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Cornelia (Nell) deGROOT

December 31, 2006

It is with sadness that we are saying goodbye too soon to our Mother and Oma, Nell deGroot. On December 31, 2005 she went to join Peter, her recently departed husband. She had a short but brave fight with pancreatic cancer.

Nell was born June 19, 1930 in den Haag, Holland, the 7th of eight children. She grew up on a farm in Zoetermeer. She had to quit school in grade 8 to help her mom feed hungry townspeople in wartime Holland. She worked as a nanny before marrying her teenage sweetheart Peter in 1954. At that time they came on a ship to Halifax and a train across Canada to start their new life in Surrey, B.C. They later lived in Mission until settling on a farm in Sardis in 1961.

Mom spent her life caring for her extended family and friends. She taught her children and grandchildren cooking, canning, baking and sewing skills as well as patience and respect for God, people and nature. People were always welcome in her home and there was always enough soup in the pot for any lunchtime visitors. She always looked for the good in people. In dad’s last years she devoted herself to helping him.

Mom is survived by her children; Mary (Keith) Sache, Anna (Henry) Gouwenberg), Lydai (Glenn) Ehlers, Tony (Teresa), Leo (Sandra Irvine), Adrian (Pauline Mahoney) and Theresa (Bryan Swansburg).

Grandchildren; Renée (Kirby Laughlin), Pierre, Emil and Francis Sache, Kate (Jonathan Wouda), Gerrard, Peter, Stacia, Coral, Lucy, Samuel, Hannah, Naomi and Christine Gouwenberg, Brent Ehlers, Glenn, Craig and Carla deGroot, Lauren and Shawn deGroot and Jacob and Taya deGroot.

Great-grrandchild, Blake Laughlin. Brothers and sisters; Jack, Rika, Leo and Anny. Predeceased by husband Peter, brothers Jan, Cor and Adriaan.

Funeral services were held on January 5, 2006 at St. Mary’s Church in Chilliwack. If family and friends desire, donations can be made in her memory to the Chilliwack General Hospital or to the Chilliwack Red Cross.



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