Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / July 21, 1983, edition 1 / Page 13
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ee a TT - OR AE 4 FRIENDSHIP BELL - Trees Van Steen, second from right, Exchange Director for the Friend- ship Force, presents a friendship bell to Mayor John Henry Moss at the welcome party for Holland visitors to Kings Mountain last week at Kings Mountain Country Club. Left is Lee Crosby, one of the coordinators for the visit to Gastonia and Kings Mountain, and right is Pieter Ligtenberg. VISITING KM - Dutch visitors Trees Van Steen and Pieter Ligtenberg. pictured second and third from left, enjoy brunch at the home of Peggy Baird, second from right, during their visit to Kings Mountain with the Friendship Force last week. Left is Lee Crosby and right is Mrs. Crosby's mother, Rosalie Gates. ‘Dutch Ambassadors Liked Kings Mountain World Of Friendship A World OF Peace By ELIZABETH STEWART Wereld Van Vriendschap is eeen wereld van vreda. It’s the Dutch language but in English it’s World of Friendship Is A World of Peace. That’s the purpose of the In- ternational Friendship Force, to make friends. And the 23 Dutch Ambassadors from the Netherlands did just that in Kings Mountain and Gastonia last week. Eight families in the Kings - Mountain area were hosts to nine of the visitors with the re- maining Abassadors staying with host families in the Gastonia area. They were all treated to a full week of activities, including their first American baseball game, their first American hot- dog and a Welcome to Kings Mountain party that brought tears to the eyes of both Americans and Holland visitors who stood together and sang, “God Bless America”, the Dutch National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, Dixie, and other patriotic songs in a red, white and blue setting of flags and candles at Kings Mountain Country Club. “We greet you in the name of friendship and thank you for your hospitality”, said Exchange * Director Trees Van Steen as she presented to Kings Mountain Mayor John Henry Moss a Dutch bell and a hearty hand- shake, which is a symbol of their people. The traditional American greeting is “hi” but the typical Dutch greeting is a hear- ty handshake and smile. The bell is their symbol of peace, friend- ship and happiness. Mrs. Van Steen, a school teacher in LHNO in Deurne, near Asten, Holland, said the program to bring Holland Am- bassadors to Kings Mountain started about 10 months ago and has required much work by a host of Kings Mountain and Gastonia volunteers headed up by Lee (Mrs. Steve) Crosby of Kings Mountain and Susan Huntley of Gastonia. Lee and her mother, Mrs. Rosalie Gates, of Raleigh, went to Asten in June as Ambassadors from Raleigh and stayed with Trees and her husband, Jan, and their two children, Diego and Deirdre, Photos by Lib Stewart CAMPBELL GUEST - Jerrie Slegers, center, of Holland spent the week last week with the Doyle Campbells of Kings Mountain. She's pictured here at the pool of the Campbell home with Mr. and Mrs. Campbell's two daughters, Emily, left, and Anne. For Jerrie Slegers (Campbell) Everything Has Been Mooi (Nice) Jerrie Slegers, 19, of Someron, Holland, has always been teased about being unlucky No. 13 since she is the youngest and 13th member of her large Dutch family. \ ! . . . Her ‘American “sisters” Ann Campbell, 12, and Emily, 9, have dubbed her Jerrie Campbell and welcomed her with open arms as a member of their Kings Mountain family since her ar- rival here as a Dutch Am- bassador. Jerrie feels quite lucky and says that she pleasantly surprised and so impressed with the friendlinesss of her new friends that she cried when she joined the Campbell household last week. “I could not believe that Americans were so nice”, she said to her “America Mama” Anita Mrs. Doyle) Campbell. She brought Anita some souvenirs of Holland, including the Friendship medallion egg cups and other commemorative stamps and cards from a special celebration honoring the late John F. Kennedy. “People and Pools” are her favorite things she’ll remember about Kings Mountain. She has fallen in love with the Kings Mountain Campbells and she loves the Campbell swimming pool. An avid swimmer, Jerrie was honored at a pool party Saturday afternoon when Anita invited other young people Jer- rie’s age from the community to - come and meet her and enjoy a swim: After the Thursday night /baseball'game and a watermelon | feast in Gastonia, the Campbells came home and enjoyed the pool, along with another Dutch ambassador, Ella Hochstenback and her “American Mama,” Ruth Gamble. Jerrie said she has become friends, not only with Americans, but with other Dutch Ambassadors who are staying here and in Gastonia. Coincidentally, five of the young people here are from the same area of Holland and Louis Tin- nemans is a former Headmaster of the school at which Jerrie graduated two years ago. In Holland, Jerrie works part-time at a snack bar, where the speciality is fried chips, and at a disco bar. She rides back and forth to work on a bicycle and enjoys all the fun things that young people her age here enjoy, including records, television, and would you believe that she is adores “J.R.” and watches “Dallas” and “Falcon Crest”on Holland television. There is no daytime television there but the Turn To Page 4-B found friends. ages 13 and 12. Lee got the ball rolling in Kings Mountain and in September 25 people from Kings Mountain will be going to Asten, Holland in a Friendship Force exchange. Local folk learned on- ly recently the country they would be visiting but Holland friends have known for many months they would be coming to North Carolina. “Trees”, who speaks English fluently and has visited this country before, became a Friendship Force area exchange director, accidentally when her sister couldn’t host a family from Greenville, N.C. last October and Trees agreed to do so. And then in June of this year she graciously invited Lee Crosby and her mother, Rosalie Gates, when a group from Raleigh went to Holland. : “I enjoyed meeting these new friends”, said “Trees”, who has instructed cosmetology at her local high school for 25 years. “When Americans come to our country the most have had heard about Holland are wooden shoes, windmills, tulips and Amsterdam”, laughed Trees. After the Kings Mountain “ex- . change” visitors to both coun- tries will know much more. “The friendliness of your peo- ple” is an impression of this area of North Carolina that foreign visitors say they will remember. Pieter Lightenberg, 33, of Hel- mond, Holland Hospital and learned a lot about good food as a guest in the home of Peggy and Charles Baird. Peggy, one of the city’s finest cooks who heads the Home Economics Department at KMSHS and Food Service program there, is exchanging recipes with Pieter who is a con- noiseur of good food and good wine. At Brunch Thursday morning at the Baird home, Pieter was telling us some of the dif- ferencesin eating habits of the Dutch and was illustrating that at most tables there the Dutch people cut their sandwiches, ham and sausage biscuits, with fork and knife. They drink as much coffee as we Americans but more slowly, he says. Good wine is also a popular beverage and the welcome party on Mon- day evening featured a white wine served by Kings Mountain hostesses and compliments of Dicey Fabrics. Kings Mountain financial institutions provided the All American dinner of fried chicken, potato salad, slaw, deviled eggs and apple pie. “The contacts and friendships we make here are more impor- tant than the adventure of com- ing to American”, said both Pieter and a Dutch reporter covering the trip, Henk Hoogenstraaten. Rolls and rolls of film will carry back to The daily Eindhovens Dagblad the ‘impressions visitors from the Netherlands have of their newly- Eindhoven, Holland is a city of ' about 200,000 population but Asten is about the size of Kings Moun- tain, said Hoogenstraaten, a medical subjects reporter for the past 12 years. ; Pieter showed us copies of the daily paper and translated for us. Teporter most, ‘families. He also threw out the first ball at the Thursday night baseball game. What impressed the young besides the friendliness of our country, is the vastness of it. Everything is so big and the buildings are so tall. And our pace is faster. Henk lik- ed particularly the Thursday night baseball game in Gastonia, the Gastonia Expo versus the Spartanburg Spinners, because he explained that very few peo- ple in Holland “knows a thing about baseball.” The favorite sport in Holland is soccer. Hank also plays tennis and enjoyed playing with some of the host couples and other Dutch friends. The Phillips Electronic Com- pany is big business in his area and employs lots: of people. "Henk said that speaking the Dutch language is a lot like “Chinese”. He was fascinated by the big Atlanta Airport. Guss Zabel, 25, is in the Management Department of the big Phillips Electronic Company in. Holland and plans to spend two months in this country. From Asheville he will go to Georgia to meet friends there and then a vacation in other areas of the country, including New Orleans, La., is planned. Visitors were welcomed with posters, music, and “Hey Ya'll” at the Charlotte Airport Mon- day night at 10 p.m. and were then taken to Gastonia where they were paired with host Name badges had “North Carolina With Her Southern Drawl Says Hey Y’LL” with a Tar Heel on it. The visitors also received denim totebags with a state map im- printed on it, Tar Heel teeshirts and other souvenirs at the Welcome Party. Dutch Ambassadors packed into their one week in Kings Mountain numerous side trips, a visit to ED Productions in Boil- ing Springs, pitched horseshoe and ate watermelon 'after a ball game, took an excursion to Schiele Museum in Gastonia, a nature trail hike, a trip to Charlotte and to Grandfather Mountain, an escorted tour and hike at Kings Mountain Na- tional Military Park with lunch at Lake Crawford, and a Sunday night Bon Voyage Party BBQ on the River with a pig picking. There was also time to squeeze in a trip to Discovery Place, a tour of a textile mill, a tour of Belmont Abbey, mass at The Abbey, and other sightseeing made possible by hosts of volunteer citizens and . their delightful family hosts. Because this week the Dutch Am- bassadors will be in Asheville, the scheduled trip by KM hosts to Biltmore House was postpon- ed. Asheville area hosts are giv-.. ing the Dutch a week of sightsee- ing in Western North Carolina this week. Trees Van Steen said that three Dutch cities have Friend- ship exchange programs this year. They are Arnhem, Haaren, and Groningen, Nijmegen in Southeast Brabant. The ages -of the 23 foreign visitors range from 13 to 71. The Friendship Force started in 1977. Do you think the Friendship Force can make a change in in- ternational and world problems?, Trees was asked. “World pro- blems, no,” she replied, “but anytime that people can sit down and talk together in someone’s living room as friends, no matter what they are discussing, something is bound to come out of it that is good.” Lisa Von Clute, who stayed with the Charles Mauney fami- ly, celebrated her 20th birthday last Monday and everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to her at the Welcome Supper Party. : Jerry Siegers, who stayed with the Doyle Campbell family, quickly got a new name from her new “sisters” Emily and Anne. Turn To Page 4-B Photo by Lib Stewart KM GUEST - Ruth Gamble, left, of Kings Mountain is pictured here with her guest, Ella Hochstenback of Holland, last week. Holland citizens visited Kings Mountain and Gastonia thorugh the Friendship Force program. Kings Mountain area citizens will go to Holland later this year.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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July 21, 1983, edition 1
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