Jan Geertsema

Ancestors

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Jan Geertsema [send private message]

Biography

Profile created by Jan Cornelius Geertsema on Jul 23, 2020.

Lewenskets / Biographical Sketch

Jan Cornelius Geertsema is op 22 November 1940 op Swartruggens, Transvaal, Suid-Afrika gebore as die oudste van die 3 seuns van sy ouers, Johan Hendrik Geertsema en Anna Maria Gereta Coetzee. Sy pa was 'n onderwyser aan die Rodeon Hoërskool daar.

Jan se doop was in die Gereformeerde kerk in Ventersdorp op 29 Desember 1940 en ds. A. Postma het dit waargeneem. Omdat hy sy Oupa Jan Geertsema se naam gekry het, het Oupa vir hom 'n dooprokkie gegee en Oupa en Ouma was self teenwoordig vanaf Potchefstroom. Sy niggie, Annatjie Geertsema het hom ingebring na die kansel toe.

Jan het sy laerskoolonderrig aan die Swartruggens Sentrale Skool gehad, tot en met April van 1953, in sy Standard 5-jaar, toe die gesin na Pretoria toe verhuis het, waar sy pa 'n pos aan die Pretoriase Onderwyskollege gekry het. In Pretoria het hy sy laerskoolopleiding aan die Wonderboom-Suid Laerskool voltooi.

Daarna was hy 'n leerling aan die Hoërskool Wonderboom, waar hy in 1958 matriek met 5 onderskeidings in die vakke Afrikaans, Duits, Wiskunde, Natuurwetenskap en Geskiedenis, geslaag het. In Standard 9 en 10 was hy lid van die leerlingraad van die skool. Hy het vir die skool tennis gespeel en gereeld aan Volkspele, wat toe baie populêr was, deelgeneem. Die hoof van die skool was dr. JC Otto, wat sterk leiding gegee het.

Aan die begin van sy matriekjaar, het Jan belydenis van sy geloof in die Gereformeerde Kerk Wonderboom-Suid, afgelê. Die predikant was ds. HFV Krüger, wat 'n besondere invloed op hom gehad het. Hy was aktief betrokke in die jeugbediening van die gemeente, met die naam JV Wonderboom.

In 1959 het Jan aan die Universiteit van Pretoria vir 'n graad in Chemiese Ingenieurswese ingeskryf en het 'n beurs van die groot staalvervaardigingsmaatskappy YSKOR, daarvoor ontvang. Hy het tuis gewoon en daagliks die ongeveer 40 km heen en weer met sy klein Morris-motortjie afgelê. Aan die einde van sy eerste studiejaar, het hy, na verdere beroepstoetse, oorgeskakel na studie vir die BSc-graad in Wiskunde, Wiskundige Statistiek en Fisika as hoofvakke en dit, binne 3 jaar na eerste inskrywing by die Universiteit, aan die einde van 1961 met onderskeiding in aldrie hoofvakke behaal.

In 1962 het hy verder in Wiskundige Statistiek studeer, hierdie keer met 'n beurs van die versekeringsmaatskappy Old Mutual en eers die BSc Honneurs aan die einde van 1962 en daarna die MSc in Mei 1965 in Wiskundige Statistiek onder leiding van prof. DJ Stoker behaal. Die titel van die verhandeling was "Die Probleem van Uitskieters". Vanaf die begin van 1963 was Jan 'n lektor aan die Departement Statistiek van die Universiteit.

Jan is op 3 Julie 1965 met Ans Venter, wat hy deur kerkvriende ontmoet het, getroud. Die troue was in die Gereformeerde kerk Brooklyn en is deur ds. WJ de Klerk van Potchefstroom, wat Ans se predikant was, waargeneem.

Jan en Ans het in Augustus 1965 per vliegtuig oor Europa na die VSA toe gereis, waar hy sy studie vir die PhD in Statistiek aan die Universiteit van Kalifornië, Berkely, voortgesit het. Na 3 jaar studie, het hy die graad met 'n proefskrif oor die onderwerp "Sequential Confidence Intervals based on Rank Tests" onder leiding van Prof. PJ Bickel behaal. Hy was 'n beurshouer van die Suid-Afrikaanse Wetenskaplike en Nywerheidsnavorsingsraad en ook van die Shell oliemaatskappy. In hierdie tyd is hulle eerste kindjie, 'n seun Johan op 10 Maart 1967 daar gebore. Jan se ma is op 16 Junie 1968 in Pretoria oorlede.

Hierna het Jan 'n aanstelling as Besoekende Assistent-professor vir 'n akademiese jaar aan die Florida State University in Tallahassee gekry en het hulle met 'n klein Volkswagen die lang reis van Berkeley na Tallahassee toe afgelê. Daar het hy klasgegee en navorsing gedoen totdat hulle in Junie 1969 na Suid-Afrika toe teruggekeer het, waar hy intussen 'n pos van senior lektor aan die Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër Onderwys gekry het. In Desember 1968 is hulle dogtertjie, Annarie in Tallahassee gebore. Na hulle vestiging in Potchefstroom, is 'n tweede dogtertjie, Margaretha in Augustus 1970 gebore.

Jan is vanaf 1973 tot Professor bevorder en was in die tydperk 1975 - 1981 hoof van die Departement Statistiek. Van 1987 tot 1989 was hy adjunkdekaan van die Fakulteit Natuurwetenskappe en dekaan vanaf 1990 tot 1998. Daarna was hy Dekaan Navorsing tot met sy aftrede in 2005 en verantwoordelik om 'n Navorsingskantoor op die been te bring en te bedryf.

In sy navorsing het Jan in Sekwensiële Analise gespesialiseer. Hy het 25 navorsingsartikels in hierdie area in nasionale en internasionale vaktydskrifte gepubliseer. Hy het ook 2 meestersgraadstudente en 3 doktorale studente in hulle studie gelei. Hy het 'n aantal buitelandse vakkonferensies bygewoon en as spreker opgetree en navorsingsbesoeke gedoen. Hierdie besoeke is grootliks deur die Nasionale Navorsingstigting van Suid-Afrika gefinansier, op grond daarvan dat hy deur die Stigting as erkende navorser geëvalueer is. Hy het aktief aan vakverenigings deelgeneem en was in 1976 president van die Suid-Afrikaanse Statistiese Vereniging en redakteur van die Suid-Afrikaanse Statistiese Tydskrif van 1977 tot 1980. Hy was ook lid van internasionale vakverenigings en het op die redaksie van die internasionale tydskrifte "Sequential Analysis", in 1995 - 2000 en "American Journal of Mathematical and Management Sciences" in 1981 - 2000 gedien.

Op die breër akademiese terrein, was hy vanaf 1997 tot 2005 lid van die Raad van die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns en lid van die "Academy of Science of South Africa" (ASSAF), 2000 – 2016. Hy was ook geregistreer by die Suid-Afrikaanse Raad vir Natuurwetenskaplike Professies en verskeie jare lid van die Adviserende Onderwyskomitee van die Raad.

Hy het, in ooreenstemming met sy Universiteit se Christelike karakter, navorsing gedoen en gepubliseer in Wetenskapsfilosofie. Hy het ook as dosent in Interfakultére Wetenskapsleer opgetree en gepubliseerde studiemateriaal daarvoor voorberei.

In Februarie 1974 is 'n tweeling seuntjie, Jannie en dogtertjie Martie vir hulle gebore. Vanaf Julie 1978 tot Julie 1982 was Jan koshuisvader vir die manskoshuise Klooster en Veritas. Hulle jongste kind, 'n seun Gerrie is gebore terwyl hulle in die huisvaderswoning van Klooster gewoon het. Van Veritas af het hulle na 'n nuwe huis, deur hulle ontwerp en laat bou, verhuis. Hier het hulle tot April 2018 gewoon.

Op gemeenskapsvlak, het hy verskeie termyne gedien as diaken en ouderling en skriba in verskillende Gereformeerde gemeentes. Het ook gedien as katkisasiemeester. Verder was hy betrokke as Kommandant en soms ook as Streekleier van die Voortrekkerbeweging, tydens 1978-1988. Hy was lid van die bestuursrade van Laerskool Mooirivier en Potchefstroom Gimnasium, waar die kinders op skool was. Hy was altyd lief vir klassieke musiek, het graag goeie boeke gelees en gereeld aan oefenprogramme vir fiksheid deelgeneem.

Na sy aftrede by die Navorsingskantoor, het Jan nog een jaar daar deeltyds gewerk. Vanaf 2007 tot 2018, het hy as Kwaliteitskoördineerder in die Fakulteit Natuurwetenskappe in die kantoor van die Dekaan, prof. Kobus Pienaar, ook op deeltydse basis, ondersteuning gegee. In die tyd was hy verantwoordelik vir die goeie verloop van talle interne en eksterne evaluerings van onderrig, voorgraads sowel as nagraads. In Maart 2017 is die boek "‘n Bekroonde Nalatenskap: Die Fakulteit Natuurwetenskappe van die NWU oor 100 jaar", onder redakteurskap van prof. ES van Eeden en waarvan hy die projekleier en skrywer van etlike hoofstukke was, verskyn en is dit by 'n feestelike geleentheid oorhandig. Aan die einde van 2018 het hy besluit om uit te tree by die Universiteit en saam met Ans 'n rustiger aftreetyd te geniet.

In Maart 2018 is hulle dogter Martie aan pulmonêre hipertensie oorlede, nadat sy die vorige 4 jare as gevolg van haar gesondheidstoestand weer in die ouerhuis gewoon het. In April van dieselfde jaar, verhuis hulle na 'n meenthuis in Strauss Park, Strausslaan, ook in Potchefstroom.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Jan Cornelius Geertsema was born on 22 November 1940 in Swartruggens, Transvaal, South Africa as the eldest of the 3 sons of his parents Johan Hendrik Geertsema and Anna Maria Gereta Coetzee. His father was a teacher at Rodeon High School there.

Jan's baptism was in the Reformed church in Ventersdorp on 29 December 1940 and Rev. A. Postma officiated. Because he got his Grandpa Jan Geertsema's name, Grandpa gave him a christening dress and Grandpa and Grandma were present from Potchefstroom. His cousin, Annatjie Geertsema brought him to the pulpit.

Jan had his primary school education at Swartruggens Central School, until April of 1953, in his Standard 5 year, when the family moved to Pretoria, where his father got a position as lecturer at the Pretoria College of Education. In Pretoria. He completed his primary school education at Wonderboom South Primary School.

After that he was a pupil at Wonderboom High School, where he passed matric in 1958 with 5 distinctions in the subjects Afrikaans, German, Mathematics, Science and History. In Standards 9 and 10 he was a member of the student council of the school. He played tennis for the school and regularly participated in Volkspele, which was very popular at the time. The principal of the school was dr. JC Otto, who gave strong guidance.

At the beginning of his matric year, Jan made a confession of his faith in the Reformed Church Wonderboom South. The pastor was Rev. HFV Krüger, who had a special influence on him. He was actively involved in the youth ministry of the congregation, named JV Wonderboom.

In 1959, Jan enrolled at the University of Pretoria for a degree in Chemical Engineering and received a scholarship from the large steel manufacturing company ISCOR. He lived at home and traveled the approximately 40 km back and forth daily in his small Morris car. At the end of his first year of study, after further vocational tests, he switched to study for the BSc degree in Mathematics, Mathematical Statistics and Physics as majors and completed it, 3 years after first enrollment at the University, at the end of 1961. He obtained distinction in all three majors.

In 1962 he continued his studies in Mathematical Statistics, this time with a scholarship from the insurance company Old Mutual and obtained first the BSc Honours at the end of 1962 and then the MSc in May 1965 in Mathematical Statistics under the guidance of prof. DJ Stoker. The title of the dissertation was "The Problem of Outliers". From the beginning of 1963 Jan was a lecturer at the Department of Statistics of the University.

Jan married Ans Venter on July 3, 1965, whom he had met through church friends. The wedding was in the Brooklyn Reformed Church and was officiated by Rev. WJ de Klerk from Potchefstroom, who was Ans' pastor.

Jan and Ans traveled by plane across Europe to the United States in August 1965, where he continued his studies for the PhD in Statistics at the University of California, Berkely. After 3 years of study, he completed the degree with a dissertation on the topic "Sequential Confidence Intervals based on Rank Tests" under the guidance of Prof. PJ Bickel. He was a bursary holder of the South African Scientific and Industrial Research Council and also of the Shell oil company. During this time their first child, a boy Johan was born there on 10 March 1967. Jan's mother died on 16 June 1968 in Pretoria.

Following this, Jan was hired as a Visiting Assistant Professor for an academic year at Florida State University in Tallahassee and they made the long journey from Berkeley to Tallahassee with a small Volkswagen. There he taught and did research until they returned to South Africa in June 1969, where he got a position of senior lecturer at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. In December 1968, their daughter, Annarie, was born in Tallahassee. After settling in Potchefstroom, a second daughter, Margaretha, was born in August 1970.

Jan was promoted to Professor from 1973 and was head of the Department of Statistics in the period 1975 - 1981. From 1987 to 1989 he was deputy dean of the Faculty of Science and dean from 1990 to 1998. After that he was Dean of Research until his retirement in 2005 and responsible for setting up a Research Office and conducting its business.

In his research, Jan specialized in Sequential Analysis. He published 25 research articles in this area in national and international journals. He also supervised 2 master's students and 3 doctoral students in their studies. He attended a number of foreign subject conferences and acted as a speaker and conducted research visits. These visits were largely funded by the National Research Foundation of South Africa, on the basis that he was evaluated by the Foundation as a recognized researcher. He took an active part in scientific societies and in 1976 was president of the South African Statistical Association and editor of the South African Statistical Journal from 1977 to 1980. He was also a member of international societies and was on the editorial board of the international journals "Sequential Analysis ", in 1995 - 2000 and "American Journal of Mathematical and Management Sciences" in 1981 - 2000.

In the broader academic field, he was a member of the Board of the South African Academy for Science and the Arts from 1997 to 2005 and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAF), 2000 - 2016. He was also registered with the South African Council for Natural Science Professions and for several years a member of the Advisory Education Committee of the Council.

In accordance with his University's Christian character, he conducted research and published in the philosophy of science. He acted as a lecturer in Interfaculty of Philosophy of Science and prepared published study material for this purpose.

In February 1974, a twin boy, Jannie and daughter Martie were born to them. From July 1978 to July 1982, Jan was the residence father for the men's residences Klooster and Veritas. Their youngest child, a son Gerrie was born while living in the Klooster Residence. From Veritas, they moved to a new home, designed and built by them. Here they lived until April 2018.

At the community level, he served several terms as a deacon and elder and scribe in various Reformed congregations. He also served as catechism master. Furthermore, he was involved as Commandant and sometimes also as Regional Leader of the Voortrekker Movement, during 1978-1988. He was a member of the management boards of Mooirivier Primary School and Potchefstroom Gymnasium, where the children were at school. He has always loved classical music, enjoyed reading good books and regularly participated in fitness training programs.

After retiring from the Research Office, Jan worked part-time there for another year. From 2007 to 2018, he served as Quality Coordinator in the Faculty of Science in the office of the Dean, prof. Kobus Pienaar, also on a part-time basis. During this time he was responsible for the smooth running of numerous internal and external evaluations of teaching, undergraduate as well as postgraduate. In March 2017, the book "‘n Bekroonde Nalatenskap: Die Fakulteit Natuurwetenskappe van die NWU oor 100 jaar" ("An Award-winning Legacy: The Faculty of Science of the NWU over 100 years"), edited by prof. ES van Eeden, of which he was the project leader and author of several chapters, appeared and was presented at a festive occasion. At the end of 2018, he decided to retire from the University and enjoy a quieter retirement time with Ans.

In March 2018, their daughter Martie died of pulmonary hypertension, after living in the parental home again for the previous 4 years due to her health condition. In April of the same year, they moved to a townhouse in Strauss Park, Strauss Avenue, also in Potchefstroom.

Familieregister gepubliseer / Family register published

Boektitel/Book title: Kornelis Klaassens Geertsema & Barbera Jacobs van Til Nageslag / Descendants

Buiteblad van familieregister deur Jan Geertsema gepubliseer/Cover of family register published by Jan Geertsema

Jan Geertsema het in Junie 2022 self 'n boek, met die titel hierbo, gepubliseer. Die boek bevat die stamboom met vier geslagte van die nakomelinge (met hulle genealogiese gegewens) van die genoemde voorouers. ‘n Aantal gesinsdiagramme, soos uit die genealogiese webwerf Wikitree verkry, met foto’s van die individue, waar beskikbaar, is ingesluit. Geskiedkundige foto’s is opgeneem. Verhalende stof oor hul lewensloop verskyn by die name van sommiges. Vroeg in die boek, is ‘n kort beskrywing van die geografiese en historiese konteks, met verbandhoudende landkaarte. Die aanbieding is in beide Afrikaans en Engels. Wat telkens na vore kom, is gelowige deelname aan die Gereformeerde godsdiens en daarmee gepaardgaande roepingsbewustheid en hardwerkendheid. Net 'n klein aantal eksemplare van die boek is in boekvorm gepubliseer, maar die e-uitgawe is wyd onder familielede versprei. 'n Foto van die buiteblad, wat die name van die twee ouers en hulle 9 kinders uit hulle familiebybel bevat, is hierby aangeheg. // Jan Geertsema self-published a book with the above title in June 2022. The book contains the family tree with four generations of the descendants (with their genealogical data) of the mentioned ancestors. A number of family diagrams, as obtained from the genealogical website Wikitree, with photographs of the individuals, where available, are included. Historical photos were taken. Narrative material about their life course appears in the names of some. Early in the book, is a brief description of the geographical and historical context, with related maps. The presentation is in both Afrikaans and English. What comes up again and again is faithful participation in the Reformed religion and accompanying awareness of calling and hard work. Only a small number of copies of the book were published in book form, but the e-edition was widely distributed among family members. A photo of the cover of the book, which contains the names of the parents and theri 9 children from their family bible, is attached

Sources

• First-hand information. Entered by Jan Cornelius Geertsema.
• Birth Certificate of jan Cornelius Geertsema scanned from original in family possession attached.
• History book Faculty of Natural Sciences: "‘n Bekroonde Nalatenskap: Die Fakulteit Natuurwetenskappe van die NWU oor 100 jaar"

To-do-lists

• Jan's to-do-list CoetzeeLubbe1
• Jan's to-do-list CoetzeeLubbe2

Successor when needed

To aid WikiTree in the administration of my account should I be incapacitated, or in the event of my death, I hereby give permission for all private profiles I'm managing to be transferred to the following WikiTreers whether or not they are on the Trusted Lists: Johan Geertsema, Annarie Aucamp, Margaretha Geertsema-Sligh, Jannie Geertsema, Gerrie Geertsema.

Quick Links // Vinnige skakels