In Memory

Roel Koster



 
go to bottom 
  Post Comment

07/03/10 09:40 PM #1    

John Ashbaugh

For those who did not know earlier, our heroic Dutch AFS Student Roel Koster lost his battle with spinal cord cancer in 2006, just before Christmas.

I have such wonderful memories of Roel. In many ways he was my best friend, and I can bring up his image and his voice without difficulty - how I miss being able to call him, talk about our evolving lives, get some good advice, and share some stories and recollections of our high school year, or our many travels throughout California in the 33 years he lived beyond our graduation. Roel and Els brought their three daughters to visit us in the 1990's, and we spent time in Redding, San Francisco, and the Central Coast. Amsterdam became a central point of arrival or departure for almost every one of our trips to Europe, too. We found the best parts of the Netherlands, and of California, together with our life mates. Roel taught me much, too, about mortality and how to approach it. These lessons are so important - and the chief one is to enjoy each moment of life as much as one is able; to serve, to engage in life, and to love deeply. The hour will come for us all, and for too many of us it is indeed too soon.

 

 


18/07/10 02:38 PM #2    

Ann Nachreiner (Willyard)

Visiting with Roel Koster at the last reunion was like bumping into someone you had seen just last week. What a warm, caring man. I absolutely adored him.


08/12/22 12:12 PM #3    

John Ashbaugh

On Friday, December 2, Roel's six grandchildren, three daughters and sons-in-law were gathered in the home of Els Koster, the lovely wife that enjoyed a long-but-not-long enough marriage to Roel until his death 16 years ago. The occasion? The "Round of 8" World Cup match between Netherlands and our plucky US soccer team. The Dutch won and will compete again on Saturday in the quarter-finals - and they may go all the way this year!


go to top 
  Post Comment