Cornelis (Cor) Gaalswijk, 89, of Ghent died September 29th, 2015. Born August 11th, 1926 in Vijfhuizen, the Netherlands. He was the oldest of 8 children from the late Pieter and Veertje (Bos) Gaalswijk. Cor immigrated to this country in 1950 with his brother Hendrik and moved to St. Peter, Minnesota to work on a farm owned by his uncle. Looking for companionship in the United States in a non digital era, Cor responded to a pen pal request in a Dutch newspaper that had circulation in the U.S.. The pen pal request came from a woman who would turn out to be the love of his life, Marie, who lived in Chatham. Marie had also immigrated to the U.S. from the Netherlands, with her family. Cor eventually made the drive to N.Y. and shortly thereafter, moved to Chatham where he began working for Warren Braley on his farm at Morehouse Corners. Cor and Marie were married on national TV on the NBC show Bride and Groom on August 28th, 1953 which was intrigued by the story of how they met. Cor even turned down a new car from the show because he had just purchased one. He was known all over town as the quiet, friendly man who wore wooden shoes, which he had done going back to his childhood in the Netherlands. He ended up working for Mr. Braley and daughter Alexis throughout his remaining life. He held various roles there including foreman during the time the farm had 200+ Holstein cows. He was a family man who loved his wife more then life itself and almost everything he did was geared towards his family. He was a member of St. Peter's Presbyterian church in Spencertown since he had moved to Chatham. He is survived by his 4 children: Sherry Vennett of Tampa, FL, Pete Gaalswijk (Liz) of Tucson, AZ, Cornel Gaalswijk (Randa) of Granby, CT, and Marcia Knetzke (Bruce) of Tampa, Fl., a sister, Geert Tyssen (Aart) and brother Andre Gaalswijk, both in the Netherlands, a brother-in-law Adriaan Ooms (Dinie) of Valatie 3 sisters-in-law, Nel Briggs (William) of Owego, NY, Margo Ruther (William) of Duanesburg, NY, and Annie McHugh (Edward) of Pittsfield, MA, 10 grandchildren, Michelle, Jennifer, Sean, Sarah, Kyle, Jarrod, Justin, Nicholas, Jacob and Zachary and 1 great grandson, Bryan Humphries. He was predeceased by his wife Marie, grandson Mathew and son-in-law Mark Vennett as well as brothers Hendrik, Gerard, Pieter and sisters Eep and Maryke. Calling hours will be Friday, October 2nd at the Wenk funeral home from 6:00-8:00. The funeral will be held Saturday, October 3rd at 10:00 am from St Peter's Prebyterian Church Spencertown, N.Y. with the internent and a light lunch following the service. Memorials in lieu of flowers may be made to the St Peter's Presbyterian Church P.O. Box 14 Spencertown, N.Y. 12165.For on-line condolences visit wenkfuneralhome.com