A Dutch immigrant who moved to Lethbridge, Alta., after the war is celebrating a century of love and joy with his friends, noting the importance of personal connection at all stages of life.
Tony Vander Beek was born on a farm in the south of Holland in 1925. He says it’s unbelievable to have made it to 2025.
“What can I say? It is like a dream.”
A man of faith, Vander Beek says he is honoured to have lived for a century.
“Thankful to the lord for all he has given you. He gave me a wonderful life and now I am even a hundred years. What can I say? Thank you, lord.”
His early life was punctuated by moves across his homeland before the ‘bad years’ began.
Germany, led at the time by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, invaded the Netherlands.
“I’ll make it short. It was terrible,” said Vander Beek.
Despite the Germans demanding all men help their war effort, Vander Beek refused.
“The Germans decided that every boy that became 18 had to go to Germany and work in their war factory. Well, I realized that the Allies would come and bomb those things. I think, if you’re going to save your life, you better not go and I didn’t want to go anyway because I loved my country and I didn’t want to leave it.”
Then, after living through war and terror, Vander Beek saw his national flag for the first time in half a decade.
“I stopped and I looked up. For the first time in five years, I saw red, white and blue, our flag. I can’t tell you how I just gazed at the thing, I had to drink it in. That’s how I felt.”
He says the joy of the moment is hard to put into words.
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“I can’t explain how happy I was. Free! To be free, people don’t know what is free here that live here in Canada. To be really free, do what you want and not be afraid that somebody is coming and might shoot you for some reason.”
After victory in Europe, the war was still raging in the Pacific. Vander Beek, by now a young man, volunteered for the navy, signing a five-year contract.
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“We were still at war with the Japanese. The Japanese, they capitulated in August. In May, I was liberated and in June I was going already to England to have the training and everything.”
He re-signed for another five years after his initial service brought him all over the globe. But illness meant he would be released instead. This, however, was not a bad thing as he found love. He would be married to his wife for 64 years.
“We had wonderful years and we didn’t have too many terrible things happening. We loved each other dearly.”
The couple, along with Vander Beek’s family, moved to Canada following his military service.
“We had to make a train trip of four days… we arrived here in Lethbridge and from then on, I tried to get a job.”
Lethbridge was a very different place 100 years ago. Lorien Johanson, president of the Lethbridge Historical Society, paints a picture of the fledgling town in the prairies to put Vander Beek’s life into perspective.
“In the 1920s, cars were just starting to become common. In Lethbridge, most people still used horse and buggy, wagon-style transportation,” said Johanson.
“Our residences were focused around what we now know as the urban core. So, London Road, Victoria Park, all of Westminster. It was very condensed as far as urban sprawl.”
She says residents today would hardly recognize the old coal settlement, but some landmarks have endured.
“Still, a lot of the same buildings that we had in 1925 are still in use today. We have a lot of houses on the housing inventory that precede 1925.”
When he first moved to Canada, Vander Beek worked with a dairy company. His wife became a teacher and he found other employment over time. After decades in their new country, the Vander Beek’s retired.
When his wife passed away in 2017, Vander Beek felt alone. However, a stranger came into his life at a time he needed it the most.
“Whatever I want to, he was ready to help me. It was unbelievable,” said Vander Beek.
The two men, decades apart, formed a friendship after connecting over a puzzle. They both live in the same mature-living building.
For Perry Veenendaal, this unlikely friendship turned his life around.
“People don’t think that guys need their father’s affirmation when they get old. I’ve come to the conclusion that everybody wants it, no matter what age you are. Tony actually gave me more affirmation in two weeks than my father did my whole life,” said Veenendaal.
He says his health had taken such a sharp decline, he moved into the building without knowing how long he would survive.
“I didn’t know some days if I was going to make it or not. Make a long story short, I moved into this building because I could no longer mow my lawn, shovel my snow. My 82-year-old mother was helping me do that. I came into this building and I just wondered why, why this building with all these older people.”
However, people like Vander Beek allowed renewal in his life. Their relationship was a win-win right from the start. Vander Beek had given up his vehicle due to his age and couldn’t easily haul groceries anymore. Meanwhile, Veenendaal desired a purpose.
“I realized I had to focus on the good things, other people in order to feel good. I hated doing groceries. I absolutely hate doing groceries. I was in the library puzzling and he walked in, Tony walked into there and we chit-chatted for a while and I said, well I’ll take you to do groceries, maybe it’ll make it fun for me.”
Now, Veenendaal says his story of redemption, made possible by a century-old friend, is proof anyone can find happiness.
“The message I would like to send is men, if you’re out there, if you’re alone, if you’re struggling, step out of yourself. Go find somebody to love and take care of because you don’t have any idea the joy that will bring into your heart and to your life,” said Veenendaal.
Vander Beek turned 100 on Jan. 23.
