Stichting De Traditie -
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The 'Common Man/Woman' in the 20th century
Loukia Katsikani, née Davrani, was born in Ano Lechonia in 1934. She married Kostantinos Katsikanis in 1964. Together they she chose domicile in the lovely village of Agria, near the city of Volos in Greece. They built their house at the edge of Agia, and provided it with water well and kitchen garden: a paradise. However, Loukia's husband Kostas died in 1977, after which she - with the help of family, neighbors, and church - had to reorganize her life, in order to create a solid basis for the future of her son. In addition to household work and the work on the vegetable garden, she found occasion to express her creative urge. The mural on her house betrays love for nature and creative ability. Less visible, but just as expressive, are the many poems she wrote. A selection of these poems is currently being made into a public issue. The mural also adorns the cover of her autobiography. Once she got some school notebooks from friends for her poems. In two days time, she filled them with her autobiography: the war, the church, and her son abroad: "Two days grandma".
More of her poems and reflections are being prepared for publishing.
ISBN 978-90-805355-5-8 (Greek). First edition July 2010. Second edition July 2011 .
Carel Alexander Walhof was born in Utrecht in 1878. After the successful completion of primary school, technical school, and civil evening school, he established himself in 1895 as a civilian carpenter Utrecht. In 1900 he accepted a position as temporary carpenter at the Dutch Central Railway Company; a relation that was converted into a permanent position in 1902. The certainty of a fixed income led to marriage with Dirkje Bakker. After many years of faithful service at the Dutch Railways in 1936, he received an honorable discharge as a boss second class. For family and other relatives he constructed several pieces of furniture including wardrobes, sewing and cigar boxes, cribs, and other decorative small furniture. For his son in law, the musician Arie Peters, he built a practice keyboard for carillon. During his training, he received prices - made available through the City of Utrecht - for the quality of his work: gouges, chisels, and a compass box. Stichting De Traditie proposes to gather images and descriptions of his artwork. The collection includes copies of his credentials.
Dirkje Walhof, née Bakker, was born in Utrecht in 1877. From her education and work only a few, tangible testimonies remained. A darning-sampler, with initials DB and dated 1894, shows, however, the quality of her handiwork: excellent! The year 1894 marks the end of her basic education. Thereafter she had the opportunity to acquire practical experience in the households of families of - among others - a cigar manufacturer and a manufacturer of glass. Oral tradition tells of a monetary consideration of NLG 100 per year, plus room and board; sometimes of hunger and lack of food. In 1902 she married Carel Alexander Walhof, then carpenter with tenure at the Dutch Central Railway Company, after which she can devote her time and energy to her own household. Her descendants still remember the meticulous, and careful, way in which she ran her household; characteristics already visible in the darning-sample of 1894. It is this care that determines the quality of Dutch society. The collection includes some pieces of home-crafts, as well as some 'formative' books from her younger years.
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