My Grandfather’s Story, Part I

July 16, 2013 by Luanne

In 1994, five and a half years before he passed away, my grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg, was interviewed by Connie Jo Bowman, the head of residents at Crossroads Village, a retirement community in Portage, Michigan. Connie was taking a course about the elderly at Western Michigan University and chose Grandpa as her subject. I’ve written about Grandpa in a post about our left-handed connection.

The entire interview is eight typed pages, so I’ll divide it among a few blog posts.

Adrian Zuidweg 1908-2000

Connie begins by introducing my grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg. To read the excerpts of Connie’s report, you can click them for a better view (I hope):

Connie identifies my grandfather here as a “tall, gentle dutchman with a big friendly voice.” That would probably be how Grandpa thought of himself. He identified strongly with his Dutch heritage. He had a lot of jokes, but one of his favorites was to say, “If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much.” He didn’t really mean it, which you will see by the end of the interview, but he was very proud of being Dutch.

She also notes here how after talking with Grandpa for two years it wasn’t until she began interviewing him that she realized how much there was to know about Grandpa. Grandpa’s powers of observation were impressive to her, especially in light of his blindness. He only became completely blind in his old age, but he had been blind in one eye since he was a small child.

Connie was right–Grandpa had an amazing memory. He also loved to tell stories, especially stories about the past. As the oldest grandchild, I was privy to more of them than the other kids, but I still only know a few from his vast store.

Now that I realize that Grandpa knew the name of the midwife who delivered him, I wish Connie had put that information into her report, but perhaps it didn’t fit with the class assignment.

Here she mentions how Grandpa’s father came to the U.S. from the Netherlands when he was a child. This was Adriaan Zuijdweg, who I have written about in the past. He owned a fish market and then a candy and soda shop. You can find a story about his retail businesses here.

When Grandpa was a baby his parents moved in with “his recently widowed grandfather,” Richard DeKorn, the brick mason and contractor. You can read more about Richard in the following posts:

Richard DeKorn: Brick Mason and General Contractor

More Mighty Kalamazoo Buildings from Richard DeKorn

Richard DeKorn and His Bride Tied the Knot in Kalamazoo

By the way, a big thank you to Linda at Living with My Ancestors for her help with watermarking my photograph.

I hope you’ll stay tuned for Part II of Grandpa’s story . . . .

Posted in Adriaan Zuijdweg/Adrian Zuidweg Sr., Adrian Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Photography early 20th century, Richard DeKorn, Zuidweg | Tagged Adrian Zuidweg, DeKorn, DeKorn family, DeKorn genealogy, early 1900s, family history, genealogy, history of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo history, Michigan history, Richard DeKorn, Western Michigan University, Zuidweg surname | 24 Comments

24 Responses

on July 16, 2013 at 8:32 am | Reply Sheila Morris

Isn’t that wonderful you have this interview? I am always astounded at your search results…look forward ti the other posts…
- on July 16, 2013 at 9:34 am | Reply currentdescendent
  
  Sheila, my grandmother gave me a copy of the interview years ago. I’m so glad I kept it and then found it!
on July 16, 2013 at 5:13 pm | Reply Sheryl

I agree with Sheila that it is awesome that Connie selected your grandfather to be the subject of her paper. Your grandfather must have been a really special person. I’ll looking forward to upcoming posts that tell the rest of the story.
- on July 17, 2013 at 11:21 am | Reply currentdescendent
  
  Thanks so much for your kind words, Sheryl. And your loyalty as a reader :)!
on July 18, 2013 at 2:08 am | Reply gpcox

Looking forward to the next post. It must be great to have so much about your ancestors right there at your fingertips.
- on July 18, 2013 at 4:15 pm | Reply currentdescendent
  
  I admit it’s wonderful! Of course, I’m greedy and always want more!
on July 18, 2013 at 2:19 am | Reply jeannieunbottled

Fascinating! It’s neat that you had such a young grandpa and that he was so smart and had such a good memory. You’re lucky to have that report from Connie!
- on July 18, 2013 at 4:16 pm | Reply currentdescendent
  
  I have a young grandpa because my mother was the oldest and she was young when she had me. He was a good guy. If you ever see Connie tell her thank you for me, please!
on July 18, 2013 at 12:16 pm | Reply Linda Arthur Tejera

This is wonderful that you have this special article. I’ve been struggling the past couple of weeks trying to find just about anything on my father’s father. My dad just wouldn’t talk about him and I haven’t figured out why. Since my grandmother died in 1912 and he died in 1939, it’s going to just be whatever I can glean.
- on July 18, 2013 at 4:17 pm | Reply currentdescendent
  
  Linda, that is very difficult since he died such a long time ago. What kind of information do you have to go on?
on July 30, 2013 at 5:45 am | Reply My Grandfather’s Story, Part II | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] Click here for Part I. […]
on August 6, 2013 at 5:25 am | Reply My Grandfather’s Story, Part III | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] this link for Part […]
on August 13, 2013 at 5:22 am | Reply My Grandfather’s Story, Part IV | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] this link for Part […]
on August 20, 2013 at 5:24 am | Reply My Grandfather’s Story, Part V | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] this link for Part […]
on August 27, 2013 at 5:31 am | Reply My Grandfather’s Story, Part VI | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] Click this link for Part I […]
on August 29, 2013 at 5:25 am | Reply Do You Free Write? | Writer Site

[…] about my grandfather’s love of mechanical toys. On my genealogy blog I have been serializing an interview of my grandfather which was conducted in 1994—when he was elderly, but still healthy. I could post […]
on September 3, 2013 at 5:25 am | Reply My Grandfather’s Story, Part VII | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] Click this link for Part I […]
on September 10, 2013 at 5:31 am | Reply My Grandfather’s Story, Part VIII | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] Click this link for Part I […]
on September 17, 2013 at 5:23 am | Reply My Grandfather’s Story, Part IX | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] Click this link for Part I […]
on September 18, 2013 at 4:50 pm | Reply tellingfamilytales

Reblogged this on telling family tales and commented:
One of my regular readers, currentdescendent, is doing a great project that I wanted to share with you, a multi-part story about her grandfather. Luanne has been blessed with an interview with her grandfather that was done about five years before he passed away. She has taken this interview and broken it up into short parts and then expanded on the interview with stories, photos and memories of her own. Great job Luanne!
on September 24, 2013 at 5:53 am | Reply My Grandfather’s Story, Part X | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] Click this link for Part I […]
on October 1, 2013 at 5:26 am | Reply My Grandfather’s Story, Part XI | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] Click this link for Part I […]
on October 8, 2013 at 5:41 am | Reply My Grandfather’s Story, Part XII (Final “Episode”) | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] Click this link for Part I […]
on October 15, 2013 at 5:40 am | Reply The Links Between the Mulders and the Zuidwegs | The Family Kalamazoo

[…] grandfather (the one of the 12 part story) was a Zuidweg and my grandmother (his wife and the creator of the scrapbook I’ve posted on […]