My great-grandmother (the mother of the mother of my mother) is without any doubt someone who inspired my career, even if she did not live to see the result.
Born in april 1895, she was the only relative I ever knew who was born in the 19th century. She was the youngest of thirteen children who became a kindergarten teacher until she married (she was fired as result, which was law back in the day in the Netherlands, and not only there).
Her husband died when she was just 32 years old, mother of 3 daughters, in the age of 5 (my grandmother), 3, and 1 year old. She rebranded the store she and her husband owned, from furniture to yarn (as no men in those days would buy furniture from a woman, or take her advice on the subject).
She sent all her daughters to the MULO (a form of extended primary education). This was definitively frowned upon by some, as it was not considered useful for women to get educated beyond the bare minimum in the 30’s of the previous century. She did it anyway because she strongly believed that education was the only way to become financially independent.
That mindset shaped both my grandmother and mother and were also key to how I was raised, and now raise my daughter. The fact that my great-grandmother lived another sixty years as a widow, was around when Women’s suffrage was granted in the Netherlands in 1917 and survived two world wars, also trigged my interest in history. She died when I was just 8 years old, but I already understood how special she was.
The key figure in my education, the one who saved me from failing at school is my remedial teacher Ellen Post. I’m still in her debt 30 years later.
I was not an easy going kid. I was (still am) hot-tempered, easily distracted, and hyperly active. As a result, my schoolresults were not that great, although I had (fairly) good results for arithmetics and maths. My behavior was really problematic at times, to the extend that I even was expelled temporarily from school once.
But Ellen believed in me. When some colleagues proposed to expel me permanently, she used her influence to convince them not only to let me stay, but also to let me pass the fourth grade. On top of that she arranged that I could follow an extra subject, required to go to university. Without her, that would not have happened.
She helped me believe in myself me to believe in myself when I couldn’t.
If it wasn’t for her, I would never have been able to go to university, a life changing event, which without I most likely never would have become a software engineer. Thank you again.
I think the world is a better place due to the existence of these extraordinary women, who I was lucky to know.