Winkel, Sophia Zurel
Sophia Zurel Winkel was born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on April 22, 1928 to Keetje (Wertheim) and Isidore Zurel. She grew up in that city, where she endured much of World War II in hiding, losing some 45 family members during that time.
She emigrated to the U.S. in 1956 with her then-husband, where her two children were born. She became a U.S. citizen in 1961. After returning to Europe for several years, she settled in Atlanta, GA in 1969, where she worked in bookkeeping in insurance and interior decorating businesses. Following retirement, she remained near her son’s family and triplet grandchildren in Atlanta, moving to Blacksburg, Va. in 2007 to be near her daughter’s family and twin grandchildren. She was predeceased by her parents and older brothers, Jacques and Wolf Zurel. Sophia Zurel Winkel passed away on June 14, 2016 at the age of 88.
She remains in the hearts of her son and daughter, Peter Willem Winkel and Brenda Sophia Jacqueline Winkel; daughter- and son-in-law, Karen Kratzer Winkel and Jim Westwood; grandchildren, Katie, Erik, and Ryan (and wife Nichole) Winkel, and Anna and John Westwood; sister-in-law, Ans Winkel; nephews and nieces, Robert, Guus, and Marly Zurel, Jeanne (Zurel) Lemmon, Elizabeth (Zurel) Betz, Margreet Stocks, Tiemen and Ronald Winkel, and Hetty van Dijk, Regien Breedijk, Mieneke Norder, and Margreet Gobert; life-long friend, Riet Bicker, as well as many recent special friends including Laverne Eaves and members of the Warm Hearth’s Dogwood Circle community, especially Reba Edwards and Janet Shafran.
The family is indebted to Drs. Gregory Beato and Jerome Goldschmidt and their wonderful staff as well as the staff at the Kroger Main Street Pharmacy for kind and expert care over the past several years, and to the remarkable medical and support staff at Lewis Gale, Heritage Hall, and Good Samaritan Hospice. Arrangements by McCoy Funeral Home, Blacksburg.
November 26, 2020 @ 9:47 am
Dear family of Sophia Winkel-Zurel,
My name is Friederike de Raat, I am Dutch and I live in The Netherlands. During WWII an aunt of your mother, Rachel Zurel (1904), hided in the house where I live now. I’m very interested in WWII and since some years I try to reconstruct the path that Rachel followed from the center of Amsterdam to ‘my house’ in Winterswijk during the war. In archives in Amsterdam I found a picture of Sophia’s parents of the day they married in 1932. A beautiful picture which I can send to you if you don’t have a copy of it. I wonder if you know the other persons on the picture. I think Sophia is on it as well.
I would be very gratefull if you would contact me.
Yours sincerely, Friederike de Raat/The Netherlands
November 26, 2020 @ 11:00 am
Dear family of Sophia Winkel-Zurel,
Sorry, I made a mistake: the picture I was writing about is of an uncle and aunt of Sophia. But I am quite sure that Sophia is on it.
Yours sincerely,
Friederike de Raat