My grandma Lena Bouwman immigrated to the United States from the Netherlands as a child in 1952. She was born in 1947 in Gees, Netherlands, where she lived until age 5. Her father fought in World War II. Her mother died after giving birth to her. She was raised by her stepmother Tjettjet Sipma. In 1952, she and her family boarded a freighter in Rotterdam, seeing the Statue of Liberty upon arrival in New York. They settled in Missouri, then moved to California in 1957. My grandma now lives in Tulare, California with her four children and 13 grandchildren.