Trout top-up
NEWS: Loblaw mum on former Mayfair Lanes site /A3 DRIVEWAY: Pushing an electric car to new distances /A10 HOMEFINDER: Passive housing no longer a dream /A21
Saanich lakes to benefit from fish restocking Page A4
SAANICHNEWS Friday, March 13, 2015
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For war veteran, philanthropic work a duty to colleagues Travis Paterson News staff
Rudi Hoenson fell in love with a good cup of coffee as an 18 year old living in Java, Indonesia. The year was 1941, and he was fascinated by the daily ritual of roasting and grinding the beans before pouring hot water from two feet above the mug. “It makes the grinds swirl around,” says Hoenson, now 91. “I still make mine the same way to this day.” Hoenson’s life story goes far beyond a good cup of coffee, but getting him to tell the tales takes some doing. He prefers to focus on his philanthropic work at the Lodge at Broadmead senior care home, where he’s donated over $600,000 including a $100,000 (and counting) matching donation to help Broadmead install overhead lifts. The $1.3 million project will benefit 115 Second World War and Korea War veterans and another 110 seniors who live at the lodge. “What am I going to use the money for,” says Hoenson, a WWII vet and former prisoner of war at a Japanese encampment. “I can identify with the people (at Broadmead). A lot are veterans and they also went through the terrible times.” The facility is the primary provider of residential care and day programs for veterans on Vancouver Island. A native of Holland, Hoen-
son moved to Indonesia (then a Dutch colony) with his dad, who was stationed there. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour on Dec. 7, 1941, Hoenson immediately enlisted with the Dutch forces. He fought the Japanese in the Indonesian jungle before he and about 500 Dutch soldiers were caught and imprisoned. He remained a prisoner of war for three and a half years, until U.S. soldiers showed up a month after the war’s end in 1945. “I went in at 130 pounds and when I came out, I was 80 pounds. I could have survived maybe a few more years, but some guys, they either refused to eat, which was suicide because they’d beat you to death, or they got sick and died,” he said. The prisoners’ diet was mostly rice, sometimes with a bit of squash, and if they were really lucky, some vegetables. “Twice, maybe, there was a bit of excess whale blubber with the rice, which we gobbled up because we needed it so badly.” Hoenson can still recall his first proper meal upon release from prison, when he was aboard the aircraft carrier USS Chenango. “It was so rich (for us), most of us threw up,” said Hoenson, who still includes rice in his daily diet. “We couldn’t eat that way anymore.” PLEASE SEE: Veterans’ care facility, Page A5
Saanich’s Rudi Hoenson has matched more than $100,000 of the community’s donations for the Lodge at Broadmead, which is fundraising to install overhead lifts that will cost $1.3 million. Hoenson was given the Generosity of Spirit Award in 2013 by the National Philanthropy Day Committee on Vancovuer Island for his previous donations and fundraising efforts. Travis Paterson/News staff
Thieves target insurance, licence plates Unlocked cars irk police as thefts spike in North Quadra Nine thefts from vehicles were reported over the past week in a three-to-four block radius around Lochside Drive between Cedar Hill Cross Road and Nicholson Street, on the north side of McKenzie Avenue. In most of the incidents, the vehicles were left unlocked, which once again prompted Saanich Police to remind residents to lock parked cars. Stolen items included sunglasses, iPods, car chargers and other valuable and mobile acces-
sories. One emerging trend that alarms police is the theft of insurance and registration papers, said Sgt Steve Eassie. “Registration papers can contain personal (banking) information,” Eassie said. “Most insurance (agencies) will remind you to remove those papers from the car, and we want to remind people to do that as well.” An additional four incidents of missing validation tags from license plates were reported over
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the past seven days. While unrelated, they are cause for concern, Eassie said. Those thefts took place in Gordon Head and Swan Lake neighbourhoods. “In one of the circumstances, the plate was actually swapped, which isn’t something we often see. Usually a license plate is taken from a vehicle with nothing left in its place, so just a warning, to ensure the validation tag is on your license plate.” reporter@saanichnews.com
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