Five Brothers and a War

Postscript: Gijsbertus “Bertus” van Pelt

Three children were born to Bertus and Jeannette—first the twins, Ronald Jan and Robert Pieter, in August 1956. Jeannette had no idea that she was pregnant with twins even when she was in the delivery room, and was only told to wait for another baby once Ron had emerged. Two years later, in 1958, Jacqueline Jeannette Lynn was born. Interestingly, Ron and Rob were born in the same hospital as Kees’ children Jeannette and Rick, while Jacqueline was born in the same hospital that Edwin was born in about a ten months after she arrived. On the professional front, Bertus was also filling out a career. At first there were various jobs of little or no consequence. That was the negative. The positive part was that Bertus found the sales sector was something he was drawn toward. Not coincidentally, he was also a very good salesman. Bertus got a job working for the very large Canadian publishing company, MacLean-Hunter (later acquired by the mega company Rogers Communications), which at the time had about 50 magazines and trade publications in its stable. Bertus was selling print advertising, and was doing so with great gusto. In the process, he earned a job selling advertising for the magazine, Marketing, which brought with it a significant raise and top shelf benefits . He worked for ten years in that job, after which he moved over to Canadian Automotive Trade magazine, to undertake much the same work. But within a couple years, his reputation in the automotive sector prompted the owner of a small company producing computerized engine analyzers to offer Bertus a job, which he accepted, despite the undeniable fact that he knew almost nothing about cars, other than how to drive them. Before too long, Bertus found that he was again sought by companies in the automotive industry. That sector is a closed society, so competition for remarkable people can be fierce. Bertus landed a job with Bear Canada, a firm he stayed with until his retirement, some 28 years later. Along to way, a very funny marketing person developed a very creative newsletter and persona called High-Tech Bert—a tongue-in-cheek promotional concept. It ran for several years and was both hilarious and very well received.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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