Fréderique (Fred) Baptist
2023
This translation was produced automatically and has not been checked by a person.
My maternal grandmother. Born on 11 April 1905 in Gunungsitoli on the small island of Nias, off the west coast of Sumatra. Her father served there in the KNIL. A very strong woman, who converted to the Catholic faith and drew deep conviction from it. She was a teacher until her marriage to Han van der Palm, who had been raised Catholic but who, through her, is said to have been brought somewhat closer to the teachings again.
Together they had five children (of whom my mother was the middle one), whom she mostly raised herself, since her husband, as a captain with the KPN, was often at sea. He was transferred from Batavia to Singapore, where my mother was born and lived until she was eight.
Because of her partly indigenous descent and perhaps also the German roots on her mother’s side, she managed to stay out of the camp in Batavia during the Japanese occupation. She supported the family by cooking meals, making and mending clothes, and selling table silver and the like.
After the liberation the family went through another frightening time because of the Indonesian struggle for independence. When her husband Han returned from the camp, the family left for the Netherlands. There they first lodged with an elderly single lady with a large house in Ubbergen. Later they were able to move to a hut in Amersfoort. In the end the family had a new home built in Bilthoven, and after retirement the couple moved to Haaren in North Brabant. She died there on 13 January 1993.