Passed away November 25, 2023.

Walter grew up on a farm in The Netherlands but as a child dreamed of adventure on the seven seas. He, his parents and three siblings endured the privations and fears of life in occupied Netherlands during WWII. After the war, Walter persuaded his reticent parents to send him to a training school for sailors. After a stint working on a Rhine River barge delivering Marshall Plan food aid to Germany, he fulfilled his dream by joining the Dutch Merchant Marine, travelling the world. A chance encounter during home leave started a lifelong romance with Ria. After their marriage, Walter continued his sailing days but with the birth of their first child decided to become a landlubber and retrained as a plasterer in the construction trade. Still dreaming of new adventures and greater opportunity, in 1956, the family of three joined the many thousands of Dutch farmworkers and trades people immigrating to Canada and settled in Calgary where their second daughter was born. As new immigrants, their early years were often difficult with significant financial hardship but they were sustained by determination and their strong Christian faith. The friends made at the new Calgary Reformed Church, comprised mostly of new Dutch immigrants, became an important network for both spiritual and social support. After more than a decade, Walter and Ria fulfilled another dream and started and built up their own small plastering business.

After retirement, Walter and Ria left the Calgary winters behind to take up residence in West Kelowna and enjoy their beautiful view of the lake and natural surroundings. During winters spent in Arizona, Walter took up tennis and became an enthusiastic member of the Lakeview Heights Tennis Club in West Kelowna as well. He loved hiking the trails, being in nature and became a familiar lycra-clad figure on his sleek bicycle.

Walter liked working with his hands and was a creative craftsman. He revived skills he had learned from the old salts on board ship and made intricate ships in bottles for family members. Over the course of many cold Okanagan winters, he created five models of historic ships that sailed between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries. He spent hours in the basement, or “the dry dock” as he called it, meticulously sanding, painting and tying the specific knots used on the rigging of each ship, all the lines perfectly coiled on deck. Each model ship is a masterpiece displayed in a glass case and they are a moving legacy to his family.

After a full life of 95 years, Walter leaves his wife, Ria, so loved for 71 years of marriage, and gifts a lifetime of memories to his daughters, Agnes (Graham) and Donna (Alan), and his granddaughters Cailie and Lindsay (Martin). Walter was pre-deceased by his parents and his brother Pete. He will be sorely missed by family: his sister Tini, his brother Gert and his two sisters-in-law, Agnes and Joke in The Netherlands; his sister-in-law, Emmy, his nephew and niece Gordon (Bettie) and Lynn (Andy) in Canada and the US, as well as nieces, nephews and extended family in The Netherlands.

 

 

Funeral Arrangements have been entrusted to Pleasant Valley Funeral Home,

Phone: 250-542-4333

Condolences may be offered at www.pleasantvalleyfh.com