HOLLAND, Mich. — A familiar bronze figure near Window on the Waterfront is more than a tribute to Holland’s Dutch heritage — it’s the likeness of a real woman, Gerda Holley, who has spent her 94 years living a story of survival, resilience and community giving.
Holley’s journey began in Rotterdam, Netherlands. She survived World War II, recalling the terror of Nazi occupation.
WATCH: From Rotterdam to Holland, Michigan: WWII survivor and Tulip Time statue model still giving back at 94
“The fear of war, that was terrible,” Holley said. “When the sirens were going, we [would] all go downstairs in the basement, and the people upstairs came too.”
Her father was arrested for helping hide and feed Jewish families. She remembers him fondly.
“I was [my] father’s daughter. You know, I hurt him so bad with leaving,” Holley recalled.
In 1968, Holley, her first husband and their two sons moved to Holland, Michigan. The transition was overwhelming.
“[It was] terrible. I mean, I could not understand anybody. I could not talk it. [The relocating process] went so fast in the Netherlands that I was here before I knew it,” she said.
Eventually, Holley found her place.
“This is my home. I like it. I like the people. Yeah, it is happy,” she said.
She worked as a master molder of Delft blue stoneware at the former De Klomp Wooden Shoe & Delft Factory, shaping figurines herself.
“It was a big place, and we [would] make the Delft blue there, and it got painted there. And then, we have also machinery for wooden shoes,” Holley said. “You cannot buy that paint. ... You have to get the powder to make Delft blue from the factory.”
Her face was later used to model one of Holland’s Tulip Time statues, now a landmark along the waterfront.
In her 80s, Holley met and married her second husband.
“He was a very nice person, and I remember that I invited many times for him to come for supper, [a] nice, warm meal,” she said. “By 7, 7:30, he [would leave]. ... he said, I don’t want [people] to think that we have something going on. ... I married him later. He was a sweet man.”
Loss touched her again in 2019 when her husband and youngest son died.
“I had two children, two sons, Art and Jani. But Jani, he passed away,” she said. “To lose a child. I think it is the worst thing that you can never get over. But I know he’s happy.”
Through it all, Holley kept knitting — a craft she first learned at age 12 in the Netherlands.
“I love to do it,” she said. "I knit, you know, I knit so fast."
Hundreds of children’s sweaters she made sat boxed up until an opportunity recently presented itself.
“Mom, she’s collecting these sweaters for so long, you know? And [she says] what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? And then when we reconnected with Anna, it was a perfect opportunity to bless others, to be part of a ministry,” said longtime friend and “adopted daughter,” Mary Breuker.
Anna Machiela, Holley’s former neighbor, now works as bilingual ministry coordinator at For His Glory Ministry in Zeeland, which serves people facing recovery, addiction and other challenges.
“We run two meetings a week on Tuesdays and Fridays for those that are struggling with all kinds of challenges, mental health, drugs and alcohol, grief, whatever form of brokenness, we’re able to meet that person right where they are and give them hope,” said Rev. Ammie Bouwman, founder of the ministry.
Holley will sell her sweaters at the ministry’s “Finding Joy Again” Women’s Conference at Central Wesleyan Church in Holland on May 16, with part of the proceeds supporting the ministry.
“Just who Gerda is, her story, her resilience, her life and the joy that she still carries,” Bouwman said. “We’re also going to bring her up and have Anna do a little bit of an announcement, sharing a little bit about Gerda, and I think it’s going to be very encouraging for other women, and impactful.”
Breuker said Holley’s persistence is a defining quality.
“Your resilience, though, with the hardship, you keep coming back and fighting,” Breuker told her. "That’s her, that Dutch stubborn."
"Yeah, I'm stubborn. I know it," Holley replied. "But not [in] a bad way."
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