Big party in the De Zwarte Racker residential care center in Nieuw-Schoonebeek. Resident Siena Voppen turned one hundred years old today and she celebrated that with all her family members. Extra special: the care center was founded by her own daughters.
Mrs Voppen’s birthday is anything but silent. Her portrait hangs on the trees along the main road through the village. There is a red carpet in front of De Zwarte Racker and visitors have to go through a balloon arch to enter. And if you didn’t realize it by then, you can tell by the man-sized white sign with red decorative letters that stands pontifically in front of the residential care center.
Mrs Voppen herself is in a great mood. Especially since she is surrounded by her relatives on her birthday. “That’s really the most beautiful thing there is. We never have a fight in the family, none of that. It’s great,” says the new centenarian.
Voppen was born on October 29, 1922 on the Schoonebeekerveld, the area that is now called Weiteveen. A century later, the world has changed enormously, but according to Mrs Voppen, much has also remained the same.
“It used to be just as good as it is now, but it’s different. My mother had to turn around every dime and myself later, because I had eight children. Now there is much more money in circulation,” she says.
To remind their mother of the years that passed, her children made a carousel with important dates from world history and from their mother’s life. With her wheelchair she can drive around through history.
Photos of Voppen as a spry eighties on holiday in Italy and as a young woman holding two of her children in her arms, hang next to images of the rise of Adolf Hitler, the distribution of food vouchers in Drenthe, the start of oil extraction in Schoonebeek and the murder. on politician Pim Fortuyn. Voppen experienced everything. “I could write a book about it,” she laughs.
Watch the video about the festive centenary of Siena Voppen here: