Gerry Zwart, OAM tribute:

by Laura Pettigrew, Sunshine Coast Daily

A gardening guru with a “heart for people” is being remembered for his jovial personality and tireless community service.

Gerry Zwart, 92, well-known for his community service in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, was remembered in Nambour on Friday, October 15, after he passed away on October 7.

Gerry’s wife of 69 years Valerie said she couldn’t imagine a life without him.

“The day we lost him was the worst day of my life, I really cannot think of anything that could have been worse,” she said.

“But I've been blessed with him for a long time, so I can't complain about that, I thank the lord I had him for all that time.”

The couple, who were sat next to each other at a carnival in a small Sydney seaside town, married three months after they meet in 1953 and were inseparable ever since.

“He was just my life partner we were very normal people we had arguments like others … but we did agree on most things, the more important things,” Valerie said.

“We had a good life.”

After a brief holiday to the Sunshine State the pair fell in love with the region and retired to Mapleton in 1989 where they became very active in the community.

 Shortly after moving to Mapleton the Zwarts joined Friends of the Library and were devastated when the community facility was destroyed by fire.

They held many fundraisers including jazz nights, car rallies and cake stalls to raise a record amount of money to provide the community with a freehold library.

The Zwarts were also instrumental in raising money for Mapleton Community Hall and campaigning to keep the Old School House for the community.

Gerry also served as the president of Mapleton and Districts Community Association, was a founding member of Montville Visitor Information Centre and in 2015 joined his wife as an OAM recipient.

Like Valerie, Gerry had a lifelong passion for gardening that started as a child helping his mother grow food for his 12 siblings in Nazi-ruled Holland.

After moving to Australia and getting married Gerry spent most of his working life in South Australia where he and Valerie worked at her brother and father’s nursery.

He later became involved in the Sunshine Coast horticulture industry, ran the Plant Clinic at the Queensland Garden Expo for 15 years and along with Valerie wrote the Sunshine Coast Daily’s weekly gardening column for many years.

“We were very blessed we had that lifetime interest in gardening and we loved every minute of writing for the Daily,” she said.

Work for the blind

Despite all his achievements Valerie believed Gerry’s proudest accomplishment was his time working for the Blind Society and Home for Incurables in South Australia.

“He travelled thousands of kilometres letting people know, who weren’t going to get better, that there was a home for them,” she said.

“I was so proud of him, he had such heart for people. He genuinely cared.”

Gerry was described by his niece Cheryl Zwart as a bit of a prankster who was always having a good time.

Valerie said she was blessed to have spent her life with Gerry and was looking forward to the day when she was reunited with him and their daughter, Anna, who passed away from cancer in 2019.

“He was an easy-going man … he liked his jokes and a glass of wine when we got to the end of the day and we always had a few bottles tucked away so he could enjoy it,” she said.

“We were very well matched, nobody knows if they are well matched when they get married and we were one of the very fortunate ones.”

Honoured for saving Jews from Nazis in Holland

In 2019 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 of Holland 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 last year.

Israeli man Lex Menco travelled to Australia to be at the 2019 ceremony. Mr Menco and his four sons would never have been born if not for the bravery of Gerry’s family. The Zwarts hid his mother Bela during the Holocaust.

Gerry recalled fleeing with a mate 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 told the Gazette last year.

Gerry’s family saved at least five children. Bela van Praagh was one of them. She was three years of age when she was rescued and hidden.  During the 2019 ceremony, Gerry and Bela (by video from Israel) shared recollections of their war years together as ‘pretend’ siblings. 

Gerry was awarded an Order of Australia (OAM) in 2015 for his achievements and service to the community.

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

He retained a quick wit and wonderful sense of humour. He was gentle, kind and generous with his time and knowledge.