History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends Geschiedenis van de Familie Adriaens | Page 334

Hermine Orpha Caigneau Wuytens
Birth: Jun. 14, 1915, Belgium
Death: May 18, 2012
Brawley
Imperial County
California, USA
age: 96 yrs 11 mos 4 days
~~~~
Hermine Caigneau Wuytens peacefully passed from this life to the next on May 18, 2012. She was born in
Denderhauten, Belgium on June 14, 1915.
After enduring the ravages of the First World War, at the age of 5, she sailed to America, "the land of milk and honey'
with her family aboard the Kroonland, arriving in New York harbor on July 4, 1920. She watched her first
Independence Day fireworks from the ship's deck and was processed through Ellis Island on July 6, 1920. The family
traveled by train from New York to Los Angeles and settled in Orange County where her father farmed and where
many other Belgian families had settled.
She attended elementary and high schools in Orange County and graduated from Huntington Beach High School in
1932. She met Victor Wuytens, a farmer and the son of Belgian immigrants, and they married in St. Anne's Catholic
church in Seal Beach on June 5, 1936. They started their family and lived on farms in Santa Ana, Los Alamitos and
Buena Park. Farmland was rapidly becoming freeways and housing developments in Orange County so in order to
continue the farming he loved, Victor moved his wife and family to Brawley in 1951. They settled in the country
outside Brawley and lived there until they moved into Brawley in 1960.
Hermine was an active member of Sacred Heart Church and the Altar and Rosary Society and volunteered both at the
church and school. When the Sacred Heart nuns were in a traffic accident while traveling to San Diego she joined
with several other mothers and taught the students until the nuns were able to return to teach. She loved playing golf
and she and Victor were members of Del Rio Country Club. They were long-time members of the Stockmen's Club.
They both loved to play bridge and hosted bridge parties at their house and Hermine was an active member of the
Brawley Women's Community Club. She was also a "pink lady" for the Pioneers Hospital Women's Auxiliary.
Hermine played tennis well into her 80's with the North End Racquet Club.
She and Victor traveled to Jamaica, Hawaii and Europe, especially Belgium where they visited with family members.
Hermine was a wonderful cook and loved trying out new recipes on her family and friends. She was an accomplished
quilter and loved to make hand appliquéd quilts. She enjoyed tending her roses and feeding the hummingbirds that
flocked to her homemade nectar.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Victor; daughter, Janice Corfman; parents, August and Celine Marie
Escriber Caigneau; parents-in-law, Mary and Camille Wuytens; brother, Ray Caigneau; brother-in-law, Bill Williams;
and sister-in-law, Frances Snyder.
Hermine is survived by her sister, Eleanor Williams; sister-in-law,
Theresa Wuytens; children, Norman Wuytens and his wife Sandy,
Ken Wuytens and his wife Sherri, and Cece Blankenship and her
husband Ken; grandchildren, Kim (Mike) Berthesen, David
(Fiona) Blankenship, Vicki Blankenship, Troy (Meghan) Wuytens,
Ashley (Josh) Mendibles, Chip (Linda) Corfman, Bruce (Kim)
Corfman, and Karen Corfman; great-grand- children Jake, Hale,
Oliver, Amelia, Emma, Eva, Kyle, Cameron, Jason, Adam, Holly,
Cami, Rebecca and Tamberley; nephew, Drew (Heather) Williams;
and nieces, Nancy Snyder and Julie Williams.
Rosary will be recited at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 24 at Sacred Heart
Church in Brawley. Mass will follow at 10 a.m. at the church with Father Frank Wagner, OMI officiating.

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