My condolences to the family and friends of Cory Van Putten. Cory and I worked together from 1995-1999 at UniFirst in Calgary. Cory was instrumental is starting up our Calgary facility in our early beginnings in this city. Cory and his family became much more than a co-worker, we became friends and did some camping together as families. We spent birthdays, or just got together because we enjoyed each others company. My memories of Cory is a man that truly loved his family and loved Canada's nature and way of life. Cory and I met a few times for lunch after he left employment with UniFirst, but we lost touch. I am deeply sadden by his passing at the young age. RIP Cory.

Steen Jessen

Dear Cory, Caroline, and family,

I remember that the two of you stayed in our house last year and that we invited some friends and had a lot of fun! We all song the sweet Caroline song and you two love birds smiled from ear to ear! We also had the family bowling day and we all meet your grandson Damian that was such a lovely time!

We saw Cory for the last time in March and we had a great time with the whole family! We stayed In your house and saw how happy the two of you were! Still full of plans, looking for a job and a new house. Feeling so good and almost forgetting that stupid cancer!

So it was such a shock to hear that you had to go to the hospital and hospice, where your heart stopped on the 24th of May! The good thing is that it was in your sleep, so you did not noticed it, but it is so hard for your Caroline, Cheryl, Deniece, Kristy, Eric, Damian and also for your sweethearts! Cory is in your and our heart forever!

Well sweet brother-in-law, you lived you life, followed your dreams and were happy! Until the end!

Xxx Karin

Cory, for us, 'Ome Kika', always was our ‘gezellige’ uncle, always full of energy and always had the greatest stories to tell.

I (Bianca) am extremely grateful for the days that I spent with Ome Kika and Caroline in 2009 when they took me in and showed me around Calgary. Ome Kika loved the great outdoors, the beauty of the mountains and really appreciated the smallest things in life. It was heartwarming to see the way he looked at Caroline and the love they had together. Ome Kika was so proud of his amazing daughters Cheryl and Deniece and I was always impressed with the open relationship they had together. Then the greatest gift, becoming a grandfather of Damian. This gave Ome Kika so much joy and he had the biggest smile on his face when holding Damian. It is such a shame that Damian will not remember his awesome grandfather, but we will for sure remind him of Kika. I am also very thankful for our last bowling outing with our crazy family last year. Everyone all dancing together, truly having a good time but realizing it may be the last time.

We have heard, and will be hearing, many more stories from Kika's childhood and it keeps surprising us of how much they have been through together as siblings. It really saddens us that Ome Kika will not be telling any new stories and that we will not have any new moments with him. We know that our father Wim and our aunt Mary and uncles Carl and John, will never stop bragging about their remarkable brother, Cheryl and Deniece will never stop telling about their loving father and Caroline about her love of her life. We will all continue spreading Kika’s stories and joy of life.

It was a pleasure to have had an uncle such as Ome Kika and we will always treasure the memories we have with and from him. Our deepest, deepest condolences to Caroline, Cheryl, Deniece, Kristi, Eric, our father Wim, Mary, Carl and John and everyone else.

All the best and cheers to life!

Nicoline and Bianca

What we deeply love, we can never lose. For all that we love deeply, becomes a part of us. (Helen Keller).

Cory and you Caroline, together....you blessed us with such love and an undeniable jest for life. A precious gift.

So many precious moments and memories....such a tragic loss.

Words just not enough to try to express our sadness. With heavy hearts, we send so much love and Angel hugs to you and family.

In memory of Cory......

Tim and Brenda

I have known Cory and his family for about 47 years. I know how much they will miss his smile, his laughter, his corny jokes and his sense of adventure. To Caroline and Corys families here in Calgary and to Mary, Wim, Carl,John and families in Holland you are in our hearts and minds at this truly, truly sad time.

A great loss, my Condolences to Everybody.

From LIZA

I remember my cousin Cory from my childhood when both our families lived in Canada and when we visited each other regularly.

We always had a good time when we saw each other, there never was a dull moment.

I think of the good times back there and can very well understand Cory's desire to settle and build his life there.

Our deepest condolences for the loss of Cory: a father, husband, grandfather, brother, cousin, friend and more!

Fam. de Vries from Norg (the Netherlands)

Douwe

Meina

Mädde

Yrle

I am thankful for all the wonderful memories I have with Kika throughout my life, and will forever treasure them. When I think of Kika today, he is always smiling, and laughing. My deepest sympathy for Caroline and the family.

Dad,

I’m so proud of you for always following your heart and living your life to the fullest. It makes me feel good to know that you had such a wonderful life and that you were happy. I wish it would’ve lasted longer so that you and Caroline could’ve grown old together and so that we would’ve had more lovely moments together. I’m sorry I hardly ever came to visit you, it was too hard me for. Of course I regret that now… But I’m going to try to be more like you and think: ‘You can’t change the past, suck it up and move on!’ I will also try to live my life more to the fullest, because that’s what you would’ve wanted me to do. You wanted me to be happy. Dad, you’ve always had a special place in my heart and in my thoughts. It will always stay that way. Thank you for everything. I’m sorry for many things. I love you. I miss you.

Cheryl

I am lucky, blessed and privileged to have grown up with such a wonderful person. My memories of Cory growing up make me smile. He would take me on some of his adventures, exploring the neighborhood, Forest Heights. Going through old houses, just to see if we could find anything. Or going to the construction site, I think it was by the trans Canada highway. I’m not sure I was 9 or 10 at the time. Checking out the new houses out there. Staying out late when my parents were gone and Wim was babysitting. Poor Wim. Cory was okay with me tagging along. Great memories of getting into mischievous things.

I am lucky to be Cory’s sister

He was always out on adventures. I remember him coming home one day, very excited!! “Guess what I found today by the lake ”, we all joked and guessed some silly things, like a whale, or dead fish, not ever guessing he found a dead body??? But I think you have all heard that story. I was there to hear it for the first time.

I am lucky to be Cory’s sister

Moving to the Netherlands changed a lot of course. Learning to do what the Dutch do. It wasn’t always easy, but it was easier because he was there and we had so much fun, partying seeing movies going to concerts. He also respected me and my choices good or bad. Cory would of course say afterwards that it was a bad choice that I made, but it was mine to make.

I am lucky to be Cory’s sister

Getting older, into relationships, getting married, we still tried to see each other as much as possible. Going to my parents on Sundays, kids playing with each other, the guys playing cards and us women playing rummicup or yatzee. Going on vacations together. So many good memories.

I am lucky to be Cory’s sister

It hurt when he moved to Canada but I knew that was where he would be the happiest. A real Canadian. And then coming back and leaving again, that was a tough decision for him to make. But then he met Caroline! The love they had for each other was so obvious, everyone could see that. Thank you Caroline for loving my brother. You made him so happy. And getting married on my birthday, that was really great!

I am lucky to be Cory’s sister

Cory was a patient, funny, guy who loved to tell stories. He loved watching movies and listening to good music. He loved sharing his knowledge and telling stories of what he had experienced. I know he will be missed by many. I am heart broken, I will miss him so much it hurts like hell. I could go on forever telling everyone what a terrific, wonderful, beautiful, caring person he was. He left us way too soon. Love you and miss you horribly.

I am just lucky to be Cory’s sister

My first memory of Cory goes back to when I was 4 or 5 years old. At that time we lived on Stanley Road SW and I see the two of us wandering off into the fields across McLeod Trail. We were brought back home by the police. Needless to say our parents were not too happy about that.

I called Cory Kika because as a child I couldn’t say “kindje”, in Dutch meaning baby. The name stuck for quite some years. The name was unique until around ten years ago it popped up in Holland: a foundation for curing cancer in children had adopted the name!

While growing up our characters were quite different. Nevertheless we got along pretty good, hardly no fights or disagreements that I recall. Actually I only recall one argument at 5 in the morning about who’s turn it was to work at the market. He was popular in school and seeing as how he was easy to get along with, had a lot of friends. He was in no way shy, so he even had girl friends. A fact that I was jealous of.

Our move back to Holland brought us even closer together. Man, did we hate moving back! We now had a common enemy: living in Holland. Of course that wore off after a while and we started enjoying ourselves with bars and parties. Our parties were famous but not particularly popular with the neighbours. The police can vouch for that, and once again our parents not happy.

In 1976 Cory gave us a huge scare when he contracted a serious bout of meningitis. He ended up in the hospital for a while, but luckily recovered okay.

In the seventies we had some great vacations together, couple of trips to Canada, car trip through Europe and a trip with friends to Spain. We also wrecked cars together, one night literally ended up in the gutter together after a bar crawl. However, towards the end of the seventies we both got into serious relationships and sort of settled down. After sleeping in one room for close to 24 years, Cory moved out and I lost my sleeping buddy. Seeing as how we always shared what happened during the day I also missed our close contact.

Before our daughters were born in the late 80's, we still saw each other frequently. Cory even started playing sports, something he hated when he was young. We played squash and tennis together and in 1985 we helped start up an American Football team. Playing together and managing the team together was great fun. Cory was a great competitor. I remember him filling in as center (!) one game and him standing against a huge , middle linebacker that was bad mouthing him. He was gonna eat Cory raw. Cory snapped the ball, the guy charged him, Cory dived at his legs and the guy was sprawled all over the grass. Mad as hell of course. Next snap the guy dived at Cory’s legs, which of course Cory expected, and Cory jumped and pushed the guys face into the grass. With mud and grass in his face mask, the guy tried to fight Cory and got a penalty. After the game the guy came to Cory to congratulate him with his smart moves.

Around 1973 he was kicked out of school for fighting a teacher and in those days no school meant joining the army. In the army he got his Truck drivers license and he started driving truck. He also worked part-time at the market with me and an uncle. He followed all sorts of courses and ended up as a plant manager just before he emigrated to Canada. I was always very proud of the fact that he developed the way he did.

He worked hard to give him, Liza and Cheryl and Deniece the best possible life. Although his family life, his career and such made him reasonably happy his urge to move to Canada never left him. So, although it was a shock, it was no surprise that he fulfilled his dream and they emigrated. A fact that I also was proud of, and often bragged about.

I found it very sad that he and his family returned to Holland. Although he tried to settle down you could see his stay in Holland was destroying him. And although it hurt him immensely he decided to follow his heart and move back to Canada, meaning a divorce and leaving is loving daughters.

After that our contacts were not as frequent. Now and then a trip to Canada or visa versa. On one of our trips we met Caroline and we saw in Cory’s eyes that he had found a new love in his life. I was very happy for him that he had found a new soul mate! Together they tried to live their dream and until the cancer they succeeded. Once again a fact that I was proud of. I deeply respect Caroline and am thankful for the love and care she gave Cory.

I have tons of great memories, tons of words I could put on paper. I could write about his enthusiasm, perseverance, discipline, that he played and partied hard. But at the moment all I can say is that it hurts like hell to lose my brother. I miss you man!

Rest in peace my brother, hope you can “Ramble On” wherever you are.

Cory was a very, kind, intelligent, funny, caring , amazing persoon. He will be missed and never forgotten. Ynske and Richard.

I was privileged to share some time with Corey and his family through my relationship with dear Denice. Corey imparted wonderful values to his children. He could fix anything, had a solution for a myriad of problems. Too early for him to have passed. My deepest sympathy to Caroline, Denice, Eric and Nicki, Christy and Cheryl and extended family. Sincerely Bindi

So sorry for your loss, Caroline and family. He was the most positive person I have ever met. We always shared a laugh, and only he could face cancer with a smile on his face. Brave for sure. May he rest in peace.

Someone as special as Cory will never be forgotten. He will remain in our hearts forever.

Phil and Vickie Despins