Hermine Cornelius Sebek, matriarch of the Sebek family, died peacefully of natural causes on September 14th, 2020. She was 91. We owe a debt of gratitude and pride to her support for our varied paths of life adventures but especially her love of music, art, literature, and Indonesian-Dutch cooking. We will miss her telling of wonderful stories about her long and eventful life that many times crossed world events at tumultuous moments.
Hermine will continue to watch over all of us as we make our way through our own adventures in life. She had a musical, cultured, worldly, sharp, and discerning mind until the very last of her days. We will miss our extensive and rich conversations with her as well as our ability to pick up the phone and ask her for authentic Indonesian and Dutch recipe advice.
Contributions in memory of Hermine:
In lieu of flowers for the memory of Hermine, please send gifts to the Butterfly Garden at Selby Gardens, Sarasota, Florida. (click here) Please make sure that the donation goes to the Butterfly Garden. Hermine’s name will be added to the plaque that is already there to honor the Sebek family’s donation for starting the Butterfly Garden in memory of Jaroslav Wladimir Sebek.
Memorial services for Hermine are being planned for summer of 2021.
The Expanded Family:
Hermine, nicknamed Ine, Ineke, or Oma, or Mammala was married for 44 years to Jaroslav Wladimir (“Wladji”) Sebek (b 1927-d.1991) and is survived by her six children who were born on three continents: Horak Christian, Jaroslav Leonard, Anezka Cecile, Cherie Albertine were born on Java, Indonesia, Herman Wladimir was born in The Netherlands, and Christian Leonard was born in the United States of America.
Through the years, the Sebek Family expanded by marriage. Anezka married Nelsie Aybar-Grau, Herman married Andy Paluselli. The family is blessed with eleven grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren with one on the way.
Hermine’s youngest son Christian is married to Beth Roberts, who are the parents of Zachary and Eric.
Her second son, Jaroslav and his wife Sandy are parents to Thalia Cutsforth married to Tony Cutsforth, who gave Hermine three great-grandchildren: Abigail, Bennet and Aaron. Jaro and Sandy are also parents of Anezka June, married to Matt Lungwitz. They gave Hermine two great grandchildren: Nathan and Austin. Jaro and Sandy’s second child, Ross Sebek is married to Agnes. Jaro and Sandy’s third child, Jaro Jr. is married to Anna, who is expecting another great-grandchild; their fifth child, Robert is married to Sarah.
Hermine’s fourth child, Cherie, is the mother of Brian Smith and Sean Smith, Sabrina Peterson-Baker and Kasey Peterson. Sean is married to Michelle and gave Hermine three great-grandchildren: Katelyn, Madison, and Jacob. Sabrina is married to Rufus Baker who are the parents of Rufus Jr., Max, and Amelia, three more great grandchildren.
Hermine’s Personal Story:
Hermine was born in Surabaya on the island of Java, Indonesia. Her family was involved in the sugar farming and refining factories. World War II broke out on Hermine’s thirteenth birthday when the Japanese Airforce bombed Pearl Harbor. The war took its toll on Hermine and her younger sister Leona Francisca. The two young teens were detained in Indonesia to care for Hermine’s mother Cecile Francisca who was dying of breast cancer while her father Theodorus Cornelius was sent to a concentration camp in Malaysia. Hermine’s mother sadly passed away in 1944 right before the end of the war. Hermine was reunited for a brief year with her father who died of complications of starvation after he returned home from the camps. Hermine learned to be independent and headstrong as the guardian of her sister. She met Wladji Sebek, whose father was a neighborhood leader, when she was made the head of the neighborhood food distribution center at age 17. After a courtship, and the end of the war, the young couple made do with partially bombed buildings that Wlad was able to rebuild for his extended family. Ine and Wlad soon had a family of two boys and two girls. Trained in agriculture and cultivation school, Wlad and Ine created and ran a successful flower business but Wlad had his sights set on a career in the color chemistry and dye industry. He began working for a large Dutch firm, Jacobsen van den Berg, and flew all over the Indonesian Archipelago selling chemicals to the local Batik (lost wax) industry. Earth dyes are not colorfast and Indonesia wanted to export their beautiful textiles to the West.
After a year-long European leave to learn more about color and dye technologies, the young Sebek family returned to the post-colonial conflict in the streets of Indonesia. Less than a year later, they had a choice; stay in Indonesia, while the forces for an independent Indonesia were being fanned, OR ship out to The Netherlands! The family was torn apart because Wlad was detained as a knowledgeable negotiator to give control of the Dutch enterprise to the Indonesians. Hermine and the four children were deported within five days. A month later (1957) the family arrived by cold in a snowy and cold Netherlands. The family was reunited with Wlad four months later. A few years later, they moved from a working class neighborhood to an upscale custom-built townhouse in Soest. Wlad’s career took off and Hermine’s namesake Herman was born. Wlad’s ingenious spirit landed him an opportunity in textiles and color chemistry in the US. As the Sebeks were crossing the Atlantic to their new home in America, the Russian submarines were crossing the same part of the ocean during the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962). It seemed that Hermine and her family could not avoid being part of history.
A few years later, our only true American, Christian was born. Everyone in the family fulfilled their American Dream with Hermine always being encouraging of her children’s endeavors. Horak took his army training and applied his skills to heavy equipment maintenance. Jaro became a fine artist, graphics and web designer. Anezka went to college, and became a filmmaker specializing in computer graphics and visual effects and is now a professor at Parsons School of Design, Cherie worked in Wlad’s new business as a financial advisor. Herman went to Juilliard and eventually starred in several leading roles in Broadway Shows: among them, Cats and the role of the Engineer in Miss Saigon. Christian also worked alongside Wlad in financial advising and eventually followed his own dream to become an opera singer, a dream that landed him the role of Piangi in Phantom of the Opera. The next generation of Sebeks and extended grand and great grandchildren is also entrepreneurial, gifted, and talented.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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