Lia de Clerk, the first ever resident in Almere, dies at the age of 90
Lia de Clerck, the first resident of Almere in the province of Flevoland, passed away on Sunday, the city's archive office reported on Monday. She celebrated her 90th birthday last week, on November 28, and two days later was the 47th anniversary of her relocation to Almere. De Clerk moved to Almere in 1976, and was handed the first key on November 30 of that year, after the first house in the new city was finished.
The city of Almere was officially established that year, having been was built on land reclaimed from the IJsselmeer, a former bay of the North Sea. This project, part of a series of constructions that transformed the sea into polders, created new land for development to accommodate the increasing population in the Randstad.
"Together with her husband Henk, she received the first key to their home at the Schoolwerf on November 30, 1976. This made her the first resident of the city," the Stadsarchief Almere said. On that date, 25 others also received the keys to their new home. De Clerk soon moved into her residence on Schoolwerf in Almere Haven, where the first homes were constructed, Omroep Flevoland reported.
"Throughout her life in Almere, Lia de Clerk was an important ambassador for the city," the archive office said. "There are many photos of Lia, and video footage of her enthusiastically talking about Almere."
The office noted De Clerk's recent visit with her daughters, Esther and Deborah, when they had an opportunity to privately look at an exhibition of photos depicting life in the city the first few years it existed.
She became famous thanks to her title of "first resident" and joined the Almere Walk of Fame in 2013. She met King Willem Alexander in 2016. De Clerck celebrated her 90th birthday on November 28.
A total of 222,825 people resided in Almere at the start of 2023, according to data from Statistics Netherlands. It began the year as the eighth largest city in the Netherlands, behind Tilburg, where the population is greater by about 5,000 people. Almere has roughly 36,500 more residents than Breda, the ninth largest Dutch city.
