Ebeltje Boekema-Hut

BIOGRAPHY

Boekema-Hut was born as Ebeltje Hut in Zevenhuizen, a small village in the Dutch province in Groningen. Her father, Jan Hut (1871 – 1957), was a farmer, and her mother, Bouktje Linker (1871 – 1969), lived to be 97 years old.

Boekema-Hut married on 8 November 1935 to Lammert Boekema, with whom she would have four daughters. The couple later took over her father’s farm. Boekema-Hut was widowed on 28 March 1990, when her husband died shortly before his 81st birthday.

In 2007, Boekema-Hut moved to a retirement home in Leek, also in Groningen. As a centenarian, she credited her longevity to being thankful and happy. A devout Christian, she claimed to lead her life in accordance with Psalm 23.

There was a history of longevity in Boekema-Hut’s maternal family. In addition to her mother living to the age of 97, her grandmother lived to be 94 and her great-grandmother attained centenarian status, dying aged 101.

Boekema-Hut died on 11 June 2022 at the age of 110 years, 284 days. She was the first person from Groningen to be the oldest living person in the country since 107-year-old Johanna de Bree-Meijer in 1965.

Biography partially sourced from Gerontology Wiki

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RECOGNITION

On 15 May 2021, she became the oldest living person in the European Netherlands after the death of Cornelia Boonstra-van der Bijl. She didn’t become the oldest in the Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1 November that year, when Aruba resident Maria Luisa Benjamin died aged 111.

Boekema-Hut’s age was verified by Marco Wikkerink and validated by the ESO on 7 September 2021.

After her death, Boekema-Hut’s successor was reported to be Marina van der Es-Siewers, but a September 2022 article showed that Helena “Leny” Mackenbach was a few months older.