Lightening strike on a summers morning
Klaas Zee was born in Twisk, in 1877, as the first son of Pieter Zee & Geertje Zijp. His younger brother Pieter Zee started the wave of emigration of Zee families to the United States in 1906.
Klaas married Trijntje Wijdenes in Nibbixwoud in April 1900.
In the early hours of Monday, August 20th, just four months later, a huge front of thunderstorms crossed Holland. The instensity of the thunder and lightning was ferocious. Across the country, the lightening strikes started fires, burning down large farmhouses and killing livestock as they stood in the fields. Klaas Zee was up early to work on his own farm (Dorpsweg 26) in Twisk, and at 5am, was struck by a bolt of lightening, dying instantly. He was just 23 years old.
Ancestral Line
Family
When Klaas died, Trijntje was pregnant, and five months later gave birth to their son, Klaas Cornelis Zee.
Trijntje married again, to Pieter Spaan, and they had one daughter, Sijtje. Trijntje died in 1917 at the age of 39.
Klaas Cornelis went to Delft to study medicine in 1920. He married Johanna Reek in 1928 in Hoorn. The couple had five children.
Their son Pieter Zee, who also became a doctor, tells his story:
“Mijn vader, Klaas Cornelis Zee was een weeskind. Zijn moeder was zwanger en haar man, Klaas Zee ging met een andere man (ene Koster?) het land in om, ik dacht een paard te halen, omdat het begon te regenen en te onweren. Toen werd Klaas Zee geraakt door de bliksem, en overleefde dat niet. Mijn vader had dus alleen zijn moeder, die aan een nierbekkenontsteking overleed.. mijn vader was 15 of 16.
Wat later hertrouwde Trijntje Wijdenes met Piet Spaan, een zeer kordate en wakkere man. Mijn vader miste als kind een vader, was eenzaam, en zeer getroffen door het leed van de afgrijselijke 1e Wereldoorlog.. hij wilde mensen helpen en ging medicijnen studeren. Hij was aanvankelijk scheikunde gaan studeren in Delft. Kreeg TBC. Tante Pietertje Wijdenes, die zich over hem ontfermde, zorgde ervoor dat hij naar Davos kon gaan om te herstellen. Ook Pieter Wijdenes speelde hier een rol. Hij was een soort 2e vader voor hem.
Hij was een bekend wiskundige, die wiskunde-boekjes had geschreven die veel op Hollandse scholen gebruikt werden. Ik heb er zelf ook nog uit gestudeerd op de HBS-B in Hoorn, waar al mijn broers en zus op hebben gezeten. Maar na Davos wilde mijn vader medicijnen gaan studeren. Hij was ook filosofisch geïnteresseerd. En als jongste telg van het gezin zat ik altijd met open mond te luisteren naar gesprekken aan tafel over allerlei bespiegelingen over de mens.. ik wilde ook de mens leren kennen, en helpen, dus moest ik ook dokter worden.”
Hugo J. Zee
As a boy in the Netherlands, he endured hunger and hardship during the Nazi occupation of his homeland from 1941 to 1945. Four years after the war, opportunities for advancement were still scarce, and so at age 19 he came to America. Hugo Zee emigrated from Hoorn to the United States in November 1949, initially staying with his uncle Frank Reek on his farm in Mesquite, Texas, before moving to Kansas City, Missouri, to improve his English.
Once he mastered English, he embarked on a career as a healer, moving to Kansas, where he received encouragement from friends he made there. Eventually he earned an M.D. from the University of Kansas and a degree in psychiatry at the Menninger Institute in Topeka, where he also trained in psychoanalysis.
After medical school, Hugo joined the United States Air Force, and was stationed in Evreux, France. During the Cold War, Évreux-Fauville was a front-line base for the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) as part of NATO’s Allied Forces Central Europe. Later he completed psychoanalytic training at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, KS. From there he became a supervising and training analyst for Emory Psychoanalytic Institute, Columbia University, the New Orleans Psychoanalytic Insitute and Florida Psychoanalytic Institute
Photos
Genealogy
(F) Klaas Zee * 15-Jun-1877 Twisk [Pieter Zee & Geertje Zijp] + 20-Aug-1900 Twisk Aged 23 x Trijntje Wijdenes 25-Apr-1900 Nibbixwoud [>] * ~1878 Opperdoes [Cornelis Wijdenes & Maartje Stapel] + 26-Jun-1917 Otterleek [>] Children: 1 Klaas Cornelis 23-Jan-1901 Oudorp (G) Klaas Cornelis Zee * 23-Jan-1901 Twisk [Klaas Zee & Trijntje Wijdenes] + 05-Jun-1982 x Johanna Reek 27-Jan-1928, Hoorn * 02-Dec-1902 [>] [Jan Reek & Anna Hetterschij] + 01-Jun-1989 [>] Children: 1 Paulus x Virginia [Kennesaw, GA] 2 Hugo Jacob 27-Oct-1930 x Mary Weddendorf 3 Trijntje x P. Mol [Hoorn] 4 Jan x Wietske Nijk [Rotterdam] 5 Pieter x Nel Lieuwen [Purmerend] (H) Hugo Jacob Zee * 27-Oct-1930 Twisk [Klaas C. Zee & Johanna Reek] + 24-Aug-2012 x Mary Joan Weddendorf * + Children: 1 Wendell [Wilson, NC] 2 Juliana [North Easton, MA] 3 Aaron [Lilburn, GA] x Nora Dougherty Children: 1 Rosalind
Timeline
Klaas Zee 17-Dec-1896 Klaas Zee, military service, height 1m 77, blue eyes, blond hair [>] 20-Aug-1900 Klaas Zee, death, 5am, at house Nr. 26 in Twisk (Westeinde). [>] 19-Oct-1905 Trijntje Wijdenes married Pieter Spaan in Twisk [>] They had a daughter Sijtje Spaan, born in Oudorp ~1908 [>] Klaas Cornelis Zee 17-Sep-1920 Klaas Zee moves in with family Sophia Riechelman, Amsterdam, in Adm. de Ruyterweg 65 [>]. He is a student of medicine. Previously living in Delft. 27-Jan-1928 Klaas Zee & Johanna Reek marry. Living in Amsterdam, Uithoornsche Sraat 8, 2e etage. > 13-Apr-1935 Klaas Cornelis Zee, Doctor, living in Twisk [>]. A stillborn child. Hugo Zee 1949 Hugo Zee emigrates to the US, Doctor in Kansas [>] 29-Oct-1957 The Salina Journal, Salina, Kansas: KU Foreign Student Has Preceptorship At Delphos By Mrs. Dale Brown DELPHOS — Another lesson in Americanism will be chalked up by Hugo J. Zee, a University of Kansas medical student, when he leaves Delphos Nov. 7 to return to school. Zee is serving a preceptorship of five weeks with Dr. M. P. Ballard. Part Of Training It's part of his training under the "Kansas Plan" of medicine, established by Chancellor Franklin Murphy of KU. Its purpose is to give medical students an opportunity to become better acquainted with a general practitioner's work. Zee is a native of Holland, and comes from a family of doctors. He will receive his degree in medicine from KU next year, then serve a year's internship. To US In 1949 He came to the United States in 1949, and settled at the home of an uncle in Texas. He has a brother, Paul, studying pediatrics at the University of Missouri, another brother studying veterinarian medicine in Holland, and a sister who is a medical analyist in Holland. He worked on Texas farms for a while, then decided to enter pre-medical. His father is a doctor of socialized medicine in Hoorn, Holland. 24-Aug-2012 Dr. Hugo J. Zee, died Thursday morning, August 24, 2012, from complications following a fall and leg fracture. He was born October 27, 1930 to Dr. Klaas Zee and Johanna Zee-Reek in Twisk, the Netherlands. In 1949, after completing gymnasium in Hoorn, NL, Hugo immigrated to the United States. He worked on farms, and attended junior college, in Kansas City, Missouri, to improve his English. From there he attended college and medical school at Kansas University. He joined the medical honors fraternity Alpha Omega Alpha while at KU. Hugo was always grateful for the kindness and generosity of his instructors who recognized his talent and encouraged him in his studies and created a scholarship fund for medical students who are the first in their family to go to college with priority given to African American students. While in medical school Hugo also married the late, Mary Joan Weddendorf, a teacher from Kansas City, Kansas. They are survived by their three children: Dr. Wendell (Julie) Zee, of Wilson, NC; Dr. Juliana Zee, of North Easton, MA; and Aaron (Sharron) Zee, of Lilburn, GA. After medical school, Hugo joined the United States Air Force, and was stationed in Evreux, France. Later he completed psychoanalytic training at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, KS. From there he became a supervising and training analyst for Emory Psychoanalytic Institute, Columbia University, the New Orleans Psychoanalytic Insitute and Florida Psychoanalytic Institute. In 1974, he married Dr. Nora Dougherty, of Chicago, Illinois. With her, Hugo is survived by one daughter, Rosalind Zee, of Atlanta, GA. Hugo and Nora practiced together in Atlanta, GA for 32 years. Hugo is also survived by 4 siblings: Dr. Paul (Virginia) Zee of Kennesaw, GA; Dr. Pieter (Nel) Zee of Purmerend, NL; Dr. Jan (Wietske) Zee of Rotterdam, NL; and Treintje Zee of Hoorn, NL. Hugo is further survived by six granddaughters: Angela, Skylar, Amber, Anneka, Maryka, and Maya. Hugo loved being a psychoanalyst, and felt there was a great need for it in our community. He also enjoyed painting, time with family, classical music and opera, travelling, walking, hiking, horseback riding, and photography. He was a gentle giant, standing 6' 6"', and had an absurd sense of humor. Hugo loved being an American and considered the United States, the true promised land. [>] In 1980 Dr. Hugo Zee, a Dutch immigrant with distinguished academic credentials from Kansas, came to Emory University Psychoanalytic Institute and quickly became a prized addition to its faculty. A former institute director, Dr. Ralph Roughton of Atlanta, considered Dr. Zee an indispensable associate, a wise and steadying influence within the faculty and a dedicated caregiver for the patients in his private practice. “As a teacher of young psychoanalysts, Hugo was himself a role model of the valuable lesson he instilled in others,” Dr. Roughton said. “That is to say, a psychoanalyst must be both a scientist and a humanitarian, committed to the search for new knowledge and to the ethical caretaking of those who seek his help.” One of the psychoanalysts Dr. Zee trained, Dr. Salley Jessee of Atlanta, called him "a gentle, kind and personable man, beloved by the entire psychoanalytic community." And one of his colleagues, Dr. Sybil Ginsburg of Atlanta, added that she was impressed with Dr. Zee's patience and ability to win trust. Dr. Hugo Jakob Zee, 81, died Aug. 24 at Hospice Atlanta of complications from injuries suffered in a fall. His memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m., Oct. 7, at Heritage Sandy Springs. SouthCare Cremation & Funeral Society is in charge of arrangements. As a boy in the Netherlands, he endured hunger and hardship during the Nazi occupation of his homeland from 1941 to 1945. Four years after the war, opportunities for advancement were still scarce, and so at age 19 he came to America to work on his uncle’s farm in Texas. Once he mastered English, he embarked on a career as a healer, moving to Kansas, where he received encouragement from friends he made there. Eventually he earned an M.D. from the University of Kansas and a degree in psychiatry at the Menninger Institute in Topeka, where he also trained in psychoanalysis. Dr. Zee never forgot the supportive people of Kansas, said Dr. Nora Dougherty, his wife and partner in their private practice. So, she said, in giving himself what he considered a birthday present last year, he followed their example, establishing a scholarship for medical students who are the first in their families to go to college. Dr. Zee became a U.S. citizen in 1956, and for the rest of life, Dr. Dougherty said, he felt that he had settled in the promised land. While in medical school, Dr. Zee married Mary Joan Weddendorf of Kansas City, Kan. The couple had three children, Dr. Wendell Zee of Wilson, N.C., Dr. Juliana Zee of North Easton, Mass., and Aaron Zee of Lilburn, all of whom survive him. After Mary Joan Zee’s death in 1972, Dr. Hugo Zee married Dr. Dougherty in 1974, and she and their daughter, Rosalind Zee of Atlanta, survive him. Also surviving are three brothers, Dr. Paul Zee of Kennesaw, and Dr. Pieter Zee and Dr. Jan Zee, both of the Netherlands; a sister, Treintje Zee, also of the Netherlands, and six grandchildren. [>]
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