Pietje (DeBoer) Kragt, a farmer's daughter from a big family was born in 1933 in Harlingen, Holland, a city in the northern Netherlands. In 1954 the family moved to Canada and after a three-week journey by boat she arrived in Montreal along with her parents, five brothers and her sister. The family continued their journey and boarded the train to Wingham, Ontario where they went into dairy farming.
None of this was easy for Pietje because she did not speak English. She went to work at the local hospital and it was there that she learned to speak English.
Pietje DeBoer was 21 years old and engaged to be married to Henry Kragt when she left Holland with her parents.
Henry Kragt, also of Dutch decent, happened to be born in the West Indies in 1930. His parents were working for the Dutch Shell Oil Company in the West Indies when he was born. Nevertheless, Henry, according to the Dutch law, had to serve two years in the Dutch military before coming to Canada. Immigrating to Canada was not easy but there always seemed to be immigration room for farm workers. He applied as a farm worker, everything was now in order and his papers went through.
Henry arrived in Canada the following year and the couple were married in 1955 in a small community church.
Pietje and Henry bought a small 100-acre dairy farm in Holyrood, Ontario where they would spend the next 14 years farming and raising their family of seven children.
The young couple worked the farm together; Henry drove the local milk truck for an additional income. In those days it was clear that small farmers were quickly being phased out. You had to go into the dairy business in a big way in order to survive. For that reason alone Pietje and Henry made the decision to leave the dairy farm and head west for a new life.
Henry made a plan; he sold the farm and purchased an old school bus, fixed it all up and loaded up their seven children and the family of nine Kragts headed west. He loaded their personal belongings in the back of the bus and saved seats for the comfort of his family at the front of the bus. Pietji said, "It was a long trip and we were pretty crowded but we turned the trip into a fun adventure. We arrived in Burnaby in 1968 and spent three months in a hotel while we looked for a house. We eventually purchased a small house in Surrey and had another child.
"I ran a day care for additional income. With our family of eight children and our big house the day care worked out perfectly. It was certainly a busy time."
Henry got a job working in the warehouse for the Surrey Co-op. Three years later he went to work for the Delta School District and after ten years he was forced to retire for health reasons.
Henry now had to make a new plan. They decided to sell the family home and move to Prince George. I asked Pietje why they decided on Prince George and she said, "We wanted a growing city with good doctors and a good hospital. We moved to Prince George in 1990 and bought property out at Fox Drive. Henry didn't have an easy time with his health issues and I am sad to say that he passed away in 2008.
"We had 53 years of a good marriage, we were happy and together we raised eight wonderful children: Fern (Don) who lives in Houston, Henry (deceased), Ingrid (Mark) of Surrey, Simon (Sandy) of Whitehorse, Robert (Susan) of Prince George, Bernard (Loretta) of Langley, Ernest (Connie) of Hixon and Peter (Stella) of Spruce Grove, Alberta. Our children in turn gave us 28 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren."
Pietje who is now 82 years old keeps busy on a daily basis. She volunteers for the St Vincent De Paul Society soup bus and helps out at the bingo event for the seniors who are residents at the Jubilee Lodge. She sings in three choirs and is an active member of the St. Giles Presbyterian Church. She attends aqua fit at the pool for her knee therapy and takes part in floor curling every week.
Pietje always has a huge smile, kind words and lots of time for family and friends.
