Obituary of Gerrit de Gooijer
We celebrate the life of Gerrardus Johannes (Gerrit) de Gooijer who passed away on August 8, 2025 in Regina. He was 98 years old. He lived a full life, guided by his deep faith in God, his love of his wife Truus and love for his family. Pop, as he was known to his children, tells his story this way:
I was born October 9, 1926 at Slagharen, Holland. My father was Elbertus de Gooijer, my mother was Maria Aleida Busscher. I grew up in the “crisis” years, the thirties. I went to school for 8 years, just finishing when the war started in Holland on May 10, 1940. I attended 3 years evening classes and two years agricultural school. The last half of the war I was forced to work in the North East Polder, where I also worked after the war. In 1946 I was called up to the army and served in Indonesia for 34 months. Just before joining the army I met a nice young girl in Slagharen and we kept in contact all those years, yes Truus Pieper waited for me and it was nice to meet again on May 24, 1950. That summer we decided to come to Canada. We were married on April 4, 1951, in Slagharen and on April 14 we boarded the Volendam to sail to Canada. We landed in Quebec on April 24 and arrived by train in Kelliher on April 27, 1951. We were met by our new boss, Bob Church. We were very fortunate to come to very good people, Bob and Millie Church and their children Carole and Don. We stayed with them for three years and after 7 months in Lockwood, we came back to Kelliher to rent a farm for 3 years. In 1958 we bought a small farm south of Kelliher. At this time I went to work for the Kelliher Coop where I worked for 21 years. In the meantime, our family was growing and got bigger until we had 3 daughters and 5 sons. As parents we are very proud of them.
Through the years I have been involved with several organizations including Kelliher minor hockey, Kelliher Arena, Kelliher 4-H, Kelliher School Board, Kelliher Legion, Kelliher and Yorkton Credit Union, Kelliher housing, Seniors group, and The Memorial Gardens.
After moving to town in 1991, I spent a lot of time in the basement doing woodwork during the winter months and the summer was spent working in the garden and our big yard. I helped on the farm a little and working at the Memorial Gardens (Kelliher cemetery) took a lot of time. Through the years we made several trips to Holland to visit, especially after Lydia was living there. When we came to Canada we landed with a really good family in a really good community, we were never sorry for coming to Canada.
Pop and Mom lived in Kelliher Saskatchewan, in their own house, until October 2024, when they moved to Trinity Manor in Regina. In the last week of his life Pop remarked “I know where I’m going, I’m just not going to quit”, and he never did.
Gerrit is survived by his wife Truus de Gooijer of 74 years marriage and eight children: Lydia (Henk) Wellen, Nout, Martijn (Marlou), Christiaan (Sylvia); Maria (Vince) Leonard, Devin (Shannon), Kristy (Marvin); Bert (Joy) de Gooijer, Travis (Jennifer), Lisa (Ryan), Curtis (Kerrie), Taylor (Tressa); John (Joyce) de Gooijer; Ed (Doreen) de Gooijer, Andrea (Brandon), Nicole; Henry (Jo-Anne) de Gooijer, Alex (Jaclyn), Matthew (Seija), Jill (Garret); Ron (Donna) de Gooijer, Kaitlin, Nick (Jasmine), Brianna, Leah (Ryker); Carolyn (Brian) Gray, Brendan, Skyler, Andrew, and Kenton. Gerrit is also survived by 29 great grandchildren, his sister Bep Wellen, sister-in-law Marietje Hertsenberg, brothers-in-law Johan (Marietje) Pieper, Bernard (Joke) Pieper, sister-in-law Frieda Pieper and dear friend Carole Thompson.
Gerrit was pre-deceased by his father Bertus de Gooijer, his mother Leida Busscher, his brother Kees (Bets) de Gooijer, and his sisters Anna (Antoon) Haverkort, Mina (Cornelius) Helmich, Marie (Graads) Bruins, Corrie (Graads) Schlepers, Aida (Bernard) Beukers, brothers-in-law Klaas Rakers and Jan Wellen, friend David Thompson, as well as many in-laws, nieces, nephews, cousins, and close friends.
