We regret to announce that our much-valued colleague Jan Jonkers passed away on 27 November 2018 at the age of 55. Unexpectedly, Jan suffered a severe heart attack a week earlier and sadly passed away as a result. Jan worked at our company for almost 27 years, doing so with great dedication and pride. Initially, he worked in the logistics department, and later became a service engineer. He was the direct point of contact for our customers and was fully responsible for the service and warranty of our products. He carried out these duties in such a way that our customers were full of praise for him. Naturally, we remain at our customers’ service, but from now on, all contact will need to go through our office, and we will do everything we can to continue providing the same level of service as Jan did with such dedication. We will miss our ever-optimistic Jan very much and wish his family, friends and acquaintances much strength in coping with this unexpected loss.
A few days after Jan’s death, there was a wonderful column in the Brabants Dagblad about our Jan. Jan Jonkers – in Schijndel they called him ‘Lange Jan’. We are incredibly proud of Jan.
Column in the Brabants Dagblad, 30 November 2018, by Linda Akkermans
Giving up your home to help a family. Lange Jan did just that
Sinterklaas is still in the country, but at St John’s Cathedral in Den Bosch, it’s already starting to feel a bit like Christmas. Joseph, Mary and their baby have been carried inside, and countless animals are once again being given a place in the famous nativity scene that is currently being set up. This year’s theme is charity.
Charity: loving one’s fellow human beings and feeling a shared responsibility for the well-being of others, not necessarily someone you love. Doing something for someone without expecting anything in return.
I thought about the people around me and who was the champion of charity. I came up with a nice little ranking, then forgot all about it and got on with my day. A little while later, I had a chat with our mum on the phone and, just before she hung up, she said: ‘Oh, by the way: Lange Jan has died’.
Lange Jan from Schijndel. An uncle’s neighbour. An uncle who only lived to be 66, because six months ago he was suddenly found dead in his chair one morning. A chair in the house that still belonged to Lange Jan back in the nineties.
Here’s the thing. Some time before that, my aunt had a brain haemorrhage. She ended up in a care home and my uncle was left with two teenage girls. Bringing his wife home wasn’t an option, because the small garden of that terraced house meant that extending the property wasn’t possible. There were no suitable rental properties available anywhere else in Schijndel.
And then Lange Jan, who until then had been just one of many neighbours, said out of the blue: ‘Why don’t we just swap? You give me my corner house, and I’ll give you yours.’ As if we were talking about a stack of football or Pokémon cards. But he was dead serious. Because if he could help out like that… why not?
They swapped homes. My aunt was able to live at home for another 25 years. Thanks to Lange Jan. Charity: the winner has been announced posthumously.
