Hetty Rita Neyenhuys

After a very eventful life, Hetty Rita Neyenhuys passed away at the age of 94 years on Tuesday, August 2. She was born in the Dutch Far East Indies. When she was about two years old the family returned to their home country, The Netherlands. However, hard times forced her parents to return to the East Indies leaving her older sister, Anne Marie, in Holland in the care of her grandparents. Her sister joined the family a few years later. During World War II and the Japanese occupation, they were interned, but survived in different concentrations camps. After her father returned from a POW camp in Northern Japan, the family repatriated on a troop transportation ship to their homeland in the Netherlands in 1946. During the Japanese occupation there was no schooling for European children, so the Dutch government established an accelerated curriculum. Hetty graduated from high school in two years in The Hague majoring in foreign languages; English, German and French. She then worked as a typist for several companies where she met her future husband, Theodoor "Ted" Neyenhuys. They married in 1949. Together they moved in 1951 to Curacao, the Netherlands Antilles, West Indies, where they lived for almost three years and where their daughter Lillette was born. The young family moved to Calgary and then Edmonton, Canada where they also lived for three years and where their son Roeland was born. In 1956 the family moved to the United States, Hetty and Ted became US citizens in 1962. While her children were growing up, Hetty was involved in the Girl Scouts while her husband had a Boy Scout troop. The family moved to the Lindsay/Visalia area in 1965. Hetty enrolled in the COS LVN nursing school and graduated Valedictorian of her class. After a very short move to Jackson, MS, the family finally settled in Visalia and Hetty went back to work in several area hospitals. She decided to go back to school once more and she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Fresno State University with a degree in sociology. Hetty was a member of the Sequoia Garden Club, the Kaweah Delta Hospital Guild, the Tulare Symphony League and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. She volunteered for several years at the hemodialysis center of the Kaweah Delta Hospital. She is preceded in death by her husband, Theodoor "Ted" Neyenhuys, who passed away in 1992. She is survived by her daughter, Lillette Quesnoy of Melbourne, FL, and son, Roeland Neyenhuys, of Visalia. She has a grandson, Aaron Quesnoy (Pip), who resides in Rockledge, FL and one great-granddaughter, Audryana. A private memorial service is pending. Please send memorial gifts to the Kaweah Health Guild, c/o Sally Hansen, 1903 N. Rova St, Visalia, 93291; or Sequoia Symphony League, 208 W. Main, Ste. D, Visalia, 93291. Services have been entrusted to Salser & Dillard Funeral Chapel. Memorial Tributes and condolences may be offered by logging onto www.salseranddillard.com.

Hetty Rita Neyenhuys

February 2, 1928 - August 2, 2022