Edith Velmans, 97, a longtime resident of Sheffield, died peacefully on Friday morning, ending a remarkable life.
Born in The Hague, the Netherlands, in 1925, Edith had a happy, carefree childhood. When the Germans invaded Holland in 1942, she went into hiding, living with a courageous Gentile family in the south of Holland and using a forged identity. Although her mother, father, grandmother and brother all perished in the Holocaust, she managed to survive the war.
Against the wishes of her parents, both real and adopted, because of the dangers involved, Edith bravely kept a diary. Forty years later she turned those wartime diaries recording her years as a hidden child into a bestselling memoir, “Edith’s Story.” Hailed as “the story of the Anne Frank who lived,” it was translated into more than a dozen languages and won several literary prizes.
After the war Edith studied at the University of Amsterdam and earned a graduate degree at Columbia University before marrying Loet Velmans in 1949. She became a psychologist specializing in gerontology. Her husband’s job moved the family from Holland to Baltimore, Paris, Geneva and London before returning to New York.
Edith and Loet discovered the beauty of the Berkshires in 1976, spending weekends and summers here, and eventually taking up permanent residence in their home in Sheffield, where Edith became an active and popular member of the local community. Her life here was full to overflowing with friends, philanthropic work, and being a welcoming and loving ‘Oma’ to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She always had time for everybody, there was never a family adventure that she passed up, never a letter she didn’t answer, never a friendship she didn’t cherish.
In 1996 Edith was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
She is survived by her three daughters, five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Her friends and family will gather for a celebration of her life later this summer. She will be missed by many, but we are all blessed to have been part of her extraordinary life.
Instead of flowers, please consider a donation to Fairview Hospital, Berkshire Grown or Construct, Inc.
