 DSS & District-executive Pierre Wesselink passed away
Nederlands
IN MEMORIAM 
...Pierre Wesselink...
(1950 - 2013)
|
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
For the second time in the first week of the new year, we have to say goodbye to a well-respected member of the Dutch baseball and softball family, as Pierre Wesselink passed away on Friday, January 4 at the age of 62.
Wesselink was struck by a massive heart attack on Boxing Day (Wednesday, December 26) and was hospitalized in Amsterdam.
Unfortunately, he passed away just over a week later.
Wesselink has been active for DSS in Haarlem, as well as being an executive of the former District West.
On Wednesday, January 2, we also had to say goodbye to Co Pikee, who was closely affiliated with Hoofddorp Pioniers.
The memorial and cremation service for Pierre Wesselink will be held on Saturday, January 12.
Starting at 9:15 AM, the memorial service will be held in the R.K.H. Adelbertuskerk, which is located at the Rijksstraatweg 26, corner Zaanenstraat, in Haarlem.
Following the service, the funeral ceremony will be held at 11 AM at Begraafplaats Westerveld, Duin en Kruidbergerweg 2-6 in Driehuis.
Petrus Josef Maria (Pierre) Wesselink (born on March 18, 1950) was associated with DSS in Haarlem for forty years, a milestone which was celebrated last month.
Since joining this club in Haarlem in the early seventies, Wesselink was an 'active member' right from the beginning, as was his wife Ria.
In 1977, he became a member of the board as its secretary for softball affairs, a post he held through 1984.
In these years, the women softball team of DSS played in the Dutch big league and was one of the most successful teams in that period.
Wesselink took over the secretariat a year after DSS won the Dutch softball-championship, but it repeated as Dutch champion in 1977.
When a Play-Off format was introduced in 1982, DSS reached the final four in each of the first three years.
The team was eliminated in these semi-finals in 1982 and 1984, but reached the Holland Series in 1983, losing the best-of-three against Terrasvogels.
In 1985, DSS relegated to the First Division, then returned to the highest division in the 2010 season, but relegated again.
In that year, Pierre's daughter Jacqueline Wesselink played for DSS in the Dutch big league, after earlier having played four seasons in the highest division for DSC '74.
She still is active for DSS and plans to play for the team again this season.
After stepping down as secretary, Wesselink remained active for the club and started to handle the administration for softball game affairs.
In the nineties, Pierre Wesselink went on to do the public relations for DSS-softball, became the editor of the DSS-magzine and was the spokesperson for field affairs.
While being the club-representative for Haarlem-based clubs during national federation council-meetings, Pierre Wesselink also became the chairman of the softball umpire committee (1988-1991) of the then exiting Haarlem Region.
Wesselink has always been very involved in softball affairs, not only for his club DSS, where he also served as softball-chairman, but also for the entire Haarlem-region.
In doing do, he was very committed and became the secretary of then-formed District West in 1992 and stayed in that position through 2000.
As secretary of the District, he was responsible for game affairs and umpires and was also a member of the District's umpire committee (1992-1993) and chairman of the game affairs committee (1995-2000).
Hereafter, Wesselink became a member of the national popular sport-committee of the Dutch Federation and was the regional manager for the then-formed North Region, which he did for a few years.
Pierre Wesselink still was active for the Dutch Federation in competition affairs, but in recent years also focused more again on club-activities.
In April 2010, Wesselink returned to the board of the club and since then he was the treasurer of DSS.
For his many activities, Pierre received the merital award from DSS and was decorated by the Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB).
Through this, the webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences and wishes Pierre's family a lot of strength.
(January 8)
|
