Photograph of John Stam and Gertie (de Haan) Stam. John was born on July 20, 1907 in the Netherlands and died February 21, 1986. Gertie was born on April 17, 1915 in the Netherlands and died April 13, 2003. They married May 4, 1935 in the Netherlands, immigrating to Canada in 1953 and then moving to the Holland Marsh area in 1954. John's occupations included river barge operator and contractor and Gertie's was as a RNA in a Bradford nursing home. The couple had 11 children.
Mrs. Katarina Spek made the front cover of one of the Toronto newspapers after Hurricane Hazel struck. The caption reads: "Work of saving what they can from desolation of what was one of Canada's richest market gardening areas continues. Mrs. Rudolf Spek, mother of three children, including a son in the Canadian Army in Korea, has salvaged a bag of onions."
The landing place for boats on the dyke near Peter Verkaik's house (in the background) during Hurricane Hazel. A boat delivers some marsh folks to dry land. In this picture, the person on the far right is Leon Radder, the person with the captain's cap is Auke Ellens , and the person standing behind him is Albert Van Dyke.
