Born in Beveren, Belgium on January 22, 1900. In Belgium, the people living closer to France are called Flemish and the part of Belgium near the Netherlands are called the Walloons. The Flemish think they are superior. I believe there is still agitation between the two – both want their dialect to be the language of the country.
[He] came to the USA at the age of five with his parents Eduard & Marie, his very retarded sister Magdaleine (often called Len or Leneka) who was born on 3/18/01, and his half-sister Alice de Cauer.
Marie did not care for it here so she and the children returned to Belgium. Because she was not treated well by the family in Belgium, she and the children returned to the United States when Florent (Grandpa’s given name) was seven years old.
They settled in a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan called Republic. A lot of settlers in Republic were from Belgium, Sweden, Norway and Finland. (No doubt they like the cold and snow like the homeland.)
Florent like to ski and bobsled with his buddies when he was young. His father had a garden in the summer; on his lunch hour during garden season (when school was in session), Florent would have to deliver vegetables to his father’s customers.
Iron ore mining was the main industry in Republic and surrounding area.
When Florent was in grade school, he would be asked to sit with newcomers arriving from Belgium and teach them the 3 R’s [reading, ‘righting, ‘rithmetic] until the children would learn the English language.
Florent graduated from Republic High School.
After WWI work slackened in the mines and only one member of a family could work in the mines at that time. When he was 18 Florent decided to come down to Detroit to work in the factory. He started at Packards. Was also on their baseball team.
After Grandpa [Florent] came to Detroit, he was not with Belgium people. Years later I asked him to say something in Belgium [sic] and he couldn’t remember anything.
Some time later he got into Ford Motor Company’s school and was taught tool and die making and subsequently got a job with Ford’s in River Rouge.
[He] used to take the Baker street car from the east side of Detroit all the way out to the Rouge plant.
Florent met Helen Morock at the Arcadia Ballroom on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Years later we (your dad [Edward] and I [Dorothy]) were told that the first time he saw Helen, he said to himself that she was the girl he wanted to marry.
Grandpa [Florent] and I [Dorothy] moved to Eastpointe on October 1, 1978. On Dec. 15, 1979 I put him in the hospital. He might have had a slight stroke before he went to the hospital. While in the hospital he had a massive stroke. It was touch & go for a while after that he could speak but he was mentally incompetent.
He had to be put in a nursing home where he stayed for 11 months.
In one of his lucid moments he said “You know they got my number” and I said “yes, but they’ve got to call it.” He agreed. Right after Christmas he was put in the hospital where he passed away on December 31, 1980.