Our Dutch Girl

Our Dutch girl came to us by way of Amsterdam. World events that occurred before she was even born sent her this way.  First there was World War II.  Jenny Himpers Huntsinger was born after the war ended but it affected her life in a big way.

During World War 1 the Netherlands was neutral.  The country was one of the richest in Europe and could have afforded a large modern army. However, Dutch governments were dominated by Christian and center-right  political parties between the wars.  They believed that neutrality would defend its interests in case of war.  In 1939 with war declared between the British Empire, France and Nazi Germany the German government issued a guarantee of neutrality to the Netherlands. 

As we all know that guarantee meant nothing.  The Dutch were invaded on the morning of May 10, 1940 without even a formal declaration of war. German forces moved simultaneously into Belgium and Luxembourg. The Dutch were not at all prepared for a war and they were easily occupied. After Rotterdam was bombed relentlessly and other cities threatened,  the Dutch suspended their operations to spare the civilian population from more destruction. The Dutch formed a government in exile.  

Jenny's parents lived through this occupation.  Her older sister was born in 1945 near the end of the occupation.  Her father was conscripted to Germany.   He made colored engraved plates for the Deutschmark which would replace the Reichsmark (which had been adorned with a swastika.)

What has all this to do with our Dutch girl?  Well, imagine Jenny's parents living through a German occupation which only got worse as time went on.  The war ended in 1945 and a few years later Jenny was born. By 1952 there were three little girls in their family. Although Germany was soundly defeated a new worry concerned the world.  It was Russia.   This was when Germany was still divided and the Cold War was happening.

The Himpers family decided to emigrate from the Netherlands to Canada.  They did not want to take a chance of being overcome by Russia.  Canada and the Netherlands have always had a close relationship.  In fact, during  war part of the Dutch Royal family were exiled to Canada.  Jenny and her family settled down in Montreal.  They lived there until unrest started in French Canada.

This was a time when the Front De Liberation Quebecois (FLQ), a revolutionary group, formed to promote Quebec's independence from Canada.  There were serious conflicts going on.  Remember, it was the sixties when there was turmoil everywhere.    Jenny's parents were once more uneasy about what was happening.  Memories of the German occupation in Amsterdam must have made them wary.

Jenny's father was an excellent color engraver and was able to obtain a position in Long Beach, California.  So in 1965 once again the family moved from one country to another.  Jenny remembers going to the American Consulate and receiving physical check-ups.  

Because of her Canadian education Jenny was able to do her junior and senior requirements  in one year in Long Beach  She remembers the first day of high school.  Her father gave her one dollar.  When it was time to go home on the bus she discovered the fare was $1.25.  She did not have the student discount card that would  have made her fare just a dollar.  Somehow, she had to walk and find her way to the right house in a strange city.  She was a bit frightened but she found her way. She has been finding her way ever since.

After high school she attended Long Beach City College.  When she finished there she went to California State University in Los Angeles and obtained her degree in nursing.   Happily she could commute from home rather than live in a convent-like school with strict rules, as some of our other nurses here at Avenida did.  

When Jenny was a freshman  in college and also waitressing to help pay for school she met her future husband.  He was already a doctor.  Some of the others training to be nurses were a bit miffed when they saw a doctor paying attention to a waitress.  They were soon relieved when they  saw that the lowly waitress was also a nursing student.

Jenny and Mel Huntsinger  married while she was still going to school and he put her through her last two years.  Mel Huntsinger was 29 and starting to practice as a dermatopathologist.  That is a step beyond dermatology and includes the examination of and biopsies of skin cells.

Jenny graduated with a bachelor's degree in nursing and got a job as a surgical nurse and then became an emergency nurse.  She loved working in the ER because she learned so much and it could be very fast paced.   

When Jenny became pregnant she stayed home. She had two children, her son Cam and her daughter Brooke.  She did not return to nursing until the youngest was in kindergarten. 

When she did return to nursing she went to a clinical practice where she was teaching Family Practitioners. She continued this for four years until her husband opened his own lab.  She joined him there and did the billing for the next twenty years.  

When they both finally  retired they were able to do some traveling. Unfortunately, that lasted only eight years. Mel Huntsinger suffered a massive heart attack right in his driveway.  Although Jenny was able to use her skills to try to save him it was not possible.  Their life together ended after just thirty-six years.

Nowadays Jenny's son Cam lives in Japan and is with the Department of Defense.  Jenny's three grandsons are growing up there.  The oldest, who is fifteen, already speaks and writes fluent Japanese. The middle boy is thirteen and the youngest is ten.   Of course, Jenny has been there to visit and her son will be here for a short while next week.

Her daughter, Brooke, lives here in Naperville.  She has a fifteen year old daughter and a twelve year old son.  That is why we have Jenny here at Avenida.  Although she still maintains her home in California her closest family is here.  She goes back every two or three months to her California home.   One of her sisters lives nearby and can walk over and check on the house.  It is also a convenient place for family to stay when visiting California. 

Lucky for us we get to see our Dutch girl every day at Avenida. Ask her about her grandchildren.  She will happily respond.  If you ask her in Dutch she will respond fluently.