February 2 » The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.
February 14 » Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
March 4 » Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a 12 metres (39ft) wave that reaches up to 5 kilometres (3.1mi) inland, killing over 300.
September 13 » Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199 m - 17,058ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya.
December 2 » Philippine–American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed "The Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.
Day of death May 17, 1988
The temperature on May 17, 1988 was between 9.3 °C and 17.5 °C and averaged 13.8 °C. There was 12.7 hours of sunshine (81%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the north. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from Tuesday, November 4, 1986 to Tuesday, November 7, 1989 the cabinet Lubbers II, with Drs. R.F.M. Lubbers (CDA) as prime minister.
March 16 » Halabja chemical attack: The Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents on the orders of Saddam Hussein, killing 5,000 people and injuring about 10,000 people.
March 25 » The Candle demonstration in Bratislava is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
May 29 » The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
July 8 » The Island Express train travelling from Bangalore to Kanyakumari derails on the Peruman bridge and falls into Ashtamudi Lake, killing 105 passengers and injuring over 200 more.
August 28 » Ramstein air show disaster: Three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. Seventy-five are killed and 346 seriously injured.
December 21 » A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270. This is to date the deadliest air disaster to occur in British soil.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Coos van Spijk, "Family tree of Spijk and her many ancestors", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/van-spijk-stamboom/I76131.php : accessed March 12, 2026), "Maartje Pronk (1899-1988)".
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