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July 5, 1929 - March 27, 2020
Mom (Willy) was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on July, 5, 1929, to Maarten and Elisabeth van Rossum. She was the 2nd of three children. Henk was the older and Albert was the youngest.
By the time mom was 10 years old, Germany had declared war on the Netherlands and they were occupied for the next 5 years before the Canadians liberated the Dutch. After the war, her mom and dad and 2 brothers Henk and Albert, would spend summers camping or sailing, and would skate the frozen canals in the winters. In '57 the 3 children decided to move to Canada.
Willy and Bill would arrive with Albert and Christine in early March, and Henk and Tilly would join them a few months later. In '58 mom and dad started their family with Gerry, in '60 Mike arrived, and in '62 Jessie completed the original line up.
In 1974, mom re-married to John C. (Cor) van Pel, and between them now had a blended family of 5 children which now included Corey and Wilma. There were many road trips and celebrations that to this day, still make us all laugh. Mom and Oom Cor would love to escape on their boat the "Mahi Mahi" where they would enjoy peace and quiet and a good bottle of red wine, or they would take a road trip through the Rockies - mom had to see Castle Mountain each time they did this. Mom loved her family, her ballroom dancing, their camping trips, their boating trips, her flowers, a nice dinner out, rock and roll music, and always loved a good road trip.
Mom is survived by her husband of 45 years John C. van Pel - her blended family of children; Gerry (Kathy), Corey (Joanne), Mike (Marta), Wilma (Fraser), and Jessie - her grandchildren; Derek, Spencer, Shaun, Mallory, Carson, Madison, Tristan, Taylor and Clayton - and her great grandchildren; Holden, Atticus, and Tiberius - and many nieces and nephews.
She will be terribly missed......


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