Genealogy Vu(u)rens » Jan Vuurens (1901-1978)

Personal data Jan Vuurens 

• He was born on June 12, 1901 in Meerkerk, Netherlands.Source 1
• Profession: in Laborer.
• He died on October 11, 1978 in Gorinchem, Netherlands, he was 77 years old.Source 2
• A child of Otto Vuurens and Gijsje Smits

Household of Jan Vuurens

He is married to Gerrigje de Langen.

They got married on March 13, 1924 at Meerkerk, Netherlands, he was 22 years old.Source 3

Child(ren):

1. Gijsje Vuurens  1924-1925
2. Johannus Vuurens  1926-2008 
3. Otto Vuurens  1927-2010 
4. Cors Daniel Vuurens  1929-1929
5. XX Vuurens  1931-1931
6. Cors Daniel Vuurens  1934-1935
7. (Not public)
8. Cors Daniel Vuurens  1937-2004 
9. XX Vuurens  1943-1943
10. (Not public)

Notes about Jan Vuurens

Jan grew up in difficult circumstances. As the eldest of 13 children he was pulled out of school on a regular basis before the age of 11, to help out with the harvest. When he was eleven years old he was pulled out of school altogether and helped his father with the hay harvest in the summer and the reed harvest in the winter. His family was living in Meerkerk at the time and the 3 working people earned about 18 guilders. Soon times got tougher and the family started day labor. This meant a few weeks of work, followed by visits to the poor house. When the concrete factory opened in Arkel, he found permanent employment for a period of 10 years. Later he worked for 5 years at the concrete factory Grotius and from 1962 to 1967 he worked in Woerden, also in the concrete business.

In 1925 he became a member of the factory trade union with 3 others. Two years later this grew to 7 members and the union started the Meerkerk department of which he became the treasurer. In the crisis years (1930s?, GV) he was the union representative of the crisis committee, which handled the crisis cases every Friday night at City Hall. He has always tried to help the needy with dignity in a conscientious manner. He was on the road a lot as a union representative and this resulted in the creation of the Hoogblokland department. He enjoyed his work in the union, even during bad times. In 1940 the trade union work was suspended because of the war to await better times.

In 1953 his family moved to Gorinchem, where he became chairman of the “Algemene Bedrijfsgroepen Centrale” within a year. Not only was he active in the trade union, he also was active in the SDAP (Political Party), Vara (Television Broadcaster, GV), the choir “Morgenrood” and he earned his stripes as a correspondent for “Het Vrije Volk” (Newspaper, GV). He was the initiating force behind the formation of the laborer’s choir “De Stem des Volks” (The voice of the people, GV) in 1946, which was still very active in 1967.

Jan Vuurens retired in 1966 in August of that year he became the chairman of the “Algemene Bejaardenbond” (organization of retired people, GV). In 1967 he became a member of the welfare committee and he also was a director of the diabetes foundation. Although he needed to slow down in 1967, most of his activities were to help other people, but this did not always go smoothly.

Next to all his activities he also found time for hiking and he started a hiking club in Meerkerk for long distance hiking. Although this hiking club was not a success, he continues to add trophies to his extensive collection.
The above information was found in a newspaper article: Nieuwsblad (voor Gorinchem en omstreken), April14, 1967, which discussed his retirement and his 40 year anniversary with the trade union.

He lived at Maria van Bourgondiestraat 5 in Meerkerk.

He received the silver order of Oranje-Nassau for his contributions to Dutch society in 1968 (source Newspaper: Het Vrije volk, November 2 1968; pg. 7. Also Source Newspaper: Nieuwsblad (voor Gorinchem en omstreken), November 4 1968; pg. 4)

Many newspaper articles exist of the various speaches given by him during the activities. He retired from the bejaardenbond in 1970 due to his health (Source: Nieuwsblad (voor Gorinchem en omstreken), August 17 1970; pg. 1).

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Timeline Jan Vuurens

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