John Kromhoff has been pleasantly surprised by all the birthday cards and letters he鈥檚 received and would like everyone to know he truly appreciates it.

鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing,鈥� Kromhoff told the Langley Advance Times on Monday, June 14.

With 10 days to go before he turns 100, Kromhoff has been inundated with cards and letters, more than 1,000 so far.

鈥淚 got them from pretty near every place in the world,鈥� Kromhoff told the Langley Advance Times.

In addition to cards and messages from students at local schools and area residents, he鈥檚 seen mail from as far away as Europe and parts of the U.S., including Alaska, California and Texas.

鈥淚 even have a letter from Buckingham Palace, but not from the Queen,鈥� he chuckled, 鈥渘ot yet, anyway.鈥�

He described the many messages of support as 鈥渢remendous.鈥�

鈥淪ome were saying it was quite an undertaking to get to 100 years old.鈥�

Kromhoff, who resides at the Chartwell Langley Gardens care residence in Walnut Grove, had made his peace with a scaled-down birthday celebration during the pandemic, amid limits on gatherings that would prevent him from seeing all of his children, their spouses, and his grandchildren and great-children at one time, all 54 of them.

When his family issued an invitation to have people send him cards, he didn鈥檛 expect he would receive very many, and is delighted to be proven wrong.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really a pleasure [to read them],鈥� he said.

When he was born in New Westminster, in 1921, Kromhoff recalled, 鈥渢hey had hard rubber tires on cars and no television, and the roads all used to have names instead of numbers.鈥�

He grew up on a 40-acre turkey farm, and after his parents shut it down, he got into real estate when he sold off parcels of the family property for development.

鈥淭he average price of a lot at that time was about $300,鈥� he recalled, chuckling. 鈥淲e sold too soon.鈥�

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鈥淚 never did work for anyone else, except my own companies,鈥� Kromhoff reminisced.

He started out building houses, then moved into real estate, and then, financing.

Cards may still be mailed to:

John Kromhoff

c/o 8888 202nd Street,

Langley, B.C.

V1M 4A7