January 4 » Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company records the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy's death.
January 9 » Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.
February 23 » Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
May 29 » In the May Coup, Alexander I, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.
October 31 » The Purdue Wreck, a railroad train collision in Indianapolis, kills 17 people, including 14 players of the Purdue University football team.
December 17 » The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Day of death April 13, 1979
The temperature on April 13, 1979 was between 6.8 °C and 17.7 °C and averaged 12.3 °C. There was 11.0 hours of sunshine (80%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the south-southwest. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from Monday, December 19, 1977 to Friday, September 11, 1981 the cabinet Van Agt I, with Mr. A.A.M. van Agt (CDA/KVP) as prime minister.
January 25 » Pope John Paul II starts his first official papal visits outside Italy to The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Mexico.
April 11 » Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed.
May 25 » American Airlines Flight 191: A McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, killing all 271 on board and two people on the ground.
July 15 » U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his "malaise speech".
July 19 » The oil tanker SS Atlantic Empress collides with another oil tanker, causing the largest ever ship-borne oil spill.
December 23 » Soviet–Afghan War: Soviet Union forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Day of burial April 18, 1979
The temperature on April 18, 1979 was between 1.4 °C and 7.8 °C and averaged 4.8 °C. There was 1.8 hours of sunshine (13%). The partly or heavily clouded was. The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the north-northeast. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from Monday, December 19, 1977 to Friday, September 11, 1981 the cabinet Van Agt I, with Mr. A.A.M. van Agt (CDA/KVP) as prime minister.
January 30 » A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.
August 27 » The Troubles: Eighteen British soldiers are killed in an ambush by the Provisional Irish Republican Army near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland, in the deadliest attack on British forces during Operation Banner. An IRA bomb also kills British royal family member Lord Mountbatten and three others on his boat at Mullaghmore, Republic of Ireland.
September 13 » South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa).
September 16 » Eight people escaped from East Germany to the west in a homemade hot air balloon.
November 16 » The first line of Bucharest Metro (Line M1) is opened from Timpuri Noi to Semănătoarea in Bucharest, Romania.
December 21 » Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia is signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and S.C. Mundawarara.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Eva Drenth, "Family tree Diverse", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-drenth/I28998.php : accessed February 17, 2026), "Klaas Ritsema (1903-1979)".
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