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Adriaan Johan (Hans) den
Ouden
Dad was born on Sept. 18, 1921, the middle child in a family of nine children. He grew up in the house pictured above in Oegstgeest, the Netherlands. He was named after his mother, Adriana. His father, Jan, was a prosperous building contractor. He and his brothers and sisters are pictured to the right. He's the one on the lower right. The others (in no particular order) are Joke, Tinneke, Adri, Nel, Piet, Arie, Gep and Jan.
There is an early photo of Dad with his class when he was quite young, either Kindergarten or Grade One. That picture is below. See if you can pick him out. We are not quite sure which one is him! (If you know, please email us!)
Dad was fond of telling his children many stories about his youth. Like the time his father had ordered several bags of onions which the family stored up in the attic. Hans hated onions, he said. So he went up to the attic one day and threw all of them onto the sidewalk below. Needless to say, the onions got smashed. But he was caught out. For punishment he had to eat a whole bowl full of cooked onions. If you know any good stories from his youth, pass them along and we will add them here. Dad was also an athletic young fellow. Below is a picture of him at the starting line, ready for a roller skating race. The picture is dated October 1, 1937, which would make him sixteen years old at the time. That wraps up the available pictures from the early years. Click on the links below to continue or to return to the Hans & Letty den Ouden page. Hans den
Ouden: The College Years
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