Will Albert Kuipers' Obituary
KUIPERS, WILL ALBERT, beloved husband and father, passed away November 2, 2007 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 86. Will was born on December 24, 1920 in Harderwijk, Netherlands, the son of the late Albert Kuipers and Charlotte Sleurs-Kuipers. As a child, Will learned equestrian skills, enjoyed vacations in Scotland and was fascinated by airplanes, which set the stage for his lifetime career. Will began his college education, but was interrupted during WWII when he was incarcerated by the Germans. After a brief release, he went into hiding in Leuwarden in the North of the Netherlands. After the war he returned to college and graduated from the University of Delft with a Masters in engineering. During his 4-year term in the Dutch Navy, Will focused on aviation and aeronautics. After his time in the service, Will, along with a small team of colleagues, began designing and building helicopters. Their creation, the Kolibrie, a ramjet helicopter, debuted at the Paris air show in 1958 and is now housed in the aviation museum in the Netherlands. Later in life Will wrote a book on the making of the Kolibrie, which has been used as a textbook at his alma mater. Will married Nienke vanAartsen in 1954. In 1961 Will and his family moved to Dallas Texas where he continued his aviation career with Bell Helicopter in the rotor and hub stress group, where, among other things, he participated in the design of the Cobra Helicopter rotor system. Will enjoyed model airplanes, helicopters, trains, engineering, mathematics and was an avid artist, primarily in photography, watercolor and oil paintings. When the children were young, weekends were spent driving to the country on sketching outings. Will’s creativity extended to woodworking where he built furniture for the family home and a kayak to enjoy on family vacations. After retiring, Will enjoyed communicating with friends around the world on his computer. Through the years Will was a member of the British Helicopter Society, American Helicopter Society, the Delft Alumni, Southwest Watercolor Society, and the Dallas Area Parkinsonism Society. Will is survived by his loving wife of 53 years, Nienke, of Dallas; daughter Rose Veldhuysen and her husband, Wouter, grandchildren Robbert, Olga and Bianca of the Netherlands; Daughter Vera Frost of Plano; granddaughter Charlotte “Charlie” Maynard and her husband Forrest and great granddaughter Karly of McKinney; Son, Albert Kuipers of Dallas; daughter, Ada Quinn and her husband Tim of Overland Park, Kansas; daughter Nina Villamil and her husband Michael and Granddaughter Mercedes of Frisco. A memorial service will be held at Restland Wildwood Chapel at 12:30PM on Tuesday; November 6, 2007. A reception will follow at 3960 Deep Valley Dr, Dallas, Texas, 75244. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Dallas Area Parkinsonism Society.
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