IN MEMORIAM
We regret to inform you that our friend Raymond van de Wouw has passed away at the age of 57.
Raymond devoted himself to the Stichting 18 September for more than seventeen years. In 2003 he became secretary, and from 2012 he was chairman of this foundation. Under his leadership the foundation made a strong mark, and it saw it as its moral duty to make all of us – but young people in particular – realise that freedom is not self-evident. His drive was exceptionally great. He built up a network at home and abroad, and attended commemorations and ceremonies in Bayeux, Kamp Vught, Margraten, Wageningen, Auschwitz and many other places. Partly under his leadership, the relationship with Bayeux grew into a close bond of friendship.
From 2019, Raymond remained involved as honorary chairman.
But Raymond was involved with many more organisations.
In 1980, Raymond became a cub leader with the Angelo Roncalli scout group. This turned out to be the start of a long career as a volunteer, which took him to, among others, the Sint Catharinagilde Tot Blorthem en Gestel, the football clubs Veloc – now called ‘Gestel’ – and, until two years ago, Unitas, where at one point he was giving around 25 hours a week. He also made a valuable contribution to the carnival association de Blauwbuiken, the Bureau voor Rechtshulp, the lunchtime supervision at the primary school de Bijenkorf and many other initiatives.
In 2014 he co-founded the Gravenstichting Brabant, which records the stories behind war graves and brings them back to life. He involved secondary schools in this, which led to research into those graves now forming part of the curriculum at the Stedelijk College. He was also the originator of the struikelstenen-app, an app that includes all of the more than ten thousand struikelstenen placed in the Netherlands and Belgium.
People around him praise his ability to bring people and organisations together and win them over to a shared goal. He did this with a drive that other people could sometimes hardly keep up with. Many people find it a mystery how he managed to combine all that volunteer work with a busy and demanding full-time job.
Raymond’s achievements are highly valued, both at home and in France and Belgium. It is partly thanks to Raymond’s commitment that the links with various partners at home and abroad have been strengthened and intensified. His commitment was enormous, and he always had a very strong drive to get a job done.
In October 2019 he was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau; in addition, he holds the gold pin of the Stichting 18 September.
We will miss a true friend. We wish the family and friends much strength with this loss.
P.P.F.M. (Peter) Kemp
Chairman, Stichting 18 September
Funeral information
Raymond’s funeral will take place on Saturday 1 May 2021 at 10:30 and will be held in a private circle.
The postal address for Raymond’s family is:
Marks Wachters Notarissen
For the attention of the Van de Wouw family
Onze Lieve Vrouwestraat 8
5623 PE Eindhoven
