Truus Wiewel-Ypma

The actual full name of Truus is Helena Geertruida, but she goes by Truus. She was born December 30, 1923, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where she has lived her whole life and still lives today (8/2/2011). She's one of six children; her father, Jan Fokke Ypma, came from Friesland, in the northern part of the Netherlands, to Amsterdam when he was about 11 (approximately 1902) and early on worked as an apprentice tool and die maker but soon started working, and eventually owning, a store selling curtains, bedding, and related materials. Her mother, Anna van der Aat, came from Nieuwer Amstel, near Amsterdam, and was a homemaker.

Because of the many children and the small house, Truus, along with several of her sisters, spent her school years (through approximately the equivalent of 10th grade) living in a Catholic boarding school in Amsterdam, which she does not remember fondly. It was her dream to find a job working with children, but her parents expected her to help out in the store. She worked for a short while in the office of a diamond trading company but left once she got married, in 1948, to Leo Wiewel (1920-2004). They had five children, which obviously kept her quite busy. Once most of the children had grown, Truus worked part-time in a public library, which she greatly enjoyed.

Truus was, and is, a very devoted mother who always took great interest in all of her children's activities and accomplishments. She had very high expectations of herself and others for performing one's duties, working hard, cleanliness, and honesty. Although her formal education was limited, she enjoyed having serious conversations about topics such as evolution, history, pedagogy, human nature and its potential for change, religion, etc. She was a devout Catholic for many years, but began questioning the faith during the 1970s; in her later years, she considered herself an agnostic.

During the turbulent late sixties and seventies, she more and more often spoke out at home about women's issues. While this created turbulence for a number of years, she and her husband in the end maintained a strong marriage, and she cared for him with amazing devotion and commitment for the last eight years of his life, as a major stroke left him increasingly dependent. After his death in 2004 and a period of mourning, she became more active in a book club, museum visits, and visiting with friends and family than she had been able to do previously. Still living in the house they moved to in 1959, she remains a touchstone and central point for her children and also grandchildren. While her life will go unremarked in newspapers or history books, she is an "ordinary heroine," leading her life through a period of enormous change and guiding all those she touched.

Written by: Wim Wievel

Locate on Walk:

• Stage Wall (Left Wall), 2-4