Jan van Ooij

Johannes Gerardus Petrus Hendricus van Ooij (Zeilberg, Born, December 12, 1930 - Died, August 18, 2005) became known under his nickname Jan van Ooij as a musician in his native region. He played in the regionally known music group Moek, among others. Van Ooij worked as a technical teaching assistant at the school community for HAVO-VWO Peellandcollege in Deurne. Music was his passion. He acquired national significance in the 1960s by composing the music and writing the lyrics for the Zeilbergs national anthem, a song about his native village. Years later, the melody of this song would be used by many other village communities in the Netherlands to write their own melody. In some cases, when the editors performed it as a song of their own, Jan filed a lawsuit and won.