Marie Everdina Wilhelmina Versnel, or affectionately known as Riet to her Dutch family and friends, passed away peacefully on the 12th of February 2026 in Frisco, Texas. 

Marie was born the 21st of September 1940, in Zuidland, a small Dutch farming village.  She immediately had to endure the hardships of the war with the bombing of the nearby city of Rotterdam and her father being picked up by the Germans to work in a labor camp.  He managed to escape, and with the war ended she began to enjoy a childhood helping her father with the farm animals.  It was a modest and frugal lifestyle that shaped her as a person.

Marie’s curiosity expanded beyond the farm, and she committed herself to a daily three hour commute, biking (through the often windy and wet Dutch weather), taking the train and walking to attend a better school in the city.  While it left her with little opportunity (at the time) for a social life, the seeds were planted for a very different life.

After finishing her studies, she started work at Esso (Exxon) in Rotterdam where very soon she met Leo, a young, ambitious engineer at the office.  Within a year, Leo was offered a position with Esso in New Jersey, they got married, and a wonderful 60 year plus journey started: living in 23 different homes in 3 States and 5 European countries.

Resilience and curiosity were defining qualities as she made each new house a home and immersed herself in building friendships with neighbors, colleagues’ families and other avid tennis players.  Combined with her friendliness, playful humor and endearing Dutch accent (which she couldn’t or wouldn’t shake), her community of friends grew with each move.  People who could not place her accent were given a few minutes to keep guessing until she would falsely inform them that she was from Mississippi.  She would also enjoy telling people that her birthday was on September 31st, and when more critically thinking people would note that September does not have 31 days, she would throw them off track by saying that September has 31 days in Holland.

Her pranks could also take on simple forms, from planting plastic spiders under pillows to telling a friend applying for US citizenship that the application included singing the National Anthem in front of the review board.  All who knew her loved her mischievous smile and twinkle in her eyes.  Once she engaged with you, you remained her friend, and if you were a recipient of one of her jokes or pranks, you knew you had made her inner circle for life.

Her sense of humor was balanced with a typical Dutch direct approach, and she would not shy away from giving her opinion about people inclined to pretentiousness.   She remained a frugal farmer’s daughter with a deep respect for the powers of nature and a love for animals throughout.  She would easily choose a day home with her cats over a shopping spree at designer stores. If not bargain shopping, talking on the phone, cooking new recipes, spending time with family or cats, you would find her running around a tennis or pickleball court. For her, being on the court meant so much, especially the social aspect with her tennis team in the Woodlands and later her pickleball group in Frisco.

Most of all, Marie dedicated herself to her children, Jay and Carla, and grandchildren Daniel, Michael, Laura, Juliana and Annelise.  For 46 years she had, at any one time, at least one child or grandchild who was in elementary school or younger.  Marie made the most of it and could spend hours on the floor playing with the children. Even they were not immune to her occasional card and board game antics (cheating)- not to win but to get a laugh. As each of them grew older, she continued to show up as often as possible and support them in all of their passions.

While her frugality would arise occasionally when comparing her childhood with now, she still could not resist buying plenty of toys and clothes for the grandchildren (albeit with a preference to finding a good discount at Marshalls).  And she and Leo ensured family bonds with annual reunions even as it became increasingly difficult to find times that worked for families in the Netherlands and Texas.  But with the same determination she had to commute to her school, she and Leo kept a long-distance family together with 10 reunions, not to mention having homes for several years in both Texas and the Netherlands to be able to remain close to the (grand)children.

After over 85 years, of which over 60 years married to the love of her life, our beloved Riet, wife, mom, Oma, and mother-in-law passed away peacefully.  She will be deeply missed but we will find consolation with all the fond memories and in the words of Thomas Campbell:

"To live in the hearts we leave behind, is not to die."