“We have had a wonderful life and we certainly plan to have a few more wonderful years of it.” Evert Everts and his wife Tinie Everts-Hut make every day a beautiful day. The Havelter couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Wednesday.
Evert Everts was born on December 16, 1937 in Hollandscheveld. He also grew up there, but moved away at the age of 12. That was the result of that one terrible day in June 1948. Evert’s father died that day, June 14, in an industrial accident in Hoogeveen. Leaving behind a young family. “The youngest, my sister, was just 17 days old,” says Evert.
More than a year and a half after father died, a new man came into Evert’s mother’s life. She remarried and the family moved to Havelte. When Evert Everts had just left work and went out during the village festival in Oosteinde, he met Tinie Hut from Ruinen.
The two started dating and married five years later in Ruinen. “In Café Kuik,” Everts says with a smile. “Ruinen had no town hall at the time, so town secretary Otto Otto came to the café to marry us. We then went to the Hees hall to celebrate.”
Crane operator
Everts went to work for Koops in Havelte as a sand truck driver, but when the opportunity arose to become a crane operator at a company in Dedemsvaart, he grabbed it with both hands. The work meant that Everts was not often at home. He often stayed in North Holland or Zeeland during the week to work on the coastal and bank works there.
But he also started working across the border. In France, Serbia and even six months in Ivory Coast. When the children were small and the family expanded with the boys Alfred and Peter, Tinie often accompanied them. That changed when the eldest had to go to school and Tinie, who worked at the Perton administration office in Havelte for 32 years, stayed behind in the village with the children.
To work in the garden
Evert Everts retired at the age of 58. He wasn’t bored. Chairman of the football club Havelte, chairman of the music association De Bosnymph, billiards. And Tinie plays volleyball and works in the garden. And on the road together. Too little time. And they still have a great time together.
Tinie still enjoys working in the garden, while Evert enjoys watching the grandchildren play sports. On Wednesday they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary together with their children and grandchildren, family, friends and neighbors. First at home where mayor Rikus Jager also visited and later at restaurant Hartenlust in Havelte. ‘A beautiful day’, the two look back with satisfaction.