Admired couple proves popular on Facebook

From left, Renee Menco, Gerry Zwart, Lex Menco, Valerie Zwart, and Israel ambassador Mark Sofer at the ceremony.

A humble couple and their thriving orchid broke the Sunshine Valley Gazette’s Facebook reach record last week.

We carried a story about Gerry and Valerie Zwart’s amazing orchid that appears to thrive on regular cups of tea.

The story reached 29,727 people on Facebook. The Zwarts had no idea of the online activity and were thrilled when told last week.

It’s no wonder the couple, now in their 90s, attracted such interest. Many people remember them from their volunteer work for the Mapleton community after moving from South Australia in 1989.

In fact both were awarded Orders of Australia for Services to Mapleton and Surrounding Community, Valerie in 2010 and Gerry in 2015.

Soon after arriving, the couple joined the Friends of the Library and were devastated when the community facility was destroyed by fire. But they leapt into action and raised $15,000 to replace the facility in only 10 months.

“We raised a record amount of money in record time and by the time we moved in it was freehold,” Valerie said.

Meanwhile, in a quite remarkable story, it was this time last year Gerry accepted Israel’s highest honour on behalf of his parents Marinus and Marie. They were posthumously honoured as Righteous Among the Nations for their bravery in hiding Jews in their house during the German occupation in World War Two. Gerry, who was in his early teens at the time, was heavily involved in the dangerous work while he grew up in the Dutch village of Blaricum.

“If they had caught a few Jews in our house, we would get the same treatment as the Jews, which was [to be] sent off to the concentration camps,” Gerry said.

Israeli man Lex Menco travelled to Australia to be at the ceremony. Mr Menco and his four sons would never have been born if not for the bravery of Gerry’s family, who hid his mother Bela during the Holocaust.

Mr Zwart also recalled him and a mate fleeing from German soldiers who had captured them to work in the factories. “The Germans were yelling for us to come back and then they started shooting. You could hear the bullets hitting the trees around you,” he said.

The Zwarts moved to Sanctuary Park Retirement Community in Nambour nine years ago.

Now in their 90s Gerry and Valerie say they are looking forward to their 70th anniversary in three years.