He is confined to his bed, but Fons Pauwels’ head is still clear. The stories of the past and poems from his childhood roll out. At a simple request he plays a piece on his clarion.
Fons Pauwels. — © Sven Dillen
He also did that on his hundredth birthday. Then he played The Last Post at the Sint-Martinus monument in Tessenderlo for the fallen soldiers. Pauwels himself was born in 1917, at the end of the First World War. On his birthday, May 8, the end of the Second World War is commemorated. During WWII, Pauwels was part of the 22nd engineer battalion and was forced to work in Hannover for two years by the Germans. After the war, he worked for the Looise insulation manufacturer Pittsburgh, among others, until he retired at the age of sixty.
Priest Wim Simons and Fons Pauwels. — © rr
For his birthday, family and friends came to eat a piece of cake. Pastor Wim Simons also came to wish Fons a happy birthday. “I also said that to the pastor yesterday. 107, that’s nothing, but where do I go? shoe mask come across? That’s something different,” laughs Fons. Pauwels became a widower in 1969. He has four sons.
Fons Pauwels may live with his grandson in Schakkebroek, but he was actually born and raised in Tessenderlo. He received a medal with the image of the royal couple from Karolien Eens, mayor of Tessenderlo. “My first medal, because I never received one before my time in the army,” says Pauwels, who immediately asks whether there is still a place available for him on the list in the coming elections.
Fons between his sons Jos (left) and Kamiel with the medal he received from the municipality of Tessenderlo. — © Sven Dillen
According to the website nieuwelingen.blogspot.com, Fons Pauwels is the oldest Limburger and the fourth-oldest man in the country. The eldest man, Louis Bellens from Geel, was born on November 18, 1916. Including the women, Pauwels is in eighteenth place in the ranking of oldest Belgians.
© Sven Dillen
“The fact that he is the oldest Limburger does not leave him unmoved,” says Fons’ son Kamiel (68). “The past few days he was counting down until his birthday. He still reads the newspaper and can even talk about the problems in Gaza.” There is a good chance that Fons also had a drink on his birthday. When he turned one hundred, he mentioned “a dropke or a Primus van Haacht every day” as the secret to his old age. Although he also puts his own merits into perspective. “I have nothing to say, you have to ask the big boss above how I got so old.”
Last year, Pauwels made the news with a funny misunderstanding. He was invited to the viewing moment of the first year of primary school Hartelust in Tessenderlo. It was intended for children born in 2017, but Fons – year of birth 1917 – also accidentally ended up in that list.
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