Cornelis (Cor) Nicolaas Schipper left us on April 26th at age 101 in Medford, NJ. He exemplified the “greatest generation” and an American success story.
Cornelis (Cor) Nicolaas Schipper
Born November 23rd, 1917 in Hoogkarspel, North Holland in 1917 to a tulip farming family, he was sent to England in his youth to learn English. His language skills would become very useful after the outbreak of World War II and later for establishing a business in the United States. A Royal Dutch Army veteran, he was captured on the Utrecht frontline by the German Army but released after a few months in a prisoner of war camp. Later in the war, Cor became a local resistance leader along with his namesake uncle and other relatives.
His resistance work included finding hiding places and food ration cards for religious refugees and young Dutch men evading German labor camps. Among the refugees he helped save was Sabine Fröhlich whom he would marry after the war. Cor used his English as the radio operator for the Mandrill resistance group to coordinate with British and Canadian pilots dozens of night time air drops of agents, weapons and other supplies in the North Holland countryside. Cor was a quiet hero, a modest man who deflected any attention or praise for his resistance work.
Cor and Sabine emigrated to the United States in 1947. Borrowing $1,000 for a car, Cor drove across the country, collecting orders town-to-town for flower bulbs from florists and wholesale growers. That was the start of C. Schipper & Co., which became a successful business that continues today under a new generation as Colorblends Wholesale Flowerbulbs and the Amsterdam Tulip Museum.
A quiet man with a sharp wit, he was fond of telling his grandchildren “I’m living proof hard work won’t kill you.” An avid soccer player in his youth, Cor had a lifetime love for the beautiful game that he shared with his grandchildren.
He was predeceased in 2017 by his wife of 70 years Sabine Gabriele Schipper-Fröhlich and is survived by his five children, Agnes (John) Sarasota, Fla.; Doortje Fenwick-Schipper (Stephen) Linwood, N.J.; Andreas (Claudia) Greenwich, Conn.; Christopher (Dudley) New Canaan, Conn. and Timothy, Bridgeport, Conn. as well as 14 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren.
A funeral service for Cor Schipper celebrating his life will be held at 10:30 a.m. on May 4th at the Church of St. Andrew the Apostle in Gibbsboro, N.J., with interment to follow at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Manahawkin, N.J.