Mount Arrowsmith, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Memoirs 1
"the holiness of beauty and the beauty of holiness"
“I look forward to inspiring and motivating those who choose to read My
Memoirs with an openness and willingness to engage their life with hope
that indeed changes are possible and that their encounter with truth is the
result of their own personal quest for meaning not to duplicate mine but to experience their own journey.”
"When I was ten years old, I
began telling stories to children using puppets and a handmade puppet theatre
complete with curtains and painted backdrop scenery. Since then I haven’t
stopped telling stories to my children, my grandchildren, and children of the
community, including the adventures of the pancake man. And when it came to
spiritual matters, I told the greatest stories of them all to adults in ways
familiar and not, but always using both word and drawn images to keep memories
alive and minds inspired."
Gerrit V .L. Verstraete
AOCA,
BFA, MA, MTH, DCA
MY QUEST CONTINUES
as memoirs, a gathering of stories or "Astula" as Berin the Master Mariner called them.
“The Quest,” comprises my memoirs. It is a personal account of my journey of faith and the events and people including those who have affected me in a profound yet sometimes silent way. Questing is a distinctly human experience of the phenomena of awe and wonder and what often feels like "silver tried in the furnace of the earth." The “Quest” has its poetic roots in the epic poem “Cerulean’s Odyssey” and in “The Quest Series” of novels about the long distance voyager named Cerulean.
My memoirs begin with a brief writing about the central Theme of my lived-experience, namely that of "The Holiness of Beauty and the Beauty of Holiness," followed by an Introduction and thereafter the writings that comprise the details of my memoirs. All these are posted in PDF format for easy reading.
Following are the writings as they appear in order of posting:
(a work in progress)
Note to writings: because many of the writings are rather long, the memoirs are split into pages 1 and 2. Page 1 includes pdf documents 1 - 22; Page 2 includes documents 23- 38 (and more to come)
1. The Holiness of Beauty and the Beauty of Holiness
2. Introduction
3. The Honourary War Baby
4. As a Child
5. An Admiral's Family
6. Ancient Memories
7. Oh Canada!
8. Hot steamy summers and bitter cold winters
9. The devil behind glass
10. Sgt. Rock of Easy Company
11. Fleas in my Journal
12. Toronto bound (1964)
13. The OCA years (1964-1968)
14. The Great OCA Sit-in (1968)
15. Swiss Chalet and the Imperial Theatre
16. A special Canadian Centennial experience
17. The Only Available Door
18. The Family Years
19. The Folio Years - Part 1
The Folio Years - Part 2: Don Cullen (1933-2022)
20. Mid-Seventies Crisis
21. Call of the Open Road
22. Clothes make the man
23 go to Page Memoirs 2
3. The Honourary War Baby
Two brothers in 1950. Beert left (age 6), Gerrit right (age 5)
Verstraete Cigar "factory," Kampen, OV, 1924
The sea battle would have looked something like this: A Dutch (Flemish School) painting from the mid-1620's in Antwerp that commemorates the victory of the Dutch over a Spanish fleet. The painting by Eertvelt van Andries (1590-1652) since 1924, has been in the Hermitage Museum, St.Petersburg, Russia, and was originally in the collection of lieutenant-General S.N.Ploutin. The artist Van Andries moved to Genoa, Italy in 1627.
Image courtesy of the Hermitage Museum.
Note:
in the painting above, the large ship in the centre is the Spanish flagship, “Inquisition,” behind which is the small
Dutch ship and its captain Cornelis Dirkszoon. Dutch naval success was a result
of manoeuverability of the smaller Dutch ships which were able to approach the large
Spanish ships and fire their canons just above and below the waterline, and
send the ships to their watery graves. Whereas the Spanish cannonade of their
big ships “overshot” the smaller Dutch ships. The Dutch used the same strategy against
English and Spanish flotillas. Note the state of destruction of the Spanish flagship
(broken masts, riggings and sails in shreds, flotsam, sailors in the water, destruction
all around, etc.). Even though the Hermitage commentary claims the Spanish won
the battle, Dutch records indicate otherwise. It was Cornelis Dirkszoon who captured
the Spanish flagship and thus was honoured with the title “Admiraal.” To wit: the
Coat of Arms of the Admiraal family, dated
1573, and the legacy of the Admiraal family to this day as shipwrights.
Admiraal family ship building wharf, Hasselt OV, 1888. In 2023 it still exists as a large manufacturer of ship custom interiors.
Disaster: The Dikes Break, January 1953
The immigrant Ship S.S.Waterman, 1958, a converted troop ship.
8. Hot Steamy summers and bitter cold winters
Wallaceburg Ontario in Summer and Winter
Bending Art Award Trophy, 1963. L to R, Mr. Allan, principal; Gerrit Verstraete, student; Representative of the Bending family.
My father, Chris Verstraete, Master Bookbinder, 1920-2003
9. The devil behind glass
10. Sgt. Rock of Easy Company
Sgt. Rock's Easy Co, Comic issue 98, 1960, GV Archives
Toronto 1964 (a Streetcar named Red Rocket)
13. The OCA years (1964-1968)
Ontario College of Art (OCA) Toronto 1964
My cherished 1964 OCA College jacket (dark blue corduroy and red plaid lining) I couldn't afford leather
14. The Great Ontario College of Art Sit-in (1968)
The Great OCA Sit-in, Toronto Telegram, Feb. 23, 1968 (full page article in Archives). Gerrit: upper left top, between male and female students. I am looking at the camera.
15. Swiss Chalet and the Imperial Theatre
Swiss Chalet, Yonge Street, Toronto, 1965
16. A special Canadian Centennial experience (1967)
Our engagement, May 1967, 2 years, 7 months after we first met
17. The Only Available Door (1968 - 1970)
Marketing Magazine, June 7, 1968. On the fire escape of the studio at 74 York Street, 4th floor. Toronto.
1972 - Gerrit, Jeffrey, Alice and Wendy
Left: The Client - Right: The Business Theatre
In memory of Don Cullen, Founder of Toronto's Bohemian Embassy Coffeehouse (1933-2022)
Confused and anxious to say the least: Cat. No.008-04
21. Call of the Open Road
My Camaro was tan on the outside and dark brown on the inside, later traded for a dark metallic exterior and black interior.
1965: Sheepskin jacket and corduroy pants. Need I say more? Yes - long hair
