Livin's daughter Margaret mailed us the story of her parents in Canada:
"My Dad spelt his first name several different ways once he moved to Canada. Most often he spelt it, Levine which I guess he felt was easier for english speaking Canadians to read and pronounce. He was also called "Lee" at work. My Dad worked as a Stationary Engineer before he died in 1969. He did remarkably well considering that he only had a grade four education. His education halted because of the World War I. He managed to teach himself to read well enough to pass the exams for being a Stationary Engineer. When he first arrived in Canada at the age of 18 years, he did farm work as did most immigrants from Belguim and Holland. He then became a baker. He also farmed for a few years himself before I was born.
He suffered his first heart attack at age 49 and if he lived today he would have had heart by-pass surgery for sure. Following that heart attack which happened just weeks before I was born, he recovered well enough to continue working until he suffered his fatal heart attack at age 64.
I don't know if these heartproblems are a weakness in the gene pool on the Lansens' side of the family: my Dad was not overweight; however, he did smoke quite heavily."
"My mother, Anna Kouyzer, came from Holland at the age of 14 years. She worked in a convent as a cleaner until she was 27. She married my father at the age of 22. After she had her first child she stayed home and took care of the children and household. She will be 90 years of age March 31, 2003. She has slowed down a great deal, but her mind is still very quick and she was delighted to learn about our family.
I really wish that my brother, George were here to read about his anscestery. He was very proud of his Belgian heritage (as we all are)."
Stamboom (genealogie/genealogy/généalogie) Lanssens-Denoo: 24.928 personen (individuals, personnes) d.d. 20 oktober 2024 - site: http://lanssens.be