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My History
I'm Luc Matthijs,
with roots in Lochristi (East-Flanders, Belgium).
Lochristi
was a town between Ghent and Lokeren, famous for his flowers (as the begonia, azalea, ...),
but is now slowly becoming a suburb of Ghent.
Most horticultures do one by one close down and are replaced by shops or houses.
I did "emigrate" to Brussels (Belgium) in 1963,
as many in my family the last 100 years. And stayed also abroad (Germany) for 12 years, between 1974 and 1986.
After 'some' studies, I graduated as an officer of administration in 1969.
The Army did send me as the Pay & Administration offcier to the following regiments:
6 Linie (Antwerpen, BEL), 51 Logistiek (Aachen, NRW, BRD), 2 Artillerie (Lüdenscheid, NRW, BRD),
4 Logistiek & Tpt (Köln, NRW, BRD).
And after that for the following HQ, again as Pay & Administration officer for the personal of those HQ:
HQ 1st (BE) Corps (Weiden, NRW, BRD), General HQ (Evere, BEL) and Interior Forces HQ (Tervuren, BEL).
Finally, after some months at the School of Administration (Vilvoorde, BEL) as instructor.
As Administration officer abroad (1974-1986) I was responsible for the Civil registers
related to members of the regiment (and their families).
And did register quite a few births, marriages and deaths.
I was send to the Budget Division as ICT specialist in 1990.
I did write my first FORTRAN application in 1967, with some succes and one error.
That error was some months after that recognized by IBM as a bug.
In 1987 I could use one of the 4 first PC AT's in the Army.
Again only one major problem (disk controller).
And again recognizezd as a system bug some months after that.
At the Budget Division I helped to downsize some real mainframe aplications to the world of PC's and LAN's.
It was new territory, very challenging, but also very rewarding.
I retired as Captain-Commander (US rank = between Captain and Major) the 7th of January 2000.
7 days postponed, because I was responsible for one of the major applications that must pass the "Year 200" problem.
Now that I'm retired,
my wife (who will retire somewhere around 2015)
and me do live in Evere, a suburb in the Brussels Region.
Near our children ... .
The birth town of my wife Lydie De Witte is Laarne (East-Flanders, Belgium).
It's situated 8 Km South of Lochristi.
Laarne is in fact also the roots of my MATTHYS ancestors from before 1597 until 1840.
The roots of the DE WITTE branch are situated in Oostakker, 8 km West of Lochristi,
now a subsurb of Ghent.
Our eldest daughter Sandra, did after her studies first move to the center of Brussels city (Beguinage district),
but has now settled with Bernard in Anderlecht, a municipality of Brussels-Capital Region, as Evere.
She does have a PhD and is working at the VUB ([Flemish] Free University of Brussels).
Their first son Ruben was born mid 2000, and their second son Dries was born in July 2003.
Ruben is our first grand-son and second great-grandchild of my parents.
And Andries is our second grand-son, and the fourth great-grandson of my parents.
And our youngest daughter, An, is now finishing her studies this year (2003)
and will probably settle with Yannik in Hoeilaart, a town in Flemish Brabant.
In the old, but beautifull house of his grand-parents.
We are active within the local Flemish Community Centre EVERNA of Evere.
I'm also active in the local public library Herman Teirlinck of Evere.
First as a volunteer, but now as a parttime assistant (mainly ICT and related tasks).
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