A few things about me

1. I was born and raised in Glendale, CA a city among the foothills of Los Angeles. I was born the Year of the Rat.

2. I am the child of immigrants. My parents Ron and Jeanette were born in the Dutch East Indies on the island of Java. They are Indo, a little bit of Dutch, and a little bit of Indonesian. After WWII and the Indonesians won their independence my parents who were still children at the time immigrated with their families to the Netherlands. My parents met and fell in love in Amsterdam while working for an insurance company. In the mid 50’s they settled in Southern California.

3. I was your typical kid of that era, weaned on “Leave It To Beaver” and “The Brady Bunch” – Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Little League and having a Paper Route. I loved to stop in for ice cold RC Cola or Vernor’s Ginger Ale at Chris and Tom’s - the corner liquor store, whenever I was delivering the evening paper - The Herald-Examiner.

4. My parents came to America with a hundred dollars and a dream. In my house they spoke Dutch and English. We ate hot dogs and hamburgers, but we also ate spicy Indonesian food and Dutch delicacies. I had the best, of two worlds. I was an American with a Dutch-Indonesian heritage.

5. During a little league baseball game I hit 11 RBI’s while playing for the Northwest Lions. My name was entered into the city’s baseball record books.

6. During a 1971 Boy Scout camping trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon a pack of hippies high on grass and possibly LSD, snuck into camp in the middle of the night. They startled me awake, as they stood above me with high-powered lights and a movie camera filming me as I slept. Enveloped by fear I instinctively screamed at the top of my lungs, which sent the hippies and my fellow scouts into a high state of panic as we chased them off into the dark. I wonder about that film now. Where is it? Is it in somebody’s attic? Does it hold any answers to who I am?

7. In 1972 we moved to the house on Winchester Ave. where my parents still live. My best friend was John Pitkin. We rooted for the Dodgers, played catch in the front yard, tossed the Frisbee and played endless games of ping-pong on hot summer nights. Several years later during the summer between 10th grade and 11th, John and I rode our bikes over a hundred miles from Glendale to Laguna Beach to spend several days at the beach with our friends Nick Karavidas, Bo Bickerstaff and Bill Gillis. It was the first summer that I rode a Boogie Board.

8. In 1978 I graduated after three contentious years from Herbert Hoover High School. For my graduation present my parents and my Dad’s mother – my Oma Corrie paid for mine, and my brother Eric’s visit to Holland. My dad came along to visit with his mother. During that trip I was able to meet and stay with my great, extended Indo family. On my mother’s side there was my Mom's mother - Baba, who was a very fun lady and a very big personality. She loved to gamble and be the center of attention. There were also my cousins Babs Kemperman and her family – husband Theo and their two boys Marnix and Tim, Peggy Loen and her Dad Dolph, who I nick named “The Indo Bing Crosby”, we spent time with my mom’s sisters Tante Poppy and her daughter Patte Peirera, we got together with Tante Elly, and her daughters - Sandra and her husband Ron, Joice and Grace, My uncle Jan Harting and his wife Daisy and their boys Gilbert, Jerry, Mark and Robin, along with my Mom’s youngest sister Sylvia’s children - Jennifer and Anton Krayfanger. It was a splendid summer drinking warm Heineken, eating Fritje Troup in Bergen Op Zoom and gagging on pickled Herring. Peggy zipped us in and out of Amsterdam in her “Ugly Duckling” Citroen. Theo took us to where the Battle of the Bulge was fought in Bastogne, Belgium and then to Cologne, Germany, even though he didn’t care for Germany. In Brussels we drank Stella Artois and saw a fountain of a little boy pissing. In Paris we toured the Notre Dame and found out that most “Frogs” are jerks. In London Peggy showed us the way as we sped around Picadilly Circus in a black Austin Princess taxi. On my dad's side I was able to spend time with my cousins Andy and Laura. Their Mom was my Dad's only sister, who had passed away years earlier. I was impressed with how they all seemed to roll their own cigarettes with tobacco they called Shek. I had not seen them since their visit to America in 1968.

9. When I returned from Europe I didn’t want to continue with school so I worked with my cousins Roy Harting, Dennis Eland, Christina Harting and my mom’s sister Tante Chris Eland and my mom’s brother Oom“Boy” – Al Harting, at their company HARTEL making deliveries and doing menial labor. It was a great time. I had no hopes or ambition but I basked in the delight of working with family. I was a slacker before there was a definition. I worked by day and partied all night.

10. My cousin Margie Loen helped out at Hartel now and again, but things got really fun when her husband Kami Javid joined us. He wasn’t like us Indos. He was quiet and refined with his Persian background and British education. He taught us to shoot skeet and he played a wicked game of ping-pong with the most amazing top-spin. He and I, along with Dennis and Roy spent many a weekend going hunting and fishing. I don’t think he ever fished again after a fishing trip to Morro Bay, with 20-foot swells that had everybody, but me getting sick.

11. After four years of wasted youth and ambition I quit Hartel to go to Glendale College with my brother Eric. I wanted to be a Theater Arts Major. It was good to be back in school with a fresh perspective and new outlook. Being a slacker for so many years caught up with and I eventually headed in another direction.

12. While at Glendale College I met Steve Allamillo and Dave Amarante who I spent many an adventure and party with, especially the summer of 1984. They are to this day very close friends and very important to me. Steve and I attended class and worked together at a nightclub, I’m forever grateful to Steve who managed to get me home safely after I refused medical attention after suffering a concussion at “The Wedge” in Newport Beach. Dave was Steve’s buddy who was the first “Yuppie” I ever knew. He was always so upbeat and brought class to the bunch, with his Nordstrom’s wardrobe and red Baby Benz. The three of us will always remember our 48-hour endurance ski trip to Mammoth – a twisted knee, waist deep powder, a bent spoon, no accommodations and hwy 395.

13. At the time I wanted to be an actor, I didn’t do anything significant, but find it amusing that I was an extra in “This is Spinal Tap,” having no idea that it would be a movie of lasting cultural significance. I was also an extra as a Mexican gang member in a dog of a movie called “Deadly Force” starring Wings Hauser. The production was so low budget that during a scene with me in the background I mugged so much for the camera I took away the action from the actors, but because it was a one take shot I didn’t get cut. Years later when I was in the Navy my buddy Mark Wright called to say he was watching a bad cop movie and I was in the background as a fat Mexican gang member – My path to stardom – LOL.

14. I wanted to do so much, but seemed to go in a million directions. I wanted an education, party, sleep off my hangovers, make new friends, not pay my parking fines, miss school, blah, blah, blah… For a while I worked part time, while going to school as a bellboy. The tips were great, the job was fun and easy, and everybody at the Burbank Holiday Inn was, an aspiring actor, songwriter, comedian, scriptwriter, etc., as was my friend Ron Preston – fellow Bell Boy, aspiring actor - direct from Ohio. We became fast friends, staying up late nights discussing the merits of the Godfather, arguing what band was better - Led Zeppelin or the Stones and passing out Holiday Inn room keys to our friends.

15. Since school wasn’t as successful as I had hoped it to be I set my sights on what I do best and get paid for it, which is the gift to gab, so I became a salesman for Gallo Wine. It was a step up in the world. I got to be like my buddy Dave - wearing a Nordstrom wardrobe. They provided me with a company car and best of all I was getting paid to talk. Things were going good until the day an un-insured driver cut in front of me and I tee-boned the fool. Unfortunately my Dad Ron who was in the car with me at the time wasn’t wearing his seatbelt, long story, short. Ron lost his eyebrow, needed plastic surgery, my new Pontiac was a complete wreck, and though I wasn’t fired, I was no longer in good graces with Gallo.

16. It was over a weekend that my buddy Ron Peston and I were making a student film with some friends who were getting their Masters at USC’s Film School that I saw that the Navy had a Film Program at USC, a light bulb went off in my head. Several weeks later still working for Gallo, in traffic, fed up, and seeing my dreams of conquering the world, visiting foreign lands and having a stake in my future fading away I headed to the nearest Navy recruiter. Their ads had reached me – “It’s Not Just a Job, It’s an Adventure.” When I told my Dad I had signed up, he was surprised and asked me if I was in trouble with the law. My cousin Roy responded to the news by saying, “But you don’t like authority.”

17. It was the best thing to happen to me. The Navy trained me to do what I enjoyed and I got to see the world as a paid tourist from behind the lens of a camera. I have made lifetime friendships and have hopefully been a positive influence on their lives - I met Alex "il Duce" Casadonte when he was a fresh face Sailor right out of boot camp. I was some old weathered salty dog. He was less than impressed with my snarling cynicism our first meeting. Some how he was able to get past my pesky nature and we've been fast friends since. The Navy lost a good man when he decided to get out.

18. But even better, was that shortly after reporting to my first command I met my one and only true love – Dayle Davidson in a Spaghetti Factory parking lot in Oakland, California – Early Summer 1989. I don't think she was too impressed by my 1972 Bonneville Pontiac that I had dubbed "The Primordial Soup Dragon" or the fact that a week prior I had almost killed my shipmates John Gorenflo and John Thornton in it. Dayle and I were not immediately together, but after several years of separation and continued friendship I proposed on New Years 1992.

19. We married on Leap Year 1992 in Van Nuys, California. My brother Eric was my Best Man. At the time Dayle was a nanny for the actress Jo Beth Williams of “Poltergiest” and “The Big Chill”. Dayle didn’t want to be a nanny her entire life and was more than willing to become my bride and be a Navy wife. When I married Dayle I knew she was my soul mate and we would be together forever. I wouldn’t be the happy man that I am or have had the successful career without her by my side.

20. Sawyer followed 10 months later as our Christmas Eve baby. He is named after Tom Sawyer, even though it was a Sawyer Brown music video that was playing on TV that reminded me that I had bought the book Tom Sawyer 10 years earlier to give to my son if I were to have one.

21. Kennedy came on July 5th, 1995. As I tell her she was born a day late from being called Liberty, much to her horror.

22. Almost eight years from when the light bulb went off in my head at USC’S Film School I was accepted into the Dept of Defense Film School that was now being taught at Syracuse University. While there, I met some wonderful people that I hold a special place for personally and professionally – Jerre Thomas, Pete Watson, Darren Crone, Manny Trejo, Pam Hendrickson and Nancy Austin. They helped to make my experience at SU something to cherish. I learned so much and found out that I enjoyed school and could get good grades. Plus I could use my odd, zany and absurd outlook on life and showcase it in my short film Atomic Trout A Go-Go.

23. After Syracuse I rejoined Pacific Fleet Combat Camera and made the trip of a life time documenting a science expedition to the North Pole and then made a deployment to Japan with my Combat Camera Crew and had very good times exploring the orient with Joe Lynch and Bob Wilcox. The Buddah at Kamakura still inspires me, and darn if I didn’t spend one heckuva good Christmas with Bob in Guam fishing for Mahi Mahi and Wahoo, and making shashimi from a freshly caught tuna, using an old K-Bar knife and some borrowed wasabi and soy.

24. Much has been said about my tours with the Blue Angels and Pentagon. It wasn’t all glamour. There were bills to be paid, children to raise, a new home to buy, many days and hours away from my family, Dayle finishing up her degree. I was at times emotionally distant, selfish and full of myself. Dayle and the kids put up with my crap. 911 changed me forever. I am forever grateful for their unconditional love and the faith they had in me to become the man I am today.

25. Years ago my friend Steve Alamillo made an observation to my friends about me that at the time hurt my feelings. Now as I reflect on my life, what he said was true. At the time in the mid 80’s I had a lot of anger. Sometimes bordering on rage. On this particular day I was especially angry with this guy that we were both acquainted with. I was venting to Steve at full strength about this acquaintance of ours and of a physical confrontation that had occurred between us. Without hesitation Steve looked away from me and said to those in the car, “Vanderwerff gets angry when he’s frightened.” Man did that hurt, but as the years have passed and I am more mature and wiser I realize that I’m no longer angry because I’m no longer afraid. Steve you are, and have always been wise.

26. I’m approaching 50. My Navy career is winding down. It has been one heckuva a fast ride. I’m getting set for more new adventures out of uniform. I can’t wait to make them happen. I am confident that Sawyer and Kennedy as they rapidly ascend toward adulthood are happy individuals, who have been prepared to think for themselves, set realistic goals, problem-solve, and to always be kind to others. I think that with a few more years with Dayle and I they'll be well prepared to hop on the ride called life.