January 7, 1928 - January 17, 2020
Anthonie Corstiaan Bestebroer came into the world in the back of his parents' bakery on January 7, 1928, in Schoonhoven, Holland. Anthonie's childhood was spent helping his father in the bakery and delivering bread on his bike equipped with a large wicker bread basket. When the war broke out, he used that bike and basket to smuggle underground newspapers to people in his community.
In 1951 he began the biggest adventure of his life when he married Hendrika (Rika) Looren deJong and the very next morning boarded the SS Ryndam to immigrate to Canada.
After a two-week trip by ship, then a cross-Canada train ride, they arrived in Chilliwack, B.C. where Anthonie began working as a baker in The Fashion Bakery.
In 1954 they moved to Agassiz where he opened Agassiz Bakery. In 1962 he sold the bakery, their home and most of their belongings, and with four daughters, a tent, several mattresses and a station wagon, they journeyed to Ontario where Anthonie began a new career in music. This led him back to Calgary where the family stayed for a year while he took courses in piano tuning.
In 1963 he moved back to Chilliwack, bought a house, and eventually opened AC Bestebroer Pianos and Organs which he owned and operated until 2008, retiring at the age of 80 to take care of Rika who was battling cancer. Anthonie loved music and one of his passions was the pipe organ he helped install at the First Christian Reformed Church. He shared his incredible gifts in music over the years as church organist and choir director, giving organ lessons in the community, and later in life joining the percussion section in the Chilliwack Symphony, singing in the Barbershop Quartet and playing piano for several elementary schools. He loved to travel anywhere there was a pipe organ and would go back to Holland every year, his last trip just a few years ago.
Anthonie was predeceased by his parents, Anton and Gre Bestebroer; three adult siblings, Jaap (1967), Trudy (2013), Joke (2017); several infant siblings; his wife of 57 years, Rika (2009); and his son, Jacob (2019). Anthonie is survived by his children Margaret (Wally) Tenbrinke of Chilliwack, BC; Jane (Casey) Langbroek of Chilliwack, BC; Rita (Bert) Tenbrinke of Lacombe, AB; Gerty (Ian) Shipmaker of Salmon Arm, BC; and daughter-in-law Pat Bestebroer of Chilliwack, BC., 18 grandchildren and 42 great grandchildren.
He is also survived by his sisters, Gre VanZwet (Castricum, Holland), Adrie Bestebroer (Rotterdam, Holland), Honey Bestebroer (Hogenwonig, Holland) and Jannie Bestebroer (Monster, Holland).
On January 17, 2020, at the age of 92 years, Anthonie passed away peacefully in the Chilliwack General Hospital.
Visitation will be held at Henderson's Funeral Home onTuesday, January 21, 7-9 pm. Memorial service will be held at Cornerstone Christian Reformed Church on Wednesday, January 22, at 1:30 pm. Donations to Chilliwack Hospital Foundation, in lieu of flowers.
Many thanks to Doctor Gordon Enns and the Nurses and Staff at Chilliwack General Hospital for the excellent care that Dad received while at the Hospital and in the last few years.