Franz van der Velden immigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1968 and has never returned to his densely populated homeland.
Franz, who turned 100 on Thursday last week, visited New Zealand in 1963 with his wife Maria on their honeymoon.
The couple fell in love with New Zealand’s ”wide-open spaces, beautiful scenery and friendly people”, and in 1968 made the decision to immigrate here despite neither of them speaking English at the time.
It is a decision neither has regretted.
Franz says moving to Christchurch, being able to buy a home there and finding long-term employment in the city have been highlights in his life.
His marriage to Maria tops that list of highlights with the births of the couple’s children, Alexander and Petra and their children, Brianna and Willem, next.
Franz was born in Meerwijk castle, the family home in Empel, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, (colloquially known as Den Bosch), on November 18, 1922.
His grandfather was a wealthy land owner and coal merchant during a time when coal was a premium fuel.
Franz’s father Nico, who was the only person in the area who had a driver’s license, transported coal for the family business, the Stone Coal Company.
Franz was educated in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, attending primary and secondary school there before studying at the Maritime Academy in Rotterdam.
During World War II Franz worked at home helping his family with harvesting on their farm.
At one point during the war his family was forced to leave their Meerwijk home and seek refuge in the nearby countryside for several weeks where they lived on potatoes growing on the land and used hay bales for shelter.
It was a difficult time for the family but returning home to Meerwijk after the war finding their family home had been severely damaged and looted was also a low point.
At the end of the war Franz worked for several months as a telegraphist at the Post Office before joining KLM Airlines where he stayed for 20 years, first as a telegraphist and then joining the ground crew.
When Franz and Maria moved to Christchurch with his mother Elizabeth, they joined his brother Henk van der Velden and sister-in-law Tony who had immigrated to New Zealand in 1952. Frank initially worked as a harvester and a painter before being offered a job at the Sunshine Bread factory in Marshland, where he stayed for 22 years until his retirement at 65.
The couple stayed in Christchurch for 47 years in the same home, before moving to Rangiora four years ago to be closer to Petra. During their marriage Franz has put his significant carpentry and handyman skills to good use.
Petra says her father was always ”pottering around in his garage” building furniture for the home such as cabinets, wardrobes and beds, but also other things like dolls houses and rabbit cages.
He took up stained-glass lead-lighting for several years, has also been a keen fisherman and is a talented musician.
”He is very musical and played several instruments, including his favourites, the piano and the accordion but he also played the clarinet and saxophone,” Petra says. ”There wasn’t a day that went past that he couldn’t be heard tinkling the ivories or playing the accordion.”
Franz has passed his love of music on to Petra, who is a music teacher in Rangiora.
”When he visits my place, he will still play on my piano,” she says.
Although Franz was able to drive his car up until the middle of last year he is disappointed that his failing eyesight now prevents him from doing that.
Franz has seen many changes in his long life. The introduction of electric lighting, compared to the petroleum lamps used when he was growing up, is one of the most significant changes, he says.
”The introduction of technology, air travel becoming so easily and widely accessible to all, the wide use and ownership of motor vehicles and the advances in medicine, have been others.”
By SHELLEY TOPP