Walthera "Thera" Maria Vanden Broek

Born in Mierlo-Hout, South Brabant, The Netherlands, Thera was the youngest of 9 children born to Hendricus Martens and Joanna Josephina Maria (Gruijters).

Thera was a child during the Great Depression of the Netherlands. She loved telling stories of how she helped her unemployed father during this time to smuggle butter and other goods across the Belgium/Netherlands border in her baby carriage when she was just an infant.

Ever the gregarious child, Thera welcomed the 101st Airborne parachuting into her home town during Operation Market Garden, and with her limited English, she invited the American soldiers to come meet her “older sisters”, much to her mother’s chagrin.

She was an eager student but was forced to leave school to start working at age of 12.

Thera worked at Vlisco, a Dutch textiles designer and manufacturer in Helmond, working with a pantograph to trace Indonesian batik designs and artists’ originals to create large scale reproductions for the wax printing.

She met her husband Humphrey, after his family moved to Helmond from Indonesia. They were married in 1959, and soon emigrated to the United States.

Their adventures landed them in Michigan, where they welcomed their son Fred. The three of them traversed the Rockies in a cross-country move to California, only to move back to Michigan soon after. They decided California was the place to be, and moved back again settling in Fremont, CA, and later welcoming daughter, Joanna.

For several years, Thera worked at Fairchild Semiconductor until Joanna was born, after which she decided it was time to stay at home. She couldn’t sit still for long, though, venturing out to become her own boss providing housecleaning services to several homes in Fremont. Her hard-earned wages helped to put their daughter through college.

After many years in Fremont, Humphrey and Thera felt the itch for another cross country move, this time to the sunny Florida panhandle, where mom enjoyed retirement in her “dream house.”

But, the birth of their grandchildren, Nicholas, Luigi, and Dakota soon lured them back again to California, where they settled this time in Brentwood.

Thera is a cancer-survivor of over 20 years, but it was fast declining dementia that sadly took her from us.

Thera is survived by her husband Humphrey, children Fred (Roxanne) Vanden Broek, Joanna (David) Mangiante, and grandchildren Nicholas and Dakota Vanden Broek and Luigi Mangiante, and many, many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews in the United States and The Netherlands. She is preceded in death by her parents, brothers Jan, Wim, and Harry, sisters Ria, Catharina, Mathilda, Betsy, and Annie.

Celebration of Life will be held at Brentwood Funeral Home on January 17, 2019, 1 p.m.

Donations may be made to National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (https://www.ovarian.org/) and the Alzheimer’s Association (https://www.alz.org/)