When Johanna celebrated her 105th birthday, she marked a milestone spanning more than a century of extraordinary change.
Her life has taken her from a village without electricity in the Netherlands, through the upheaval of the Second World War, to a new beginning in Tasmania and more than six decades in Kingston.
As a young woman, Johanna attended domestic science school for two years in a neighbouring town, 10 kilometres from her village.
Twice a week, after finishing work, she and the other girls would cycle to classes at night.
The journey could be particularly difficult during winter. There were no streetlights along the road and when it rained, the carbide headlamps on their bicycles could be extinguished, leaving them travelling through the darkness.
Despite the conditions, Johanna recalled that no accidents occurred.
Johanna left Zuidwolde when she was 20 and met her future husband, John, in 1941 during the Second World War.
John was deported to Germany to work in labour camps but survived, with the couple maintaining correspondence throughout the war.
After John returned around May 1945, the pair married in October that year.
Johanna and John went on to have three children, Gerda, Gerie and Peter, before making the enormous decision to leave the Netherlands for Tasmania in 1957.
Their first Tasmanian home was a basic shack with a large parcel of land on the corner of Wells Parade and Roslyn Avenue.
The home had an outside toilet, no bathroom and only cold running water, but the family remembered being very happy there.
John established a large vegetable garden, while Johanna preserved plenty of the vegetables and fruit they grew.
Two years after arriving, the family bought a home at Kingston Heights, where Johanna would remain until the remarkable age of 103.
Hard work was a constant throughout her life.
Johanna walked extensively and caught buses to undertake housework for other people.
Her family believes the physical work, together with a healthy diet of homegrown vegetables and meals cooked from scratch, contributed to keeping her healthy and strong.
She also took great pride in creating a happy home, preparing meals for her family and tending to her much-loved garden.
Johanna’s lifetime has encompassed changes that would have been almost unimaginable during her childhood – from growing up in a village without electricity to living in the modern world of 2026.
Perhaps most importantly, it has also been a life surrounded by family.
At 105, Johanna is the matriarch of a family that now includes her three children, seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren – an extraordinary legacy from a life that began more than a century ago.
