Reader Spotlight: Helen Bosch
Helen Bosch has been a CC subscriber for 60 years, since she arrived in Canada with her husband Gerald and five children from Friesland in 1961. “We lived with another Dutch family for six weeks in Nova Scotia before we could rent a house. They gave us a subscription to Calvinist Contact. From that time on, we’ve always had it.”
Helen and Gerald had taken an English correspondence course before immigrating, “but at that time I had four little children and was expecting another, so you can imagine!” says Helen. “My husband did more because he had a leg in a cast, so he had time for studies. Through hearing and reading I taught myself English. I’m not afraid to read something that’s a little above my head.” In the fall of ‘66 the Boschs, now a family of 10, moved to Ontario and in ‘67 to B.C. “From Nova Scotia to B.C., it travelled with us. From Dutch to English and through different Editors we, and later I, have enjoyed Christian Courier.”
Helen laughs because Gerald always got to the new CC issue first. She starts with the Classifieds, where she can find announcements from Gerald’s family in Ontario. The Bosch family has shared important announcements in CC too. In 1998, sadly, the Boschs’ daughter Ann passed away at age 34. “We had her obituary in the Christmas edition at that time, and a former pastor sent condolences after reading it. In 1991 we had three grandchildren in short order, announced in CC. Also our 25th and our 50th anniversaries were in there.”
When Gerald passed away in May 2011 from colon cancer just after their 55th anniversary, his obituary was in CC. That was a difficult time for Helen. She can’t share the paper with Gerald anymore but she still shares it. “Now I give the paper to some friends. They have a vegetable garden so then I get some vegetables from them in exchange!”
Helen likes the occasional recipe shared in CC, the thoughtful articles that fit each issue’s theme, and the variety of writers. “In my opinion,” she says, “the contents have improved over the last decade, and I hope that will continue.”
Thank you, Helen, for 60 years of subscribing to CC! We deeply appreciate your support.
Helen Bosch participated in our Heritage Project in 2017.
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