Betty Kampen is a jewel from the crown of Holland!

Here, Betty, the quintessential New Canadian, sets forth the familiar yet ever-new story--the memories of the immigrant and her family arriving in Canada in the 1950s, and to a rural setting at that. It is a bittersweet tale of a child in a strange school in a wintry land, of family life on an isolated farm, one without amenities; of the yearnings of a young girl to be off the farm and to leave the old Dutch ways, yet with the need to cling to and follow her faith; and of her courtship and married life as she starts her own family. Her desire for further schooling leads to nursing. Even then, heartbreak continues; her faith is tested by family tragedy.

My neighbor Betty resides with her husband, Rudy, in an Orangeville condominium. Here we met, and I became acquainted with her life and activities--and her memoirs--as she was teaching me Dutch in my preparation for a conference in the Netherlands. Husband and wife are retired now but still reach out to others through hospital volunteer work, beautification through gardening, seasonal decorating in and around the condo, and involvement in their local Canadian Reformed Church.

Kevin Harrington

Retired teacher-librarian, linguist, and geographer