Obituary of Ineke Sophia Engelina Wevers

Wevers, Ineke (Sophia Engelina.)
March 10, 1936 – September 28, 2021
     Ineke passed away peacefully at age 85, surrounded by love, her children, and her husband of 63 years. Mother to Otto Theodoris Wevers, (Marie Lehman), Alette Klynkramer, (David), and Marieke Wevers, (Tom Carroll). “Oma” to Joseph, Mark, Elysse, and to Jonathan, Sarah, and Gregory. Great-grandmother to Austin. Ineke is survived by her twin sisters Hans (Frank) and Heddy (Henk)
      After living a life filled with adventure, caring, and love for family and friends, Ineke dealt with medical issues over the past six years, that combined, she could not overcome. She carried this burden with quiet dignity and continued to be the wonderfully warm companion she always was. Ineke is now at peace.
     Nursing was Ineke’s calling. A grainy black and white snapshot shows her on a sunny afternoon as a young girl in a white oversized lab coat and a cap decorated with a red cross. She attends to a clutch of three and four-year-olds from her neighbourhood who lie down on pieces of a bedsheet on the lawn behind her parent’s home in Hengelo, in the east of The Netherlands.
     In her late teens, Ineke was active in Girl Guides. She was selected, with six other young women, to represent The Netherlands on a tour of the US. The Girl Scouts of the United States of America sponsored the exchange. The three-month-long trip, via Paris, Le Havre, to New York,
Seattle and back, allowed her to explore the country’s natural beauty, its cities, and its people. The journey would affect her in many ways for the rest of her life.
     Ineke graduated in nursing from the Queen Juliana Hospital in Hengelo in 1957. A year earlier, Ineke and Henk met, became engaged, and married on December 6th, 1958. Ineke built her career until the birth of our children. As was the custom in the early 1960s, Ineke became a stay-at-home mother. Passionately devoted to her newborns, her experience in pediatric nursing provided the children with a world of love and expert care.
     Adventure beckoned, and in 1970 the young family immigrated to Canada and settled in Kingston, Ontario. Ineke took on the challenge at age thirty-eight and with three children to return to school for two years. She graduated in 1976 from the St. Lawrence College Nursing Program. She was registered in Ontario and British Columbia, where the family, following her graduation, spent a year on sabbatical. After returning to Kingston, Ineke worked in St. Mary’s of the Lake, Hotel Dieu, and the Kingston General Hospital. She loved the challenges of nursing in rehabilitation medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, neurology, and orthopedics. Ineke retired in 1992. She had never lost her enthusiasm for the profession. Her reward came from patients who asked at the end of her shift, “Are you coming back tomorrow?” Ineke touched untold number of patients’ and coworkers’ lives.
     Ineke was active as a volunteer and participant in the Queen’s Women’s Association, the Kingston Rideau Trail Club, Kingston Probus, Grandmothers for Africa, and supported the Stephen Lewis Foundation. A lifelong nature lover, she organized hiking trips along the lakes and in the forests of the Frontenac Axis, north of Kingston. The family benefited from this the weekend after when Ineke would lead them through the areas explored by her and her hiking buddies.
     Ineke loved music and played piano, cello, clarinet and saxophone. Having time in early retirement, she became a member of the La Salle High School Adult Band, the Garrison Band, and the Frontenac Community Band. The joyous high-spirited sounds of these bands entertained the crowds during performances in schools, in retirement and long-term care homes, and at open-air concerts.
     In gratitude for what Kingston and Queen’s University contributed to our wellbeing, we established the Ineke and Henk Wevers Bursary for women students enrolled in the Queen’s School of Nursing after an interruption in their formal education.
We have been blessed with many wonderful memories and we will remember Ineke's zest for life, her sensitivity towards people, and her generosity.
     A memorial event will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers a donation to the Grandmothers of Kingston Connection/Stephen Lewis Foundation in Ineke’s name is appreciated. https://www.g2gkingston.ca/