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"Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" 4 - PORT PERRY STAR : Tuesday, November 7, 2000 Tending Cenotaph volunteer's way of thanking Canada By Heather McCrae Port Perry Star This Saturday when the annual Remembrance Day service. is held in Blackstock, Rie Hoogeveen will be there. As she has done in previous years, she will be at the Cenotaph, offering a silent thanks to the thousands of Canadian sol- diers who died in the two World Wars. For almost 20 years now Mrs. Hoogeveen has tended to the gardens surrounding the Blackstock Cenotaph. She says it's her way of thanking Canadians for liberating her home country, Holland, during World War II. "Canada played a big part in World War [Il in making my home country free," she said. "From that day on we are especially thankful to Canada, and this is my way of saying thanks for freeing our country. "Besides, (the memorial) should look nice all the time for the families who come to visit and view the names of their loved ones on the stone," she said. Mrs. Hoogeveen plants new flowers in the spring, various bulbs in the fall, and is forever pulling weeds that invade the gar- den.. For years the Blackstock Women's Institute has assisted in the maintenance of the Cenotaph by paying someone to tend to the grounds. Twenty years ago when they needed a new groundskeeper, the Wi asked Mrs. Hoogeveen's son, Bob, then 15, if he would cut the grass. When his mother suggested they get someone to tend to the gardens, too, the WI asked if she would like the job. Since then it's been Mrs. Hoogeveen's loving hands that have made the cenotaph a well-groomed and peaceful part of the village. She's paid a small stipend every year. This year when the WI paid Mrs. Hoogeveen a bit more, she returned the cheque. "Rie is an excellent gardener. She's a grand lady," WI treasurer Pat Sleep said. "We wanted her to have this money, but she returned it to us. If we could have more cit- izens like Rie Hoogeveen, this would be a better country." When Mrs. Hoogeveen came to Holland in 1954 she moved to Enfield. Six years later she and her husband Peter bought their dairy farm south of Blackstock. She still lives south of the village, a short walk to the cenotaph. Everyone around knows Mrs. Hoogeveen is the one who has tended to the grounds for years. So she was surprised a couple of weeks ago when workmen came to the mon- ument to tear up the cement and replace it with new sidewalks. Having just planted tulip bulbs the week before Mrs. Hoogeveen was understandably upset. "No one knew, not even Scugog Township, that this work was going to be done," she said. If I had known they were B RALPH EMERSON i ARNOLD JOHNSTON | -- 4 a gS ¢ fT ey rds ~ &t gis LAE TE yh ps 2 PN 2 oe lO Minn a Ara | bn oy Hore A Rie Hoogeveen has tended the garden at Blackstock' s Cenotaph for the past 20 years. She says it's her way of saying thanks to Canadian soldiers, who freed her homeland of Holland in WWII. going to do this | would have waited until the work was done "until | planted the bulbs." But she's already been at work fixing the damage. A devoted horticulturist and a member of the Pine Ridge Garden Club, the commu- nity can be rest assured that thanks to Mrs. Hoogeveen's green thumb the Cenotaph will look lovely again next year. "It's my way of saying thanks to Canada," she said. 1999-2000 ONTARIO SCHOLARS DAVE BAUER 84.8% ALEX McLAUGHLIN 80.0% ELIZABETH BENSCHOP 82.8% RANDI-LEA MICKLEWRIGHT 87.8% Cartwright High School RACHAEL BERGERSON 83.5% JULIE OBSTFELD 93.7% AMANDA BRADBURN 83.8% MIRANDA WYLLIE 83.2% SARA BROWN 87.7% MONICA MASON 80.0% JANELE BULLER 90.8% MARIE McCRUDDEN 85.5%