Elisabeth “Els” Adriana Ploeg, 98, passed away on July 13th at the Hickman in West Chester, PA.
She was born and raised in Indonesia where her father worked for the Dutch trading company Handelsvereniging Amsterdam. After grade school, she and her younger brother were sent to the Netherlands for higher education. They lived there with friends and relatives when the war started. They lost contact with their parents who unbeknownst to them were held in Japanese prison camps. The family was reunited after the war. In 1949 Els married Hermanus “Hans” Ploeg in Oegstgeest in the Netherlands. They lived in the Dominican Republic and then in Wilmington, Delaware when Hans got a job as a research biologist with the DuPont Company.
Els served as a Licensed Practical Nurse at St. Francis Hospital and as a volunteer ombudsman for the Aged for the State of Delaware. She enjoyed music, was an avid stamp collector and bridge player, and loved hosting family events and entertaining friends and neighbors. She will be remembered for her friendly personality, her ready sense of humor, and the expression “Giminikie”!
Els is predeceased by her husband and her youngest son Hans. She is survived by two sons Ron and Eric, her daughters-in-law Linda, Susan, Heather, and Karla, 8 grandchildren Adriana, Michelle, Kimberly, Jesse, Hans, Hadden, John, and Laura, and 4 great-grandchildren Jack and Charlotte Brown, and Raymond and Deanna Price.
Services will be private. To send condolences visit: www.mccreryandharra.com.
