Hendrik Hielema

Hendrik Hielema died of lymphoma attended by family on September 2, 2016 at Randolph Hospice House, five days short of his 95th birthday. Henk was born September 7, 1921 in Schaesberg, Limburg Province, the Netherlands, the oldest child of Frisian parents, Stijntje Meester and Jacob Hielema, Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau. As a boy scout he developed a love of flight and aviation which continued into his adult life, piloting his Cessna single engine plane and gliders. In 1943, while attempting to return to the University of Groningen where he was a Dutch language major, the Nazi occupiers of the Netherlands stopped the train he was on, took him and other able bodied Dutch citizens from it, and transported them to Concentration Camp Erika in Ommen, the Netherlands. He was held at Camp Erika for processing until being shipped to Wolfsburg, Germany for work as a slave laborer in a Volkswagen factory. He escaped from this duty and made his way to the home of a business associate of his father in Aachen, Germany who took him at night by car up to the Dutch border from where he walked home. For the remainder of World War II, he stayed in hiding and fought with the Dutch underground in the area around the home of his parents in Geleen, the Netherlands. After the southern Netherlands were liberated by American troops in the fall of 1944, Henk joined the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps and was sent to Camp Lejeune, NC for basic training to prepare for a joint US and Netherlands invasion of the Dutch East Indies to retake them from the Japanese occupiers. From Camp Lejeune, he went to Quantico, VA for officer training school. While on leave in Washington, DC he met and later married Mary Elizabeth Spencer of Oxford, NC. (This marriage ended in 1956.) With Japanese surrender after the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan, the planned invasion of the East Indies was no longer necessary. But, in a new post colonial era, the Indonesians began to agitate for their independence and Lieutenant Hielema was shipped to Surabaya, Java, Indonesia to fight against the Indonesians in their war of independence. While Henk rose to the rank of captain, he later came to regard this war as a tremendous waste of capital and lives. As the war ended, he sailed back to the Netherlands for a year of recovery from malaria before settling in a Dutch community in northwest Indiana. While living here, he rose through the ranks from the position of timekeeper to plant superintendent with General American Transportation Corporation in East Chicago, IN and earned his degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. At this point, Henk returned to Europe to work for over 20 years, initially living in Venlo and Geleen, the Netherlands while employed as a consultant with the Dusseldorf, Germany office of A. T. Kearney Corp. and later moving to Belgium where he was production manager for the Mechelen, Belgium operations of Detroit Mold Engineers. Henk eventually returned to Demotte, Indiana where he lived with his second wife, June Swart Hielema, until April, 2016 when he moved to Asheboro, NC for hospice care. Henk spoke six languages: Dutch, Frisian, English, German, French and Bahasa Indonesia. In his retirement, he built 35 scale model windmills chronicling the early success of ten countries in harnessing wind power. His collection is currently housed in the Windmill Cultural Center next to the full size de Immigrant windmill in Fulton, IL. In the last three years, with production assistance from his friend, Jim Shouse, he wrote six volumes of memoirs to document his long and rich life as a legacy for his family. Henk is survived by his three children: Donna Louise Hielema of Asheboro, Frank John Hielema of Raleigh, and Andrew Edward Hielema of Oxford, NC, as well as his five grandchildren, Jerri C. Holcomb of Sanford, Matthew N. Coleman (friend, Sherri and son Jace) of Asheboro, D. Season Lahr (Steven) of High Point, Jason E. Hielema (Niki) of Mocksville, and Justin S. Hielema (Brooke) of Oxford, NC. He is also survived by his 4 great-granddaughters: Ryan and Ella Holcomb of Sanford and Amelia and Elisabeth Hielema of Mocksville. He was pre-deceased by his grandson, R. Ryan Coleman, his brother Jaap Arnold Hielema and sister, Elisabeth H. Rude. The family would like to express thanks for the kindness and care provided to Henk and his family by Carillon Assisted Living of Asheboro and Hospice of Randolph County in the past four months. The immediate family will enjoy a private celebration of his life with an Indonesian rijsttafel (rice table) at a later date.