Five Brothers and a War

Marie Makes Clothes

This was not the only time she dressed them in similar clothes.

< Piet, Bertus on Marie’s lap, Jan, Leen and Kees sitting on the table. In this case, the navy-style clothes were worn by Piet and Jan, but eventually everyone wore the style.

In the older oval photo, Leen and Piet are wearing the navy clothes. Jan was too small, and Kees was just a baby. It is reasonable to assume that the outfit Leen wore here, Piet wore in the newer photo, and the one Piet wore in the old photo, Jan wore in the newer one. Hand-me downs were a way of life for Marie .

van Pelt

Wearing the same clothes also extended to beach fashion. Marie was proud of her sons, and proud of how she dressed them as well.

The three older boys are now wearing similar navy outfits (l-r, Kees, Leendert, Jan, Leen, Bertus, Piet and Marie.

The boys were very much in awe of their mother’s sewing accomplishments. They were also very excited to get new clothes, and thought it was great that they could all look alike. That is until they actually had to begin wearing all that handicraft—two shirts each. The economy of Marie’s reasoning had completely escaped them. Young people have the habit of growing and outgrowing clothing. In this case outgrowing anything was out of the question. For ten long years they were typecast as the kids in the same plaid shirts. Leen, of course, only had to wear his for a short time until he outgrew it. On the other hand, Bertus was stuck for a decade.

Five Brothers and a War

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