Henk van der Meyden did everything his way

BETHAL – The whole of Bethal was sad on hearing that the well known businessman, Mr Henk van der Meyden (80), died on 24 July.

Although his children believe he had a terrible golf swing and putting style, he stayed a golfing legend.

He leaves behind his wife, Ethne, four children and nine grandchildren.

“Like Frank Sinatra sang, ‘I did it my way’, now that is the way our dad did it. He was not really concerned about what other people thought of him. He was a very loyal man. Loyal to his wife, family, friends and his business,” one of his three daughters said.

Mr Van der Meyden struggled with his heart and lost a lot of weight the past few months. Eventually it was his heart that gave in.

Mrs Van der Meyden and her husband enjoyed playing golf together and they worked hard to get their business off the ground. She is struggling with the idea that he will not be coming back and is sad she lost her husband and companion of 54 years.

She said: “We moved to Bethal in 1966 and began our business called Alma Ateljee, way back then. We later changed the name to Alma Studio’s. Because Henk was a photographer, he sold film camera’s and accessories. We started small with LP’s, seven singles and radio players.”

His children can remember how he often used to embarrass them in a joking manner.

When one of his daughters brought a boyfriend home, he would deliberately get the boy’s name wrong.

“I told my dad to please remember that his name is Graham. The next thing I hear… dad calls him Norman.”

His wife described him as somewhat of a scatterbrain that did not really notice everything around him, but in the same time noticed everything.

“When it came to doing business and financial matters, he was on point, or like a golfer would say, on par. All of his golfing friends knew that when he went on tour, his wife would pack his clothes for him and put them together in little piles.

“He didn’t mind what he was wearing and didn’t take extra care to see what went with what. That is the main reason why I would put his clothes out for him. It would spare him and myself the embarrassment, not that he cared,” Mrs Van der Meyden said smiling.

While he was on a golf tour, his golfing buddies mixed his outfits up which his wife has put together for him.

They swapped out the striped shirts with checkered pants and so on.

“They would ask him what he is wearing and does he not think another shirt would go better with the pants he had on. He simply stuck with, ‘What Ethne packed for me, I must wear and I know it is fine’. He wore the mixed up outfits throughout the whole golf tour. Henk just didn’t care and his buddies had a good laugh.”

His family said that he seemed like an insensitive person, but on the inside he was actually a real softy.

“Many people did not get his sense of humour and he loved ruffling people’s feathers up. When you stuck with him, you had a friend for life.”

Being with his children and grandchildren made him happy. His wife said that he had a lovely 80th birthday and enjoyed being with his family.

A memorial service to honour and celebrate Mr Van der Meyden’s life, was be held on Friday, 2 August, at Grasslands Conference Centre in Bethal.