Jan Wessel

We are sad to learn about the passing of one of our former colleagues. Jan Wessel died on 25 October 2014. Anyone who worked at our school before 1996 will vividly remember this colourful person. Jan was a Gymnastics teacher, but equally important to him, he was the organiser and driving force behind every celebration, in which a hilarious role was always reserved for him. As an MC at goodbye parties of colleagues Jan Wessel was unsurpassed; even after two minutes no one understood what he was on about. And for generations of colleagues’ children there has only been one Sinterklaas: he who visited the Rijnlands, this being Jan. Encouraged by a plentiful amount of gin, sipped through a straw, he stole the show every time again; even his own children (by now 23 and 26) are still convinced that he was the only true Sinterklaas. But first and foremost Jan, together with his wife Joukje, have shaped Gymnastics at this school; Jan hated modernisms such as lesson plans and study guides. To Jan, Gymnastics was all about being in perpetual movement. Playing sports, both inside and outside. At his own goodbye ceremony, we unveiled his personalised street name sign: “Jan Wessel field”. Jan had reached the age of 83 when he left us for good.

John Swieringa