{"id":48149,"date":"2021-03-29T12:48:44","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T12:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/v-parents-and-early-years\/"},"modified":"2021-03-29T12:48:44","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T12:48:44","slug":"v-parents-and-early-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/v-parents-and-early-years\/","title":{"rendered":"V parents and early years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<< IV Martyr of Aarschot<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arthur and Clementina<\/strong> Van Kerckhoven Van Dyck<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arthur<\/strong> (photo: around 1900)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tineke Van Dyck on the right in the picture <\/strong>(photo: around 1900)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frie\u2019s mother as a student at the boarding school in Champion near Namur<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Julia Van Dyck – sister of Tineke<\/strong> – aunt of Godfried<\/strong> – ran a caf\u00e9 on the Meulenberg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lucien Van Dyck – brother of Tineke<\/strong> – uncle of Godfried<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Godfried is fascinated by his uncle, the church beadle, also called \u2018suisse\u2019. The beadle accompanies ceremonies and receives visitors in the Church of Our Lady of Aarschot – The suisse is the half-brother of Tineke Van Dyck<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Champion (Namur) – Pensionnat – Vue ext\u00e9rieure <\/strong> – where Tineke is a boarder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tineke comes from the Meulenberg. She plays the piano beautifully and will later give piano lessons to her grandson Guy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clementina Van Kerckhoven Van Dyck<\/strong> (1897-1963)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arthur in the middle with cigar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wedding portrait of Arthur and Clementina<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arthur and Clementina have four sons together: Paul (1922-2011), Jos (1925-2005), Godfried (1926-1929) and Aim\u00e9 Godfried (1930-2013)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arthur on the right in the picture, standing in the middle his brother Richard<\/strong> Van Kerckhoven.<\/strong> The two boys on the left are unknown<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

War and peace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 1914 the German army takes Aarschot. The German authorities accuse the people of Aarschot of having shot dead their German colonel. Arthur, who speaks German, is asked under duress to sign a document that is supposed to show that the people of Aarschot did indeed shoot the German colonel dead. Arthur refuses and is struck on the head for it. By this refusal the people of Aarschot officially remain exempt from responsibility for the death of the German colonel. Arthur has to abruptly stop his pharmacy studies in Leuven and is deported to a labour camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arthur scrapes through by the skin of his teeth and is finally released after a year in a German labour camp. When he arrives at Aarschot by train he is weakened, ill and, from exhaustion, can hardly stand or walk any more. His sisters, who wait for him at the station, no longer recognise him. Afterwards Arthur continues to struggle with frail health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once I heard my father tell the following story and it made him sad: He told why, after the First World War, the authorities of Aarschot refused to honour his father Arthur for his heroic deed. The reason was that Arthur Van Kerckhoven was a close friend of a liberal minister and in Aarschot the Catholic party under the noble mayor Coomans de Brach\u00e8ne was in power. Dad said that the mayor, who was also a brewer and notary, tolerated no competition. That besides political power he did not want to share economic power either. Other important candidate investors for Aarschot were turned away one by one. When I myself sat on the town council, the Local History Society submitted a proposal to rename the \u2018Kerkplein\u2019 the \u2018Guillaume Coomans de Brach\u00e8ne square\u2019. I blocked that. They had indeed appointed Arthur secretary-clerk of the town, but for father an extra tribute should have gone with it.” – Pieter <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arthur and Tineke<\/strong> (photo: 1937)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Godfried wonders why during the Second World War his father fled with his family to Larochelle. In the 1980s Godfried goes on holiday with his family to Larochelle and visits the place where they stayed during the Second World War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arthur on the right in the picture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arthur and Clementina Van Kerckhoven Van Dyck<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the back of this postcard it says: Aarschot \u2018Drossaarde\u2019 built in 1470 by Willem van Croy. Seized in 1797. Now town hall and museum of local history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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in the place of the Drossaarde<\/strong>… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arthur becomes secretary at the town hall \u201cDrossaarde\u201d, where he completes the population register in his careful handwriting. About the fatality of his health he prefers to remain discreet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arthur<\/strong> Van Kerckhoven <\/strong>(1892-1958) When he has his portrait made, he almost always looks straight into the camera, serious, stern and aloof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shrewd businesswoman with a nose for textiles has to work hard.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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identity card of Tineke Van Dyck – note her signature – Tineke puts dots on the y – the right-hand part was filled in by the gendarmerie in Larochelle in 1940<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Godfried\u2019s parental home <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a deportee of the First World War, Arthur knows the limits of his health, and the entrepreneur discreetly invests his money in a fabric and fur-coat shop for Clementina and a few commercial properties in the town centre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIn trading it is not only turnover and profit that count but also the product and the people. You must not be stingy with customers. When measuring I do not look at a centimetre.\u201d – Tineke It is bustling and people come from far away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The authentic retro \u2018Brabantia\u2019 step stool with which Tineke endlessly takes lengths of fabric from the shop shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Godfried accompanies his parents when buying fabrics in Brussels. Here at the wholesaler Wauquez, where the Comic Strip Museum is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Etablissements Blum\u2019 where the weekly purchases continue. (photo: 1990s)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This fabric wholesaler comes into the hands of Anita Buelens of Rillaar. The notary admires the elegant, beautiful and renowned textile entrepreneur. As a young girl she was at the root of the \u201cgolden years of Rillaar\u201d by making it, among other things, the Diolen-fabric village. She then ran a fabric shop in the Nieuwstraat in Brussels, which grew into a wholesale business on the Antwerpsesteenweg at the Ijzeplein. Mrs Buelens\u2019s business became the Belgian number one in textile import and export. This is reported by the financial-economic news medium Trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Her daughter, Kitty Buelens <\/strong>is Pieter\u2019s bosom friend. \u201cMy father thought it was wonderful that I came to your fabric wholesale business, where he too went weekly with his parents. Godfried was each time interested whether I had seen your mother. How she was dressed and what car she drove. I would then repeat that your mother got about with a chauffeur in a dark-grey \u2018S-Class\u2019 with champagne-coloured cushions.\u201d \u201cBut I saw her drive in a dark-blue Jaguar. It is unbelievable how far she got.\u201d – Godfried \u201cNo doubt your mum had a great influence on me. She hammered it into me that Aarschot is not for me. That I had to move to Brussels or Paris.\u201d – Pieter & Kitty bring out their p\u2019tites histoires from around 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Godfried II<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clementina cannot accept the death of her three-year-old son Godfried and decides to give her newest-born the same name. On Thursday 14 August 1930 Godfried is born in the parental home. The evening before, his mother had given the display windows a new arrangement with the newest fabrics, to let shoppers who come down to the weekly market dream away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here he is at last! The full name of the successor of the deceased Godfried is \u2018Aim\u00e9 Godfried Richard Jules Corneel\u2019. The godsend is dedicated to Mother Mary. His parents make the promise that they will dress him in white and blue until his first communion, as a plea for Mary\u2019s grace to keep the little child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aim\u00e9<\/strong> Godfried<\/strong> dressed in white and blue until his first communion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the shadow of his deceased little brother, Frie is required to pray a great deal for that little Godfried and for himself, so that he too will not die. A brown leather case is put in his trouser pocket containing a rosary, which Frie will carry with him until almost the end of his life. Mia lets the rosary get lost at the dry cleaner\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Godfried <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Godfried<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As a child Frie once stands outside on the doorstep. His older brother lowers the heavy roller shutter but loses control of the crank. The big roller shutter shoots down and lands on Frie\u2019s little head. Frie loses consciousness. Fear grips Tineke\u2019s heart, she fears losing her second Godfried too. Fortunately our young hero has \u201ca hard head!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Suskewiet – Het mirakel gebeurt in Vlaanderen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The little booklet is signed by Godfried. The role of the shepherd is played by Frie at the Sint-Jozefscollege. It is his most beautiful childhood memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(1937) A further overwhelming moment for Frie is the premiere of Disney\u2019s animated film \u2018Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs\u2019.
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The Circus – 1934 – Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) – oil on canvas – 65x81cm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The circus world is deeply rooted in Godfried\u2019s interests. His family is there when the Bouglione circus gives a colourful show in Brussels. Of circus broadcasts on television Frie can never get enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Aarschot everyone calls her<\/strong> Tineke Van Dyck<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frie at his mother\u2019s side<\/strong>
Frie and his brothers gratefully praise the tireless drive to work of their mother, who is the heart of the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frie\u2019s solemn communion card<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frie and his mother<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frie and his brothers declared themselves indebted to their mother all their lives: they regard her as their example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frie with his <\/strong>parents<\/span> in Duisburg<\/strong>
During the Second World War the family flees to Larochelle. As a result Frie does not go to school for months. After the war Frie travels with his parents to Duisburg to see the destruction caused by the bombing. The gaze of Arthur, who died in 1958, makes one wonder what exactly is going on in his head. A look at the horrors of the two world wars can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n