Family connects in a crazy turn of events

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By Amber Hayden

GLENWOOD CITY — It was a meeting that came about after Judie Johnson connected with Mike Buysse by pure accident.

Gert, Marc, and Jozef had visited the Bonte family in 2007 from Belgium. The families are connected through Jeannie DeCleene.

Jeannie DeCleene was born on August 6, 1899, on a farm near Glenwood City, with her two brothers, Henry and Peter, and five sisters, Emma, Josephine, Angeline, Mary, and Leona. Jeannie is Judie Johnson and Sandy Barriault’s grandmother.

Axel Bonte met Jeannie when he had heard that a farmer, Edmond DeCleene, was looking for a hired hand. In the family history book, Axel recalls seeing Jeannie and knew it was the beginning of a courtship, which later became a happy union.

“I connected by accident with Marc, now Mike Buysse, when I was trying to reconnect with Gert and Marc Buysse and their uncle Jozef DeCleene,” said Judie.

Judie had emailed Gert, Marc (who ended up being Mike), and Jozef in hopes to reconnect with them and had received a response from Gert explaining that Jozef no longer was interested in any of the “computer stuff.”

“I received a response from Marc, which I thought was Marc number one, and was e-mailing back and forth before he responded saying he was not the first Marc I had met,” Judie explained and noted it caused her some confusion until the next e-mail arrived.

Mike went on to explain that while Judie “was at the right tree, but at the wrong branch,” and he was indeed related to Marc and Gert Buysse as he is married to their sister Rita, but he had legally changed his name to Mike because he was tired of being labeled “Marc #2 or Marc without the glasses.”

Marc and Mike are also related as their grandfathers were brothers, but the brothers had gone their separate ways.

“He, Mike, was hoping that we could still continue to communicate with each other as family,” Judie stated. “Which I agreed to do, and we have continued to communicate since that e-mail response.”

Mike’s dream was to return to America after previously visiting the western area of the United States, so plans were made to visit the Bontes and anyone who was related to Jennie DeCleene’s family.

Mike Buysse arrived in Chicago on August 19 and stayed through September 2 as he visited with numerous members of the Bonte family.

On August 22, Buysse arrived at Judie’s home, located outside of Amery, and they spent time getting to know each other before Buysse ventured off to meet more of the family, including Judie’s cousin Gina Kratz and her husband John who also live in Amery.

Gina and John took Buysse to the Minnesota State Fair where he experienced his first taste of Sweet Martha’s cookies and the Sky Ride that went over the entire fair.

“He couldn’t get over Gina having pie with ice cream,” Judie explained. “He had never seen that before and thought Americans had strange eating habits.”

“I guess what we are trying to say are the two cultures and how different they are,” Sandy said. “Things we take for granted are so foreign to them.”

Kelly Veenendaal and her family hosted Buysse during his stay in Wisconsin after Kelly and her family had visited Belgium in July of 2019, introducing the Veenendaal’s to Flemish Stew, made mainly of meat and onions, which is a Belgian favorite.

“Mike loved waking up to the country land where he could hear roosters and cows,” Kelly explained of Mike’s stay at her home in Baldwin. “He enjoyed the farm fields and watching the farmers at work.”

Connections

Buysse found he had a love for bacon and cheese curds from Cady Cheese Factory. He had never had cheese curds before, and he didn’t leave Wisconsin without a supper club experience at the Laurel Supper Club.

“He couldn’t believe the size coffee he got when he was here,” Judie explained. “Or that they kept coming back and refilling it for free.”

“We had to remind him that he couldn’t smoke inside, and they don’t call them supper clubs over in Belgium,” Sandy stated. “There they are just restaurants.”

Judie’s husband Ken and his brother Clint took Mike to Red Cedar Lake Speedway outside of New Richmond after learning that he enjoyed car racing but had never seen a race on a dirt track. He was impressed.

“Mike explained that when they want to go to the races they have to travel over to France,” said Judie. “Which is not that far, but he said it is all open-wheel over there. There is no such thing as dirt track racing over there.”

A majority of the Bonte family met in Stillwater to take Buysse on a river boat cruise down the St. Croix River, after which they drove around Emerald and Glenwood City showing Buysse the old Bonte family farm and the cemetery.

Buysse also visited with Gloria Willert’s son, Scott, in Green Bay for several days. Gloria is the youngest daughter of Axel and Jeannie Bonte.

“Mike and I went to Lambeau field on the first day that he was here and did a tour that included him doing some shopping in the pro shop,” said Scott.

Buysse was also fascinated with the names of some of the towns in Wisconsin such as Brussels, Namur, and Luxemburg.

“He’s a really nice guy, and we had a lot of fun with him,” Judie said.

“He’s also very historic and loves history,” Barriault explained.

Buysse told Judie that he plans to come back to Wisconsin as soon as possible, and that he will be trying to quit smoking.

According to Sandy Barriult, the family works on and prints a new family history each year.