Hans Dankers
Residing In | Monroe, WA USA |
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Spouse/Partner | Martha Whittaker Dankers |
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Occupation | Retired Family Physician |
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Children, grandchildern | Christian 9/76 and Nicholas 3/79 Hans, Drew and Kate |
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Hans' Latest Interactions
Posted on: Jan 24, 2021 at 1:33 AM
Posted on: Dec 14, 2020 at 7:40 PM
Hi Judy,
Tonight's PBS News Hour just had a 10 minutes segment on childhood trauma and the main expert discussing the lifelong impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's) was your daughter-in-law Dr Nadine Burke Harris.
She was well-versed in the topic and very articulate. We all are very proud of her.
Posted on: Dec 07, 2020 at 5:58 PM
December 5. Wij vieren Sint Nicolaas:
I was three when we came to the United States, but remember that we tried to maintain Dutch customs.
Until I was 12 or so, we celebrated Saint Nicholas day, December 5. We would leave our shoes by the fireplace with carrots and bread for the Saint's white horse and would receive small gifts in our shoes in return. If you were bad, then you would get coal in your shoe, but I never did. (Actually, now that I think of it, it would have been a good trick to put coal my sister shoe.) (When we visited my niece in Amsterdam shortly after my sister died, we were horrified to see depictions of Saint Nicholas’s slave, Black Peter with stereotypical red lips and many people in black face. Even 12 years later, despite controversy, many people still depict black Peter.)
I am fluent in Dutch again. We always spoke Dutch at home, but I had not spoken Dutch since Mieke died 12 years ago. For the past two years, almost every morning I call Catharina Vink, an 87 year old born in Indonesia, then a Dutch colony, whose father was with royal Dutch Shell before the war. She spent 5 years in a Japanese prison camp before moving to Holland, and then to the US.
Gordon, I remember following you out to the pool on the first day of freshman year trying to figure out a sport, and for the next four years and one year of college, I played water polo and was on the swim team.
I remember seeing your French father‘s bicycle with surprisingly skinny wheels hanging upside down in the garage so that the tires would be preserved. Little did I know that it was Americans who were way behind the times.
Posted on: Aug 27, 2020 at 8:43 PM
Hi Sue,
I wanted to thank you again for setting up and maintaining the class website. The older I am the more I value past relationships, and to learn about the interesting people I did not know well.
I am looking forward to our 55th class of 66th reunion. Hans
Posted on: Aug 25, 2020 at 10:20 AM
Hi Dina,
I just heard about Bobs passing. Hope you are doing OK and good luck with your construction business. Hans
Posted on: Aug 25, 2020 at 9:46 AM
Hi Judy, I forwarded the picture to some friends with the notation that being an alum of Carlmont high school is pretty cool. I was thinking though, your wonderful daughter-in-law is a Harris, but is your husband related to Kamala Harris or is that just an incredible coincidence??
I just saw on the Carlmont website that your Gregg Thompson died.
I remember Gregg well as a good friend and fellow water polo player. He elbowed me during a practice splitting just above my eye needing stitches.
I have a very distinct memory: I was sitting in the back seat as Gregg was driving, and he turned fully around with both hands on the back of the seat, face to face and said something funny. Odd what sticks in your mind.
Very artistic. He made a T-shirt for me with the line suggested by Geoff White: Vivat Lingum, non Resurgum.
Posted on: May 26, 2020 at 10:33 AM
This morning I went to the Sultan War Memorial, dedicated in 2002 and modeled on the Vietnam War Memorial but lists the names of all community members who participated in all military service, living and dead and includes men buried in the Sultan cemetery who fought in the Civil War and Spanish American War.
And many had fought and some died in Vietnam and I wondered what if…?
During the Second World War, the Japanese had driven the French out of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh had been the nationalist leader against the Japanese. At the end of the war, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnamese independence with 0SS officers in support. He modeled the Vietnamese constitution on the US Constitution and wrote several letters to Harry Truman. It’s not clear if those letters reached Truman but those OSS officers were purged during the McCarthy era as having Communist leanings, so we had no east Asian experts who knew the thousand year enmity between Vietnam and China. Our vision was colored by the cold war with the Domino theory. Ironically, our aggression forced the Vietnamese to rely more on the Chinese.
When Roosevelt died, Truman did not even know about the atom bomb. He must have been so overwhelmed that he could not be concerned with a tiny Asian country that the French were reclaiming as a colony.
But what if ...?
I know this is a simplification, with our allies in the south and also, what if Kennedy hadn’t been assassinated would he have done anything different.
Lots of what if’s,
But what a waste and profoundly sad … Hans
I did not know Sandy well during high school, but had connected with her several months before the reunion about her health issues. She was in doubt whether she would be able to come to the reunion because she had a prolonged hospitalization. But then was was glad to be able to attend using a walker. I sat with her and her companion during dinner.
We emailed privately, but my last email was not answered. Now I see that Sandy died 8-26-18.
Posted on: Jan 24, 2020 at 1:36 AM
Happy belated birthday Sandy,
I hope you’re doing well. We have had a week of snow, 10 inches now, and several long power outages.
Please let me know how you’re doing. Hans
I woke up thinking about two jokes Dick Pancoast told me in high school:
what did the newlyweds buy Vaseline for…
$1.29
The first night for the newlyweds where the woman was much more experienced than the man.
He didn’t know what to do so she told him to rub her stomach and say "I love you, I love you".
Then she said "lower", this one doesn’t do well in writing but then he says in a lower voice "I love, you I love you".
I wish everyone a good holiday.
Not to be preachy, BUT....
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
? Siddh?rtha Gautama
The attached article on working hard to be happy reprinted in the Week is well worth the time to read.
22% of millennials say they have no friends.
Happiness comes from helping others and from meaningful relations with friends, not from comparing yourself to others and their Facebook lives that show only their positive experiences.
Be well, Hans