[SEL] John Hammink

[Jim French]

Hi Folks

When John died last December, a number of people contacted me to send 
funds for a floral tribute.  I organised this, in the name of the engine 
mailing lists, and the tribute was much appreciated by his widow, Ria, 
and her family.
There was a lot more money donated than we needed, so it was decided to 
purchase a gift for Ria in his memory.  We decided on a gemstone globe 
(for those of you who've not seen them, they're conventional looking 
globes, but with gold plated base and the oceans and countries are made 
of various semi-precious stones).  A silver disc was attached, with an 
inscription saying it was in memory of John from his friends around the 
world.  When I packed it up to send, I added a book containing all the 
tributes which had been posted on the various internet forums, with all 
the photos I could find of John at engine shows.
Tonight I received a message from Ria, which she asked me to post to you 
all, as I'm sure those of you who knew John (in person or via email) 
will be interested to know what is happening to his collection.

Dolly

**********************************************
Dear Helen and  friends all over the world.

 I want to thank you all for the nice globe you send me in memory
 of John.
This was a very emotional gift for me.
The globe is very beautiful and it will get a special place in
 the house.
 I also want to thank you for the letters and photo's in bookform.
 It is a nice memory to John.
 We never realized, what he ment to you all and that he was
 appreciated as a person by you all.
I'm doing well, but I miss him every day, especially now the
shows begin next month.
 I'm planning to visit some engine shows this summer, because
there are coming a lot of dutch engine friend.
 In september Simone, Jeroen and I will travel to Mount Pleasant 
 Iowa,tospread John's ashes.
We think that it will be a suitable place, because he loved the
 country.
 Most of John engine's will get a place in a museum here in the
 Netherlands,
 I'm very happy with that.
 One engine has been placed on permanent display in the showroom
of his former employer, the John-Deere firm where John worked for 38 years.
   

 Thanks again,

 Love Ria

-- 
Jim French
fbi at insulate.co.uk
http://www.insulate.co.uk
http://www.oldengine.org/members/dolly/index.htm