Nienke R. Kuipers' Obituary
Nienke Rosemarie Kuipers
Obituary: 02.08.2026
Kuipers, Nienke Rosemarie, a loving wife of 53 years, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother, passed away on February 8, 2026 from age related heart failure.
Nienke was born on October 13, 1927 in Rome, Italy, the daughter of Dutch parents, the late Johannes van Aartsen, an agricultural diplomat stationed in Rome, and Trijntje Gernler van Aartsen. She grew up in Rome, experiencing the horrors and trials of WW2 at a young age, including her family fleeing Italy to hide in France. After the war, Nienke had a daughter, Rosemarie. In the 1950’s, her family moved back to the Netherlands where she met and married Will Kuipers. The two quickly continued to build their family. In the early 1960’s, Will and Nienke moved to the United States with their children, settling in Dallas Texas, eventually adding one more daughter.
Nienke enjoyed sewing and taught sewing classes. Over the years she took up quilting, making some beautiful Christmas quilts. She enjoyed needlework and crocheted afghan blankets and shawls. She had an amazing green thumb, creating a beautiful garden which naturally included Dutch tulips each spring. Throughout her life, Nienke would speak 7 languages. She kept her mind sharp even through her later years and could easily discuss history, geography and recall all manner of facts while the rest of us were busy googling just to confirm she was always right. She kept sharp by being an avid reader, at times reading a book a day, and liked crossword puzzles. She and Will enjoyed traveling and loved both the mountains and desert, but their favorite trip together was to Venice Italy. She also deeply loved animals, caring for dogs and especially cats and always had a bird feeder so she could watch the birds and squirrels from her window.
Nienke had a big heart. She would open her home to those in need, especially friends of her children, often caring for them for months. When her husband was diagnosed with Parkinsons she was his loving caregiver for over a decade.
Nienke always went out of her way to make birthdays and holidays special. She had a great eye for decorating during the holidays and a way of making everything beautiful.
Everyone who met her would say how cute and sweet she was, which was true, but she also had a salty side with a hilariously wicked sense of humor. She could deliver a joke with a deadpan expression and perfect comedic timing and loved to tell stories of her youth when she was more than a little mischievous.
The most amazing part of Nienke was her resilience. The woman was like a cat with nine lives, only she took it even further. It started in 1935 when she contracted Typhus, 8 years before penicillin was available in mass production. In those days, to recover, she was sent to the Italian Alps. As a teen, she survived WW2 in Italy and France, once being picked up by the SS during a mass raid but was thankfully released due to diplomatic immunity. Later, in the 1980’s, she experienced a severe head on collision breaking her cheekbone. She then had breast cancer in 1984, going through a year of chemotherapy. In 2005 she experienced a fall, landing on the top of her head, where she developed a hematoma on her brain between the hemispheres. Per the doctors, it was in “just the right spot” that it didn’t kill her, only to have the area the doctors stitched go septic. Yet she survived. In 2015 she had an aortic aneurysm undergoing open heart surgery at 87. Two years later in 2017, at the age of 89, she had a nine-pound benign tumor removed from her ovaries. It was so big she referred it as another child and named it Wilson after the volleyball in the movie “Cast Away”. In January 2020, just before Covid-19, she was hospitalized for pneumonia. In 2023, she experienced another major fall suffering a traumatic brain injury. When discussing all of these, she would laugh and make sure, in her “9 lives” tally, that we added the five children she gave birth to naturally. In her words, that much natural childbirth should count for at least one life. Throughout it all, it wasn’t just her physical resilience but mental strength that got her through. She was tough as nails and just kept going. Those inheriting her genes are grateful.
It’s difficult to sum up a life that spans 98 years. In the end, Nienke was smart, caring, loving, an imaginative dreamer, resilient and a woman who made the world more beautiful for having been here.
Nienke was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 53 years, Will A. Kuipers and survived by her daughter Rose Veldhuijsen and her husband, Wouter; daughter Vera Frost; Son, Bert Kuipers; daughter, Ada Kuipers; daughter Nina Villamil and her husband Michael. She also leaves behind 5 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren and 1 great great grandson.
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