Mattheus (Theo) Bijster grew up on streets over which Wehrmacht tanks rolled, then sailed the world as a submariner before becoming an electronics expert at NCR in Dundee.
Mr Bijster, who has died aged 82, was born in Tiel, The Netherlands, and, as a child, was a witness to the Nazi occupation.
He went on to join the Royal Dutch Navy and it was while his vessel was on a courtesy visit to Dundee that he met his future wife, Margaret Leslie Law, at the JM Ballroom.
Luftwaffe
Theo’s son Raymond said: “My father was evacuated from Tiel as a child but can remember German tanks in the street and Luftwaffe aircraft overhead.
“When he was 17, he left home to go to sea. He trained at Amsterdam before joining the submarine section based in Rotterdam and qualifying as a radio-radar technician.
“He went on to serve on the Royal Dutch Navy’s HNLMS Zeeleeuw, HNLS Zeehond and HNLMS Walrus submarines and came to Dundee in the late 1950s on a courtesy visit because of Dundee’s role as a submarine base during the war.”
JM Ballroom
It was on that visit, accompanied by crewmates and dressed in his naval uniform, Theo went to the JM Ballroom. He asked Margaret, a medical secretary at Liff Hospital, to dance, struck up a friendship and continued to correspond when he returned to sea.
In 1962, the couple married at Wallacetown Parish Church in Dundee and, for a period, Margaret lived with her in-laws in Utrecht in The Netherlands.
When Theo left the navy, the couple lived with Margaret’s parents in Broughty Ferry before buying a house in the Gotterstone area of Dundee where they spent their entire married life.
NCR career
The couple went on to have four children: Paul, Raymond, Richard and Louise.
In 1962, Theo joined NCR and started work on the production line because his Dutch qualifications were not understood.
However, after sitting a test and having his qualifications verified, his abilities were recognised and he was given a position as an electronics test engineer.
As computerisation was introduced across commerce and business in the 1970s, Theo had two spells in the United States learning NCR’s Tower system in order to train staff in Dundee.
Theo was a keen gardener and was also a long-standing member of the Submarine Old Comrades’ Association where he served as their treasurer in Dundee for 17 years.