Leonard Van Wingerden

Leonard Van Wingerden, 91 of Towaco, died at home on Wednesday, May 22, 2019, due to complications of a stroke he suffered in 2014.

Len was one of eleven children born in Ridderkerk, Netherlands, only 10 km from Rotterdam.  His family were vegetable farmers.  Len recalled that during World War II, his father would gladly share the food from his own table with people coming from war-torn Rotterdam looking to feed their families.  The war certainly shaped Len’s teenage years.  For a couple of weeks towards the end of the war, young German soldiers occupied his family home.  One Sunday, as they were leaving to walk to church, one of the soldiers said “Please pray for us too.”  Living near a war zone made for experiences that most people will thankfully never encounter again.  The family farm was located near a highway leading to Rotterdam.  Sometimes they had to hide in the ditch to avoid the strafing when German planes tried to stop trucks getting to Rotterdam with food or milk.  Len and his family could also see the anti-aircraft flak and fires over Rotterdam.  At the end of the war, he served a brief time in the Dutch Military before making his way to America.

In 1948, at just twenty-one years old, he sailed to America to find a better life.  He arrived on Ellis Island with two of his brothers and they settled in Wayne.  Len worked for a short time on a farm located at the corner of Preakness Avenue and Valley Road, growing produce.  He began to learn masonry skills as well and that became his life’s work.  As his sons got older, they joined their father in his business.

Len always had a bit of farmer in his blood and he also kept a variety of chickens.  He planted a large garden and was very proud of all the produce he was able to harvest.  The surplus was often displayed and sold along the road in front of his house where neighbors would help themselves on the honor system.  He and his wife would can some of the produce to have during the winter months with green beans, beets, and endive being the favorite.

Len met his wife, Henrietta Hof, through their church here in America.  They married on June 25, 1951 and moved to Towaco in 1955, where Len built their home and he has lived ever since.  Together they were blessed with ten children, one of which passed away as an infant, and their son Peter who passed away in 2009.  Sadly, Henrietta passed in 2004 after fifty-three years of marriage.  Their son Peter was very special to Len, and the two of them had a close and loving relationship.  Len enjoyed fishing in the area lakes and also deep sea fishing.  His favorite was Lake Iosco in Bloomingdale.  In 2007, Len finally completed the process to become an American citizen…only fifty-nine years after arriving on these shores.  Len was also a devoted member of his church; the Netherland’s Reformed Congregation of Clifton.

Len is survived by eight of his children; Aplonia Nijsse and her husband Jaap, Cornelia Kaufmann, Leonard Van Wingerden, Jr. and his wife Donna, Hank Van Wingerden, Gertrude Breeman, Cornelius Van Wingerden and his wife Robin, Jacob Van Wingerden, and Alfred Van Wingerden and his wife Yvonne, twenty-five grandchildren, forty great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild, and also by eight of his siblings; Abe Van Wingerden and his wife Ruth, John Van Wingerden and his wife Barbara, Orie and his wife Kathy, William and his wife Joanne, Case and his wife Rita, Jennie Van Vugt, Christine De Groot, and Gertrude “Truus” Hegeman.  Len was predeceased by his wife Henrietta in 2004 and by his son Peter in 2009, by his brother Aart and his wife Cornelia, and by his sister Cornelia and her husband Jacob.