John Hees. Classification Talk
Ladies and gentlemen,
I have been asked to present a classification talk about myself, my career, my Rotary activities, my hobbies and my family, and I would like to take them in that order.
I was born on the island of Java in what is now the country of Indonesia. However, when I was eight years old I was sent to relatives in the Netherlands, which country had a better climate and a better school system. I then made the trip on an ocean liner, since air travel was still in its infancy. This ship took the standard route from Djakarta with stops in Singapore, Colombo, Aden and the Suez Canal to arrive in Genoa, where my grandmother was waiting to take me by train through Italy, Switzerland and Germany to Holland.
There I attended grade school and high school amid the tumult of war, which eventually ended when the Canadian army rolled into town. The liberation of The Netherlands after 5 years of occupation earned them the everlasting gratitude of the Dutch population. If you have a chance to visit Ottawa in the spring, you will see evidence of this in the 100,000 tulips blooming, of which the bulbs were donated by the Dutch royal family. Or to stay closer to home, go listen to the carillon in the bell tower adjacent to the BC Legislature in Victoria, which was donated by Dutch immigrants during the Centennial Year 1967.
I then attended university and obtained my engineering degree. I also got married. Now after the war there was a severe housing shortage in Holland as the result of war damage. Therefore young couples had to put their names on a waiting list for up to four years, while in the meantime they were supposed to move in with their in-laws. This option did not appeal to either my wife or myself and we decided to emigrate to Canada. We then flew with a KLM plane from Amsterdam by way of Gander in Newfoundland to Montreal, where we boarded a train to Calgary.
There I found work immediately in a small refinery that was later taken over by Gulf Oil. After three years in Calgary they then transferred me to their largest refinery in Mississauga, outside Toronto. I stayed there for seven years, but then decided to leave Gulf Oil and go into consulting engineering. Now this is a nomadic existence, since the work load of engineering companies is heavily dependent on the state of the economy. During the next 28 years I was employed by three different engineering companies located in Toronto, of which the last one transferred me to their Vancouver office.
However, the advantage of this kind of employment is that you get to see a good part of the country. I handled projects from Halifax to Vancouver, with projects in Montreal, Toronto, Sania, Windsor, Lethbridge and Prince George and several other locations in between. I also had the opportunity to visit the head offices of these engineering companies in Boston, New York and Houston. I finally retired as an engineer twenty years ago.
I then found out that when you retire they know where to find you. Now the church I belong to was in the process of buying a care home in White Rock and asked me to become their president and chairman of the board. During the next few years we then occupied ourselves with upgrading the facility and getting licenced with the Fraser Health Authority. It then took us another three years to add a 30-unit wing to the 85-unit facility, going through the process of development permit, engineering, tendering and construction. We then spent an additional three years to obtain national accredition. After 15 years in that position I was finally able to fully retire.
Now back in the year after Montreal Expo, in order to get some execise, I became a member of the curling club in Oakville where we were then living. Later on I also joined the engineers curling club in Toronto. So when we were transferred to Vancouver I at first became a member of the engineers curling club, which was playing at the Hollyburn Country Club in West Vancouver.
There I met a team from the Rotary Curling Club, who were playing at the Arbutus Club, down below here, before they converted the rink to figure skating, I then asked them whether they also accepted other curlers, who were not Rotarians, and then became a member of the Rotary Curling Club as well. Altogether I have been curling for a total of 44 years, but had to stop recently for reasons of health.
Two of the Rotary curlers then asked me to become a member of the Vancouver Rotary Club, and I was eventually accepted, with the classification of Chemical Engineer. However, in view of my later activities I asked to have that changed to Seniors Care. I recently left the Vancouver Rotary Club, but started to feel a bit lonely, till Benny introduced me to this club and I applied with Seniors Care as my classification. I have to tell you that I immediately felt at home.
While a member of the Vancouver Rotary Club I was elected Sergeant at Arms for a period of two years, of which one year as a member of the Board. I was also for one year the councillor for an exchange student coming from The Netherlands and going to attend Eric Hamber High School. I remember taking him to the principal's office to have him enrolled in either grade 11 or grade 12, depending on his fluency in the English language, which was very good, so he was placed in grade 12. After 16 years we are still corresponding with each other.
I then joined the World Community Service Committee handling international projects. I understand that you have also handled international projects in your club. I found this a most interesting committee. First of all we rotated our monthly meetings at the members homes. Secondly, for each project we were always co-operating with a local Rotary Club, which had brought the project to our attention. So we were always dealing with another Rotary Club at the other end. There are several reasons for this practice. Firstly Rotary does not allow the payment of bribes which is expected in many Third World countries. Secondly we did not want to pay import duties on equipment donated to these countries. Having a local Rotary Club to clear the way was a real help.
Popular projects we were handling were the shipment of hand cranked hospital beds, after the Vancouver hospitals had converted to electrically operated beds to avoid back injuries to the nurses. One of our members owning a moving company then moved these beds to a collection point to be shipped by the container load to countries which had no hospital beds at all, with the patient just lying on a plank. We sometimes included used wheelchairs and used computers as well. Another common project was the shipment of used books to countries where they at least could read English as a second language. Sometime ago I was shown pictures of an African village consisting of mud huts with a larger hut in the middle of the village. It had a bulletin board outside, announcing its library hours. The book shelves and reading tables had been donated by the local club.
I myself had the opportunity to handle a project in conjunction with the Waterfront Rotary Club in Capetown, South Africa, who had asked for our assistance. When I met Cyril Prisman, the judge whom we made an honorary member a few weeks ago, he told me that he still remembered the Don Bosco Hostel Upgrading project and the Salesian Institute which was going to own the facility.
The project consisted of the conversion of a youth hostel to a training centre for street youths to teach them various trades. They needed a total of 40,000 Rand, which came to about 16,000 Canadian dollars. The Rotary Club of Vancouver then approved an amount of $2,000 which was matched by another $2,000 from CRCID, the Canadian Rotary Committee for International Development.
This committee dispensed government funds provided by CIDA, the Canadian International Development Agency, for a total Canadian contribution of $4,000. The Waterfront club then matched it with another $4,000 for a total of $8,000. Rotary International then matched it with another $8,000, for a total of $16,000, which was the requested sum of 40,000 Rand. So with matching grants the Capetown Rotary Club was able to quadruple their own contribution.
There was one little hiccup in this scheme, as CIDA questioned why the hostel was to be used for boys only, since that was sex discrimination. The Salesian Brothers, who were to operate the hostel, then told us that in this environment you could not have boys and girls under one roof, since the girls would not be safe. CIDA then relented and supplied the requested funds.
One nice thing of these international projects is that you sometimes get invited to view them when they have been completed. My wife and I were invited to come to South Africa to be shown around the country by various local Rotary clubs at their expense, if we would pay for our own air fare. Unfortunately, my wife was ill at the time and we could not accept the offer. Recently one group of members of the Vancouver Rotary Club visited the Congo to view a completed water wells project.
When I retired as an engineer I looked for a hobby that required some technical background. I then took up model airplane flying using radio control. I placed a binder at the entrance of the hall, in case you want to look at it. During the 18 years I was in the hobby I built about 50 models ranging in size from one foot to 13 foot wingspan, which is about half the width of this room.
I was able to fly most of them but have to admit that some never got off the ground. On one occason I could borrow a mountain climbers wristwatch altimeter which I mounted on one of my largest planes and was able to record an altitude of over 2000 feet. Two years ago I had to give up the hobby, since my eyesight had deteriorated to the point that I could no longer follow my planes.
On a personal note, I am a widower, having lost my wife after having been married for 49 years. I have five children, a daughter in Australia and four sons in Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Belleville, Ontario, but only one granddaughter, also in Calgary. So I am the only member of my family living in British Columbia. However, a few months ago I had visits from two of my sons and expect another son to visit me with Christmas and my daughter to come next spring.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that I have done what I was asked to do and I would like to thank you for your attention.