Cornelius Noordover passed away peacefully with his family by his side on August 12th, 2025 at Highpoint at Stonecrest near The Villages, FL.
Opa was a simple man of few words, but immense character and a kind heart, who showed his love for those around him by always helping them any way he could or just being with them and enjoying their company – this included his family, friends, coworkers and all those he knew throughout the soccer community (his lifelong passion).
The following provides some detail about a life well lived.
Opa was the 6th of 10 children born to Johannes Noordover and Ardriana (Kwartel) Noordover on November 20, 1926 in Wassenaar, The Netherlands; where he grew up in a small 2 story home on Tuinpad street.
Opa lost his mother when he was seven years old and his oldest sister Corrie became the matriarch of the family and the two developed a special bond; in Opa’s retirement years he made it a priority to regularly visit her in Canada.
After Opa completed “six years of kindergarten”, at about the age of 12, he started working a variety of jobs until he enlisted in the Dutch army in 1946, including delivering vegetables, delivering bread, working in a bakery and working at an auto service center. Even though he was 18 when World War II ended, he was never taken to work for the Germans, a miracle that remains unexplained to this day..
Opa served in the Dutch army from 1946 through 1950, his training was in Scotland and he was deployed to Indonesia. He shared stories about some of the duties he had as a soldier, but mostly he talked about how he was privileged to play soccer regularly and through these stories it became obvious that he was a special player as the highest level officers wanted him to play for their teams.
When Opa returned home in 1950, he went to work in a machine shop in The Hague, about 10 km from his home town of Wassenaar. It was there he learned the skills that he would use the rest of his life, including the “Opa fix” days with his young grandchildren.
In the early 50’s he met Josephine, dated for several years and made plans to emigrate to the United States; they were married on May 23, 1956 and arrived by ship in Hoboken, NY in August, 1956. They settled in Sheboygan, WI, where Josephine’s sister Connie and her family, who were their sponsors, resided. Connie and Harry and their extended family adopted Cor and Josephine and helped them get acclimated to the United States and they often spent time together, including “egg night” every Saturday evening. Harry helped Opa get his job at Hayssen Mfg., a manufacturing business that built custom wrapping machines and blowmolding equipment, where he worked for 30 years till his retirement in 1986.
The early years in Sheboygan were the beginnings of family life and building a home, John was born in 1958 and Frank was born in 1962; around 1965 Cor and Josephine bought their first house on Alexander Ct, which they lived in until they moved to Florida in 1989. Over the years, Opa brought a variety of Josephine’s visions to life by renovating every room in the house, including adding a paved driveway and a garage, transforming the living and dining room into a great room, renovating the kitchen, adding a large “rec” room in the back, residing the exterior of the house and building a wrap-around deck in the back.
With Harry’s help, Opa got connected to the Sheboygan Sports Club, where he played soccer until his final game in Neenah, WI in his mid 40’s. Through the soccer club, Cor and Josephine made lifelong friends, who became “family” and they had a wonderful social life spending time with them, going to dances at the church and the soccer club and celebrating special occasions.
They moved to Marion Oaks, FL and once again connected with several couples who became lifelong friends, the group shared countless gatherings, special occasions and outings together over the years. In 2006 they moved to The Villages and enjoyed the “Disneyland for Seniors” environment including the music in the squares, golfing and the numerous pools. They also stayed busy by frequently meeting John at his establishments in the Tampa area, enjoying the company of his patrons and helping any way they could. In addition to all the fun Cor and Josephine had with friends and John in Florida, they loved hosting their grandchildren and sharing all the great things in and around their home in central Florida.
Cor and Josephine loved to travel with their kids, their friends, family who visited from The Netherlands and their grandchildren. Some of the highlights were trips back to The Netherlands in 1961, 1972, 1996 and their return in 2011 was an extra special trip for them as they took their grandchildren, Christian and Francesca, to see their homeland. Other notable trips included multiple trips to Canada to visit Opa’s sister, the World cup in Mexico in 1970, the Orange Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Rose bowl to see Wisconsin to defeat UCLA, Disney World the first year it opened, Niagara Falls, New Orleans, Seattle, Alaska, Portugal, England, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Belgium, Hawaii, Washington DC, Las Vegas, countless trips to Chicago to visit their grandkids, numerous cruises with their kids and grandkids and many others. Opa would often comment in his later years that he’d “been there” when seeing them on TV.
Opa’s love for soccer began when he was 12 years old when he gave his first earnings to his father, since the family didn’t have much money; his father returned 25 cents back to him, which Opa immediately went to the Blauw Zwart soccer club to pay his initiation fee and first month’s dues. He played for Blauw Zwart for about 8 years until he enlisted and again when he returned from Indonesia; he was one of the key contributors to the team during their success from 1950-1956.
The “beautiful game” of soccer would ultimately become Opa’s lifelong passion, a game he played into his 40s and refereed into his mid 80s; along the way he enjoyed the competition on the field and camaraderie of teammates after practices and games and he always gave back to the game by doing whatever was needed, including coaching and managing the team, helping with field and facility maintenance; later he worked with younger players to get them interested in the game and ultimately refereeing games at many levels for more than 40 years. He often shared stories of the fun he had as a player and the challenges of being a referee and the honor he felt when he was inducted into the Wisconsin Soccer Hall of Fame in 1987.
Cor is survived by his sons, John and Frank, his daughter-in-law, Maria, his grandchildren, Christian and Francesca and a brother-in-law and two sisters-in-law, Wim and Annika (Dirks) and Jo (Gelauf) Bayer.
He is preceded in death by his parents, his wife, his brothers and sisters and all the other in-laws besides Wim, Annika and Jo.
The family thanks all of the home health workers, the staff at Highpoint and the staff of Vitas Hospice for their care and kindness to Opa over his last months.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Thursday August 28th at 10:00 a.m. at Laurel Manor Center at 1985 Laurel Manor Dr in the Villages, FL located at the intersection of County Road 466 and Buena Vista Dr.