Southeast Missourian

In March of 1945, Lillian Statler was home from college on spring break when everyone she ran into kept saying she was on the cover of LIFE magazine.

But by the time she got to Jones Drugstore to see what all the fuss was about, the store was sold out.

The Jackson native didn't think too much about it at the time. It was a few years later before she even saw a copy of the edition all her friends and family were talking about.

They say everyone has a twin somewhere in the world. But it was many years later when Lillian Statler, now Lillian Johnson, met hers.

A couple years ago, her youngest son Bryan and his wife Vivian uncovered the magazine in an antique store, which sparked a renewal of interest. With Bryan working for Continental Airlines in St. Louis, Lillian and her husband, Dr. Earl Johnson, could fly anywhere, anytime for free. So the couple decided to try and find Maria Huysman, the woman in the photo on the March 19, 1945, cover of LIFE.

The Huysman family was featured in LIFE because Maria's village Brigdamme and surrounding communities were flooded as a result of World War II dike bombing. The Huysmans lived on Walcheren Island, off the western end of the Netherlands coast.

They survived their ordeal by constructing a catwalk from their doorstep to the barn, eating their rabbits when they drowned, butchering their goats when they drowned and providing a platform for their one remaining cow. They also lived on stored potatoes, carrots and sugar beets -- remnants of what was a highly productive root-crop farm.

Beginning the journey

In September, leaving New York on a Monday armed with their fragile and yellowing copy of LIFE magazine, the Johnsons knew nothing of Maria except where she lived in 1945. So they flew into nearby Belgium and rented a car.

"Now picture a 79-year-old alien, riding a stick-shift Toyota right out of the gate, into the morning traffic of Brussels ... with a spouse who admittedly hates maps," Earl wrote in his monthly family newsletter after the adventure. "We got honks from some of the fastest cars and biggest trucks in Belgium every time our little Toyota pulled one of its resourceful left turns, or performed one of its visionary lane changes ... not to mention the clutch-related delays we caused when the lights turned green."

What was supposed to be a two-hour drive to the Johnsons' first destination in the Netherlands took about four hours, but they finally settled into a seaside hotel 15 miles from Brigdamme for the night. Fighting a bit of jet lag, they headed up the road the next morning and stopped at a car dealership in the village of Sint Laurens. There, the couple found out that Brigdamme was just a short distance down the road.

The one and only street in Brigdamme was lined with attractive rows of houses, each displaying its own distinctive character. The Johnsons parked their vehicle, picked a house and knocked on the door.

"It didn't take a lot of courage, just a lot of curiosity," Earl said.

The man who answered spoke some English and understood the Johnsons' quest, but had moved to that location only 10 years before and didn't know about the Huysmans. He wrote down two addresses for the couple to check.

Lucky discovery

In their pursuit of these homes, Lillian questioned a woman passing by on a bicycle, only to discover she was married to Maria's brother Bram.

"I felt like God's hand was guiding us," Lillian said. "Language was our greatest barrier."

The "bicycle lady," as the Johnsons affectionately call Jo Huysman, led them back into Sint Laurens, just two blocks from the car dealership, to the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Walraven. Mr. Walraven answered the door and asked if the Johnsons could return in 30 minutes as he and his wife were eating lunch.

The Johnsons were not sure exactly how the Walravens fit into their mission until they returned, sat down with the Dutch couple and pulled out their copy of LIFE. At this, the Walravens smiled and informed them that Mrs. Walraven was indeed Maria Huysman.

Striking resemblances

For the next hour, the two couples talked, took pictures and compared photo albums. Baby pictures of Lillian and Maria proved they were striking look-alikes even then.

In the future, the Johnsons and Walravens may meet up in California, as one of the Walravens' daughters lives in Simi Valley, Calif., and the European parents have been spending their winters in the states for the past several years. Lillian and Earl now live in Chateau Girardeau in Cape Girardeau.

jgosche@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133