Arnoldus (“Nol”) van den Hurk

1935 – 2023

It’s funny how you can feel so bereaved at the passing of someone you’ve never met in real life. Nevertheless, today I feel a profound sense of loss over the passing of someone I consider to be a dear friend.

Arnoldus (“Nol”) van den Hurk passed away today. He was 87. I’ve known him for almost thirty years. Nol was a police officer in Haarlem, Netherlands who, like me, was an avid genealogist. I met him online 28 years ago, probably through Usenet, when he posted an offer to do archival lookups. I messaged him with one name, my great grandfather. He responded with information for many more of my ancestors in addition to my great grandfather. Over the next two years and over 50 emails, he provided me with information about scores of my Dutch family.

Over the years, our relationship expanded beyond genealogy, particularly with the advent of Facebook. Many times over the years I forgot about our connection through genealogy. I very much enjoyed his posts about his daily life and his many travels. Nol was also a great help to me as I tried to teach myself Dutch, answering my questions about word meanings, phrases, and idioms.

I knew Nol had been in the hospital for an extended period last year, but he was home before Christmas. He had been planning on visiting the United States this summer.

I wrote about Nol in a post last summer, which you can read here: https://deckofancestors.wordpress.com/2022/08/01/52-weeks-week-31-help/

My biggest regret is that I never met Nol in person. Despite that, he made an incredible impact in my life. You will be missed, Nol.