On April 15, 2023, our beloved mother, Ingeborg van Heek, passed away at age 89. She was born in 1933 in Indonesia, then known as the Dutch Indies. Ingeborg and her family survived a yearslong concentration camp internment in the Tjideng camp in Indonesia during World War II. After the war ended, Ingeborg and her sisters immigrated to Holland for schooling where she eventually met our father, Evert Paul van Heek. After they married, Ingeborg and Evert immigrated to the United States in 1957 and raised a family.
When Ingeborg was in her 40s, she went back to school to become a registered nurse (RN), no small feat in a home full of teenagers. Upon completion of her degree, Ingeborg practiced nursing for many years until retirement. Besides her love for family and friends, Ingeborg’s greatest loves were spending time outdoors gardening with the many dogs she had throughout her life and camping all over the US with family and friends.
Ingeborg is survived by many loving people, including her adult children, Hans, Margaret and David Sleat, Julius, Bob and Maryann Mort; her two grandchildren, Gwendolyn and Elizabeth Sleat; and her niece, Fleur Dusee. She is also survived by her very close and dear friends, Ria Vasilchik, Monique Kelson, Tiffany Heubeck, Chuck McKinney; and her beloved dog, Sir Max. Our mother will be sadly missed by many, but now she may rest in peace.
A Memorial Service for Ingeborg will be held on Saturday, April 22, 2023 from 3-5PM at the McCrery & Harra Funeral Home (3924 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803).
