Hinke Klaver from Eindhoven is the oldest resident of Brabant at 107 years old. Her granddaughter told her earlier this year. “I could not believe it.” She uses the iPad every day to play the word game Wordfeud with her granddaughters, aged 58 and 54. The 107-year-old still has a good grasp of the word game. “Grandma still wins every now and then. We think that’s quite bad actually,” says granddaughter Janine Jongepier.
“Staying active, not only physically, but also with your thoughts and your brain. That is very good,” says Janine. Hinke Klaver was born on January 19, 1916. She will turn 108 next month. Her secret? “They all ask that. Be cheerful and exercise a lot. Gym, athletics, swimming. I’ve done everything.”
The Frisian-born started at Philips when she was fourteen. Every year she receives a Christmas package from the company. She has also been a swimming teacher. Hundreds of Eindhoven children have obtained their swimming diploma with her help.
She still does sports. Her caregiver Anita takes her in the wheelchair to a bicycle, just down the hall from where she lives. She cycles there leisurely for fifteen minutes. “When the year 2000 came around, I thought I probably wouldn’t make it. It is now 24 years later. The nice thing about getting old is getting old itself. It’s something special.”
“Then you don’t have time to be very sad.”
In addition to exercising, the 107-year-old is regularly on Facebook. She also likes watching television. “Films, Farmer seeks wife, the News and sports. I watch football. I am for PSV. Football used to be very different. Much more boring.”
Hinke Klaver’s only daughter has died. And anyone who is 107 has already lost many people around them. “I find that annoying. You really have to get over that.”
The life lesson she wants to teach young people? “That you do your best. And be cheerful in everything you do. You also have to keep busy. Then you don’t have time to be very sad.”
“She really wants to live to be 110.”
Her caregiver Anita Boselie has been in the profession for forty years. Taking care of a 107-year-old is very special for her. “She is still doing very well. We follow her daily rhythm. Sometimes she gets up at 8 am, but sometimes not until half past two in the afternoon. She really wants to live to be 110. If she continues like this, she can easily achieve that.”
“Her secret is her optimism. She fell a few times. After that she couldn’t do anything anymore. She gets on top of it every time. She is a go-getter and a positive person. She is sad sometimes, but then she says: ‘Come on, let’s go for it again!’”
In 2021, Omroep Brabant visited Anneke Weterings-Maas. At 107 years old, she was the oldest Brabander at the time. She still smoked a cigarette every day. She passed away in February 2022.