A couple of years after my father, Gerardus Willem Stinis, retired, he started to write his biography. Not in a normal way, but in the form of an interview he did with himself. I guess, it’s an unusual way to write about your life, but on the other hand it’s very interested and original. Unfortunately, he never got the time to complete his whole "biography" about his life himself so I decided to finish it myself (at least as far as I’m able to do that), but first you’ll find some parts of the interview that he wrote himself and that gives a good picture from, especially, his early years.

When I suggested to interview myself, my own personality said: "Are you nuts? Holding an interview with yourself, that’s crazy!" But I said: "no. I’m starting to ask you some questions about things that happened in the fast and where you thought about and so on". "Well isn’t it better to write a normal biography then?" "Oh no", my personality answered. "I know already how that would look like. Just like all the things you are writing these days for your job and nobody understands where you’re talking about except for your colleagues. No, I’m asking the questions here and you just answer them. Just that".

Maybe my personality has right and I was convinced, but I had one last question: "How long does it take?" "There’s no limit. We start and see where it ends". "Alright" I said: "Let’s do it and so started, perhaps, one of the strangest interviews you have ever read".

Q: Where and when have you been born?"

A: Don’t ask me such question when you know the answer already!"

Q: If you start this way, it’s better to cancel the whole interview. I’m asking the questions here and you just answer them. That’s the rule. So once more: What’s the day you were born and what’s your name?"

A: It was on a Thursday around half past six in the afternoon. Do you want to know the exact place as well?

Q: Sure!

A: Crommelinstraat 10 and my name is Gerardus Willem Stinis

Q: Who were your parents?

A: My father’s name was Willem Pieter Stinis and my mother’s Klasina Geertruida Tromp.

Q: tell me something more about your parents. How old were they when they expected you and how did they met each other?

A: My father has been born on November 12, 1867 in Dubbeldam and my mother on May 31, 1873 in Den Helder. They married on December 3, 1903.

Q: So they were more then 30 years old when they married?

A: That’s correct. My father didn’t want to get married before he became his engineer diploma and he had a job. That’s the way it happens these days. When he received his C-diploma as an engineer and he became head engineer on a ship of the English-Dutch steam company Ocean, they married. The called the company "de blauwpijpers", because they painted the chimneys blue. Most of the ships had Greek names. The name of my father’s ship was "Rhipeus". They sailed from Amsterdam to England and then to Indonesia. Most of the time he was 3 months away.

Q: You were the only child of the family?

A: Yes, but there was another child born on October 4th, 1904. His name was Willem Pieter, but he died January 30, 1905.

Q: How long did your parents know each other and how did they met?

A: My grandfather (from my father’s side) had a smithy in the Mijl, a neighborhood in Dubbeldam by Dordrecht. My father’s option was to work here after he left school, but he was very intelligent and he got the opportunity to study at the H.B.S. in Dordrecht. And then he decided to become an engineer and he went to Rotterdam to study after his H.B.S. First he did an exam for engineer apprentice, then he went to sea for another two years, had to do a study again for his diploma A, back to sea for another two years, doing exam for diploma B, two years to sea and finally doing exam for diploma C. It took some time before you were finished! My mother lived with her parents in Rotterdam and halfway my father’s education he met my mother, but I don’t know where and how.

Q: So your mother had to wait before your father finally became all his certificates to become an engineer. Wasn’t that hard for her?

A: My father was very serious. He was afraid that when they got married before, he would never had the courage to study again. My mother was very beautiful and there were a lot of guys who liked her, but when Willem returned from sea, she had only eyes for him. And it was a very strong marriage, but unfortunately it didn’t take that long. My father died on June 2, 1909 during a trip. Nobody expected it and it was a real shock for everyone. I was only two years old at the time and I never got the opportunity to know him that well. My mother had to take care for herself and for a little child. She did a wonderful job and she sacrificed a lot. I own her a lot."

Q: your mother has influenced a big part of your life?

A: Yes, indeed.

Q: Are there other persons who influenced your life?

A: Well, everyone you met during your life, influenced your life one way or another. Your character, the way you’re looking at people etc.

Q: I know what you mean, but what I mean are there people who influenced your life the way your mother did?

A: Oh, is that what you mean? Well then I recall – chronological – the man my mother married with in 1919, Mr. Sierveld ("Uncle Sier"), my first wife Marietje my cousin Clasien and my second wife Jenneke and of course my daughter, the apple in my eyes, Jenneke JR.

Q: And your father?

A: Of course. My mother always told me about him. And what she told me was exactly the same as my family told me. They talked about him as a man who was very smart and always tried to fulfil the things he started. My father was a nice person and he loved to drink some bear from time to time like every sailor. The fact that he was head engineer on a ship was very important to me and first I decided that that was what I wanted to become as well, but later my interests changed. The only thing I "took over" from him was the fact that I tried to be a good person.

Q: Let’s go back to the time your father died and your mother stayed behind. What happened then?

A: I told you already, that my mother was a very strong person after my father died. To understand that, I need to tell you something about her background.

Q: Alright. Carry on.

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