Antoon Schollee 

June 20th, 1948 - June 7th, 2025

Wake will be held Wednesday, June 11th from 4 pm to 8 pm
F.G.Guido Funeral Home
440 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231

Private Cremation at Green-Wood Cemetery

Dear family and friends,

The time has come for me to say goodbye. I’ll admit that it’s sooner than I expected. Still, the gastroenterologist who performed my colonoscopies every five years over a 30 year period, did not notice that a cancerous tumor was growing in my colon, so now I’m dying of colon cancer. I’m not complaining. I had a happy adventurous, privileged life that allowed me to follow my dreams and follow my dreams I did. 

After a carefree childhood in the Netherlands, I struck out on my own to see the world.

During my travels, I met a wonderful American girl, Ileana Barreto. We married in Istanbul, Turkey in 1971 and in 1972 we settled in Brooklyn New York. New York in the 1970s was poor, dirty, and dangerous. When I picked up my visa at the American Embassy the ambassador called me into her office and said: “Young man I see where you were going. I want to warn you that you are going to a dangerous place” Well, it wasn’t as dangerous as all that, soon we were both enrolled at the City University of New York to pursue our degrees while working part-time to support ourselves. These were also years of summer travel through the US, Canada, Mexico, the Middle East, and Europe. Since New Yorkers were afraid of their city in the 1970s and just wanted to get out, housing prices were very low, low enough for two students with little savings to buy a four-story brownstone. Best investment we ever made. After purchasing the first one we bought a few more and rented them out, thereby guaranteeing our financial future as the city of New York slowly rose out of the depths of poverty and real estate prices increased. We led a happy life together working, traveling, sailing, and enjoying life. 

All that came to an end in 2018 when cancer ended Ileana’s life. In 2021 I had the good fortune to marry a truly remarkable and passionate woman; Ileana‘s best friend of forty years, Fernne Williams, the mother of my goddaughter Danielle. Fernne had taken care of Ileana when she became ill with cancer until her last months of life. Fernne and I traveled together across the US, Canada, Europe, South America, and the Caribbean. We spent our spring and summer weekends sailing on the Long Island Sound and eventually bought a farm in Maryland that we named Ileana‘s Farm. We built chicken coops and greenhouses and were soon producing eggs and vegetables for the local food pantry. 

All that will now come to an end, although the farm will live on as a fund dedicated to supporting food pantries.

I want you to know that I’m at peace, I had a great run.

Farewell everybody.  

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith—2nd Timothy 4:7

Antoon