Page 35 - Free State Winter 2021

FEATURED MEMBER (Continued)

His warning to all members: “Please do volunteer, because
if you do not, they will draft you and keep you.”

Verbrugge was born in 1947 in The Netherlands, the third
child of six. He was baptized Wilhelmus Albertus Maria
Verbrugge. He did not like the nickname Bill, so when he

came to the U.S.A., he became William.
Verbrugge’s father, Jan, grew tulips, daffodils, anemones
and dahlias on rented land to provide for his family. Times
were tough, but the family also grew vegetables and had
fruit from a small orchard.

None of the six children wanted to follow in their father’s
footsteps. Verbrugge said, “I lost my interest in growing
after I tried and tried to manually remove weeds from the
anemones on my hands and knees.”
Graduating from high school in 1964, he worked two years
for Bulbhorst, an exporting company where one of his
uncles was a leading salesman who traveled back and
forth to the United States. In that era, the United States
was looked upon as the role model and savior of many
European countries. When his uncle came to visit, he
would tell the Verbrugge family all about the economic
wealth and opportunities in the USA.

Drafted into the military at age 19 (the first three sons of
each family were required to serve 18 months), Verbrugge first trade show. West Virginia was not part of MANTS at
was assigned to the Royal Dutch Navy. He was never that time.
assigned to a ship but became a codeur/telexist in
communications. He saved a youngster from drowning Verbrugge returned to The Netherlands in April 1969,
while on a sailing trip with friends and for that received a coming back in the fall. For about a year, he struck
certificate of merit. out on his own, selling bulbs to employees of large
companies in the Baltimore area from a catalog. He
He returned to his job with the exporter, by then renamed
also planted tulips, 10,000 a day by hand, in Sherwood
B & K Flowerbulbs, before emigrating to the United States
Gardens, which is still a neighborhood community
in 1968. There he worked a few months under a visitor’s
garden in Roland Park.
visa/passport at Sheridan Gardens in Bethesda, Md.,
Back in The Netherlands at Christmas 1970, he was faced
co-owned by Carl Darling and Leo Hanrahan. He stayed
with making a permanent life decision. A call to Joe
with their families while selling seeds and bulbs and doing
Watson, owner of Watson’s Garden Center in Lutherville,
residential landscaping jobs, all for $5 a day plus room
Md., resulted in a job offer. Watson got Verbrugge a
and board.
green card, making him a permanent resident alien. He
In January 1969, his employers took Verbrugge to his first became a U.S. citizen in 1996.
pre-MANTS trade show in the Washingtonian Country
Club in Montgomery County, Md. That is where the He worked for Watson, then for J. H. Neuman, a
Maryland and Virginia Nurserymen Associations had their wholesale florist in Baltimore, Md., and for C. R.
(continued on next page)

Get Active. Stay Involved. • WINTER 2021 35