Jake was born and grew up on the van Twuyver farm in Colleston. After finishing school he worked as a farmhand for neighbours. Jake joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940, trained as a mechanic and was posted to a base in Newfoundland to maintain vehicles and aircraft. While home on leave in the summer of 1944 his cousin Corey Kooy introduced Jake to the local school teacher who was to become his wife.

Lydia Nelson was born in Outlook, SK, one of six children of Joe Nelson and Emma Finnestad, both of whose parents had immigrated from Norway. She became a teacher after high school and was teaching at the Fanford one-room school near the homestead of John Kooy. Lydia had become acquainted with Corey and Ione Kooy and when they asked her along on a blind double-date with Jake, she accepted. They dated three or four more times during his leave, including visits to Treen and Norman's farm and to Jacob and Charlotte. They wrote to each other through the following winter and became engaged to be married while Jake was home on leave the next summer. The war soon ended and Jake married Lydia in January 1946.

Both Jake and his brother Case became carpenters after the war and helped each other build their homes in Prince Albert. Jake was a dedicated member of the Carpenters Union, serving as Secretary/Treasurer for many years. When he became too ill for outside carpentry work, Jake was appointed a Master Carpenter Examiner by the Province.

Jake and Lydia lived all of their married life in the home he built at the corner of 4th Street and 8th Avenue East in Prince Albert. Most of his family lived nearby. Lydia's parents and a sister also lived in town, and two brothers and a sister and their families farmed south of town. Their five children grew up in an extended family environment of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Jake died in 1966 after battling heart and lung disease for several years. Dave and Donna had already left home for college and Lydia went back to work to support the rest of the children until they were on their own. Much of her second career was spent working for the Lutheran Church in Saskatoon and in Winnipeg, including a stint as a missionary in Africa. Lydia is now retired and living again in Prince Albert.

While growing up, eldest son Dave spent many summers on the farms of of his Kooy cousins east of Prince Albert, often with Treen's son Melvin, one of his closest childhood friends. Dave discovered computers in college and went on to a career in telecommunications. He married Gwen Logue after graduation and they followed his work to Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, San Jose, Minneapolis, Nashville, London England, Washington DC, Dallas, Seattle and San Diego. Along the way, Megan was born in Quebec and Katie in Ontario. Megan is now a software engineer living in Maine and recently married John Kulik, a genetic engineer. Katie is married to Jeremy Barsaleau, a police detective, and they live with their two sons, Jake & Ben, in Wilmington, NC where Katie teaches high school English. Dave and Gwen now split their time between summers at their retirement home near Ladysmith on Vancouver Island and winters near the grandchildren in North Carolina.

Donna became a nurse and married Ron Woodward from Edmonton. They moved with Ron's work in education to Saskatoon, back to Prince Albert, then to St. Paul and to Lloydminster AB, to Victoria then Vancouver BC, back to Saskatoon and finally to Red Deer, Alberta where Ron is president of the College. They have a daughter Jacqui who is a chef and a son Jeff who is studying for a teaching degree.

Sandy became a teacher and married Bill Hood of Beauval in northern Saskatchewan, where she was teaching at the time. They had a son Jarrett. Tragically, all three died in a horrible automobile accident in 1985.

Sharon was born slightly handicapped and never married. She still lives independently in Prince Albert.

Bob also lives in Prince Albert. He became a teacher and married Carol Wolfe of Regina. Bob subsequently opened the first computer stores in northern Saskatchewan and grew them into a very successful business. After selling his stores he continued his consulting practice. Bob is also on the management team of the Prince Albert Raiders hockey club. Bob and Carol have two sons, Neil and Mark, who are the only male descendants of Jacob van Twuyver to carry on his branch of the name in Canada. Neil is a banker in Prince Albert, married to Tammy Schutte who teaches. Neil and Tammy recently had their first child, daughter Halle. Mark is an Engineer in Calgary.

Dave Twyver 2006