FREDERIK MOOI

October 12, 2024 marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of Frederik Mooi, born April 3, 1930. He was one half of a loving, true partnership with his wife of 67 years, Jean Houkje (née Hoekema). Fred/ Dad/ Gramps/ Grandpa/ Opa is survived by Jean, their two sons, Rich (Leslie) and Randy (Odette), three grandchildren, Aaron (Nicole), Nate, and Adam, and two great-grandchildren, Karina and Kyla. 

Fred is predeceased by his parents, Jan and Gezina, and his siblings, Herman (Hennie), Wim (Gees), Tiny, and Lex (Diny). Jan (Geertje) is his only surviving brother.

Despite schooling only to grade 7 and a couple of years of agricultural school after the war, Fred was incredibly knowledgeable on a wide range of topics. He was a voracious reader and inveterate crossword enthusiast. He was a prolific vegetable gardener and dedicated bird feeder, particularly of his favourite chickadees (no blue jays allowed!). He was a generous supporter of humanitarian and conservation causes, culminating in a gift of his 100-acre wildland property south of Owen Sound, Ontario to a land trust.

Dad was born on a farm near Lutten, Overijssel, in the Netherlands. His lifelong passion for gardening and nature was fostered, in part, by his older brother, Herman, who raised bees, and by walks with his father, ostensibly to hunt rabbits but more to enjoy the outdoors. The Second World War interrupted that life and, as for so many, had a lasting influence on his political views and social conscience.

After the war, the situation on the farm led Fred to strike out on his great adventure – immigration to Canada. He left home in 1950 with pocket change to land in Quebec City and then travel back east to be a farm worker in New Brunswick. He picked up English by reading newspapers and, of course, doing crosswords. Although enthralled by the landscape and open spaces of New Brunswick, solitude and poor work conditions had him try his luck in southern Ontario around Woodstock. Though work was hard (toy factory, veneer mill, tobacco picking, apple picking, flour mill and many other jobs), his inherited Mooi stubborn pride, arguably described as persistence, kept Fred from giving up and returning to Holland. That persistence was forever rewarded with his meeting of Jean, who had only recently arrived with her own parents and family from Holland in 1952.  Although seven years his junior, they were a match for the ages. Fred had managed to buy a car and the happy couple almost immediately began exploring Ontario together, with a tour of Algonquin Park, Ottawa, and the Thousand Islands.  That love of travel was a theme for the remainder of their time together.

Fred and Jean were married in 1956 and, after a Niagara Falls honeymoon and a memorable road trip to the Rockies, they settled in Woodstock to start a family. Fred became Dad when Rich was born in 1958. A correspondence course eventually landed him a job with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a position that became his career. This meant a move to Toronto and away from the support of Jean’s family and Fred’s sister, Tiny, who had immigrated a few years before. After brief stays in two apartments, the new family bought a snug bungalow the year before Randy was born in 1962. A medical complication at his birth required a series of blood transfusions; for Dad, this was a call to donate blood regularly, and he did so over 100 times! At the time, though, the strain took a toll on Dad’s health, and Jean’s brother, Rinke, came to the rescue and took him on a restorative camping trip to the east coast – and they were close friends ever after.

Things settled down after that, with spring and summer being the time of family trips locally or to one coast or the other. These were opportunities to investigate all aspects of nature: geology, paleontology, botany, and zoology (especially birding). And they generated a good number of stories, too! 

Dad (and Mom) retired in 1985 to their 100-acre dream property south of Owen Sound, Ontario. Consisting of field, forest, a river, and a small house, "Morest" was a chance to record the changes of season, feed the birds, and have huge vegetable and flower gardens. This idyllic life was interspersed with trips to Europe, Africa, Australia, South America, and to family in Wisconsin (eventually Manitoba) and California. Dad was working in his beloved garden until his 92nd year, ending with a move to an apartment in Owen Sound and then to Winnipeg in 2023. That last long car trip from Ontario to Manitoba was a fun one, with sunny picnics and even Trumpeter Swan for his life list. He had a chance to meet his second great granddaughter and enjoy a couple of months close to family before health complications led to a short, peaceful, palliative stay at St. Boniface Hospital surrounded by family. He maintained his humour to the end, saying, “Now I know what it is to be old.”

Lasting images of Dad are using a hand lens to match tiny flower parts to descriptions in his 3-volume Britton & Brown Flora, drying stamps for his collection, painstakingly piecing together model ships and planes with his boys, cleaning bottles found in the park to return for cash, gardening in cut-off, old rubber boots with a spade in hand, sitting in a recliner with crossword or thick book on his lap (or both!), filling his chickadee feeders, and holding up his binoculars to eyes shaded by a Tilly hat brim to glimpse a distant bird. As Dad referred to himself, he was, indeed, a successful immigrant. Arriving in Canada with little, yet building a life with the perfect partner, exploring the outdoors on five continents, and leaving a cherished legacy of passion for nature in the career choices and love of the outdoors to his sons, grandsons, and great grandchildren, as well as a piece of nature conserved for all generations.

We miss you.

Fred’s family kindly requests that all of his friends and relatives take a few minutes to honour his memory by sharing photos, memories, and stories, using the comment section on this page.

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ETHICAL DEATH CARE

Cremation & Life Celebrations

530 St. Mary Avenue - Winnipeg

204-421-5501 - www.ethicaldeathcare.com

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