbours came to visit at least once a year. Sjoerd and Frieda often visited the relatives in Friesland with the children (but later without), especially Sjoerds parents and his brother Auke (with Tjits) on the farm. On such a trip, often Ynse (now notary public in Leeuwarden) and Tite were included. Frieda's parents had died in 1945 and 1947 in Sappemeer, but brother Frits (with Zus) had continued the factory there. And there were Jan (the architect) and Tiny, living at the next "singel". Once in a while they went to Frieda's full cousin, Heinrich Wiesenhan and his wife Hildegard, in Bunde, across the border near Nieuwe Schans.

Not long after the war the family started vacationing in a house on the North Sea island Vlieland. They did that a number of years. Later, with the car bought in 1954, the trips went to France and Switzerland, to the french speaking part of Europe. Those vacations took some three weeks, the first week plus had cultural and historically relevant goals, the second week was at a sea resort, and then rather quickly back home. Most of the time it was camping, Sjoerd liked that a lot and Frieda grudgingly consented to that. Later followed vacation trips to Scandinavia and elsewhere, occasionally with Nellie and Liedje.

Sjoerd and Frieda had a broad cultural interest. They visited all art and painting exhibits of the foundation "Cultura" in Groningen, they went to concerts of the "Groninger Orkest Vereniging" (GOV), and to musea. In the course of the years Sjoerd and Frieda could buy antique pieces as well as paintings (by members of the group "De Ploeg"; the plow). Sjoerd frequented presentations of the "Natuurkundig Genootschap" (Nature and Physics Society). They were avid readers, Sjoerd about history and politics, Frieda those as well, but more novels, especially historic, sometimes french ones, later more often english. And she liked, already since her youth, russian authors. Saturdays and Sundays, in winter, they went for an afternoon walk through town which brought them always to the Zuiderdiep, with numerous antique shops, with the expected result.

In her youth, Frieda had had a dog and she liked to have one, again, "also good for the children". In the late 1940s a dog came. Later, at the Heresingel, there was a Lassie, a white dog with longer hairs. Finally she had Tjoepie, a small beige dog that trembled a lot; was it feeling cold or were it nerves?

Frieda ordered groceries always at the Korreweg neigbourhood grocer (the one she shopped 1938-1944) "to support small bussinesses". She ordered by telephone and the ware was brought once a week. The milkman came door by door. But after some years at the Heresingel, there was no more milkman and she slowly switched to shops in the nearby Steentilstraat (baker Crebas, butcher Mollema, the grocer Albert Heijn).

Frieda cooked simple meals. Standard was potatoes, vegetables and meat, mostly "runderlapjes". She hardly ever used onions with the cooking "lest the patients would smell that". Twice a year Sjoerd could convince Frieda to make "sipelsaus" of which Sjoerd had his special youth memories (see above). That was always on a Saturday. Every meal had a desert, mostly yoghurt with extras for the ever hungry sons.
On Sunday, it was beafsteak, Sjoerd preferred that medium rare. Then the desert was a pudding, a grits one, made in a special bowl of stonewarwe (shape: grapevine, fish, or other), the pudding flipped over on a serving plate. It was often adorned with red currant sauce. Once in a while she made "poffert".
On New Years Eve she baked "kniepertjes" (waffles from a small rond iron). She sat at the gas stove and counted: 20 for one side, 15 for the other. The children helped with that, later.

When cousins de Boer studied in Groningen, they came once a week for a full meal. These included Klaas Ynses (study for notary public), Klaas Aukes (agricultural school), and Theunis Ynses (notary). Theunis surely was happy to come to also play the piano, jazz and swing; Han picked that up from him.

Sjoerd was a convinced "mennist", follower of the 16th century frisian reformist Menno Simons, a pacifist who also preached against dogmatism. Sjoerd soon was elected into the church council, the church building (by Mennonites called the "Admonition") being in the Boteringestraat. Often there were meetings of mennonites at the Heresingel. But later the pull of the great outdoors grew, especially for the Saturday and Sunday pasttime and he felt that engagement with the church was enough. He stayed many years on the board of the mennonite retirement home, located at the Butjestraat, close to the church.
Sjoerd had close ties with the Diaconessenhuis. He regularly had to treat patients there and he was well befriended with the director, Janna Sauer.

The predecessor in the practice, Dr. F. van Wering, owned a vacation house on an 11 ha wood and heath lot neear Schuilingsoord, south of Zuidlaren (Drenthe). Sjoerd and Frieda and family could use that in summer. Frieda and the children stayed there a few weeks or longer weekends, Sjoerd rode the 17 km on bike both ways, but often stayed in Groningen to work, did not come every night. As kind of compensation for the use, Sjoerd did (in consultation) a lot of upkeep (painting, taking carte of fallen trees, etc.). These were times they liked because the sons could roam freely.

As said, Sjoerd took care of the garden at the Heresingel. At some point he wanted to have bees. He bought a few colonies and the necessary equipment. After spring flowering time he would be at the hives, in bee-keeper suit and surrounded by smoke, to lift out the honeycombs. Frieda did the honey extraction in a spinning gadget. All liked the honey, Frieda often put a spoonful in her coffee. Later, the hives were moved to The Bulten (see next paragraph), but there honey production was small.

When a son of Dr. van Wering moved close and started to use the summer house, Sjoerd and Frieda started to feel "unwanted". After a few years without anything they found (and bought May 1962) "de Bulten", between Westlaren and the Noordlaarder Woods, at the edge of the "Vijftig Bunder". The lot was a little over 4 ha, woodland and pasture, bordering the creek the "Drentse Aa" and included a cottage. Two pasture parcels were added later, all had meagre soils. They went there almost every weekend. Later, the grandchildren came too.

In the course of the 1960s the practice became quieter.

Later relaxed phase

Sjoerd now found again (and more) time to do genealogical research, with Frieda. Because the tombstone of the well known and respected forebear reverend Schuiling (1783-1871) from Oude Bildtzijl (Friesland) had severely deteriorated, the idea emerged to collect money for repair. To source money, all the descendants had to be found. This led to the publication of the "Schuilingboek", composed by two of the decendants, S.K. de Boer and P. Willems. It was presented May 1973 at a large reunion of descendants in St. Annaparochie (Friesland).

Sjoerd at his desk in the reception room (1975). For a few more photos see practice.

Toward the end of the 1960s, Sjoerd suffered from a small heart attack. Since then he took blood thinners. Still, a few more followed. One of these occured after visiting a patient in the Diaconessenhuis when he picked up his coat in the cloak-room. To his great luck he was discovered soon. Another happened in the car, on a Saturday driving back home alone from The Bulten. Again good luck, behind him drove a doctor who knew Sjoerd. This all did not prevent him from doing the things he liked to do.

Frieda liked to embroider, needle and thread. She never made clothes herself.

Table cloth with the life story of Sjoerd and Frieda; embroidered by Frieda.

In the 1950s, she took upon herself to knot an entire rug. She bought a 2.5 by 2.5 meter base structure and ample wool in the colours reddisch-brown and ochre-yellow. The thread had to be pulled through the mat and led over a plastic bar, to make the loops all of the same length, then secured with a knot; when the tread was at its end, also the bar was full and one could cut the loops. The sons were encouraged to participate, since finishing would otherwise take too long. No wonder that the encouragement helped, but only very a little. The rug was thick and warm and was used in the front living room at Heresingel 7. It survived later removals but had, in the end, a completely worn area right there, were Frieda sat in her chair at the table.  She embroidered the names of a few generations of ancestors on a vertical cloth. For each of the children she made a cloth with events from their respective lives. And she embroidered a table cloth with her and Sjoerd's live story (see photo).

March 1976, after almost 32 years, Sjoerd handed his practice over; his successor continued it in the Diaconessen Hospital. [ This shift to hospitals was a general trend in those years. ]
Sjoerd died November 1977, at home, "amidst his activities". Frieda with Janna Sauer layed of the corpse in the reception room. He was cremated and the ashes were kept at the crematory until also Frieda would have died.

Frieda by herself

It now became quiet at Heresingel 7.
September 1978, Frieda ventured to travel to son Klaas who since March 1978 lived with family in Madison, USA. Her first flying. She made this trip surely also to visit Leda Varney, one of the wittnesses at her marriage, who lived in Colorado Springs, USA. Later she visited Klaas and family in Tübingen (D), Herstmonceux (GB) and finally in Rheinbach and Morenhoven (D).
Frieda also visited Sjoerd with Meggy and children, first in Utrecht, later in Winsum (Gr) and Opeinde (Fr).
Son Han had married in the 1970s, had divorced, and lived by himself in Zuidwolde (Gr). He had his own ideas about life. He later took over the management of "The Bulten" in his, ecologically acceptable, manner.

After some years alone at Heresingel 7, Frieda started to let some of the rooms in the big house to students. Then followed her move to an apartment at Heresingel 3. Finally, she moved to Drachten, in a flat apartment (Sjoerd an Meggy lived in a village near there). As of about 2000, her capacities in life diminished, she needed more active help, given foremost by Sjoerd and Meggy.
Frieda died, after 3 more years in a care home, in 2005, aged 97.

Thereafter

A few years after Frieda had died, Klaas and his daughter Marel dispersed their ashes, according their wish, on the sea side of the dike above Pieterbierum, across from "de pleats", where Sjoerd had spent his youth. The location was also a spot cherished bij Sjoerd's father.

Likeness of Sjoerd en Frieda with relatives:   Frieda had characterised the family members in a chat with son Klaas in 1980. (See also the photo gallery.)
Sjoerd took after his mother, Trijntje Hoogland, both in looks and in character. Also his brothers Ynse and Auke took after her.
Frieda looks like her mother Tallina Wiesenhann, perhaps more strongly like Tallina's mother, Antje Mulder.
The sons: Han looks like grandfather Klaas, Sjoerd like father Sjoerd and thus like Trijntje Hoogland. Klaas his looks are Frieda's while his character is that of father Sjoerd.

Memories by granddaughter Marel of "Oma Frieda" (written down Januari 2018):
On one occasion, I saw her doing garden work at Heresingel 7, wearing pants. I said: "the pants look well on you, Oma, wear pants more often!" She replied: "I feel that people should dress according their age, so I will not wear pants!"   Each year before New Years eve, she baked wafles at Heresingel 7. We joined in that, in the kitchen, with the small round wafle iron over the gas flame. She had a rhyme to recite to exactly count time to have them done.   Once she took care of Josine and me, in Tübingen. I had to learn for a test on geography and I thought it much work. She noticed that and sat down with me at the table to go over the material. She tought me numerous "ezelsbruggetjes" (mnemonics) in order to remember all those facts. And it was a success, my score turned ou to be the highest possible!   We visited her at Heresingel 3, where she then lived. Dad and Mum were into town with Josine. I stayed with Oma to play with the dolls while Oma would take her afternoon nap. Before she lay down I asked: "How will I know when you are awake again?" She replied: "When I move my feet I am awake." Klaas did not know that! When Dad, Mom and Josine returned I greeted them with my normal voice. Klaas said: "Shhh mother is still asleep." I said: "No, look, she moves her feet/toes."   [ When Frieda sat in a chair she always mover her feet. Klaas later did that, too. ]

Back to the ancestry chart of Sjoerd and Frieda.
To the "clips and photos".

SKdB: Sjoerd wrote down some memories of and feelings during his youth. Those notes were the basis for the above life story. Some sentences have been taken verbatim from his notes.
AFMTJ: Frieda frequently (re-)told stories from her youth as well as from the early years with Sjoerd.
This life story further relies on memories of son Klaas as well as memories of son Sjoerd.