September 24, 1930 - January 29, 2023
Tamme Schenk was born on September 24th in 1930. His parents, Jan and Renske Schenk, along with his younger brother John, resided in Andijk, Holland. He attended school full time until the German Army invaded Holland in 1940 which limited his formal education. An extremely defining moment in Tom’s early life happened in 1943, when his father was arrested by the German police, and sent to two different concentration camps - Vught in Northern Holland and then to Sachsenhausen in Germany.
Although his father survived, Tom carried this trauma with him for most of his life. In 1947, Tom’s family packed up their belongings, boarded the Waterman, an old warship and made the 9-day ocean journey to Canada. For the first 3 years, they lived in Chatham ON and then moved to Cochrane in 1950, where he not only gained a second brother, Clarence Schenk, he met the love of his life, Riet Strujk (deceased 2016) whom he married in 1954. They eventually made their way to Georgetown ON where they raised their 5 children.
Tom loved serving the Georgetown community. Not only was he one of the founders of the Georgetown Christian Reformed Church, but also the Halton Hills Christian School where all five of his children attended. His faith in Jesus was such an important part of his life and he always made it a priority to serve the church. His employment with the Township, Domtar Pulp and Paper, Bergsma’s Paint and Wallpaper, and his self-employment as a strawberry grower, Landscaper and Nursery owner, provided him the means to meet and know everybody’s name in Georgetown.
Tom’s membership in choirs and especially the Georgetown Choral Society, gave him great pleasure and many opportunities to express his faith in Jesus, and to form many friendships. Perhaps the dearest thing to Tom’s heart was his work with war veterans and Keeping the Memory Alive movement. Tom ‘kept the memory alive’ in many different ways – from organizing and leading tours to Europe, fundraising to build the Georgetown Remembrance Park, planting tulips, weeding the Park’s flower beds, to seeking out Veterans and their families in Canada to hear their stories. Tom Schenk left a legacy and his stories will live on. (369)
Celebration Of Life service at Georgetown Christian Reformed Church 11611 Trafalgar Rd., Georgetown, Ont. will be held Saturday February 4, 2023 at 11:00 am followed by a luncheon.
In lieu of flowers contributions can be made for the purpose of replacing the memorial plaques at Remembrance Park by sending cheques made out to Georgetown Candlelight Tribute [a not-for-profit entity and as such is a non-registered charity] memo line – in memory of Tom Schenk. Cheques can be given to the funeral home or sent to Barry Timleck, 27 Park Ave. Georgetown, ON L7G 1Y8.
Arrangements entrusted to Jones Funeral Home