Ingles portrays ten Boom at ACTC

Apr. 18—ASHLAND — Forty years after Corrie ten Boom's death, an Ashland woman is helping preserve the Dutch watchmaker, speaker and writer's legacy by telling her story through portrayal.

Janet Ingles did her best ten Boom again on Tuesday in the teleconference room at Ashland Community and Technical College on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Ingles pulled her hair back in ten Boom's classic style and donned a fuchsia dress for the occasion as she sat in a glider on stage.

Inspired by "The Hiding Place," a book gifted to Ingles by a fellow churchgoer more than 25 years ago, Ingles said she felt like God urged her to "do something with it" upon reading the 1971 autobiography.

"I never dreamed that I would do it this long and in so many different places — even Florida," Ingles said. "... When God gave me this, I said, wherever you want me to go. Sometimes I think Corrie's done, and I put away all her stuff, but then somebody will call me a year later.

"When I first started doing it," she continued, "I had to spray my hair gray and draw in wrinkles, but I don't have to do that anymore."

One year, Ingles portrayed ten Boom at Ashland Middle School apparently so well that students genuinely thought they were seeing and listening to ten Boom herself.

"They were disappointed" to find out it was just Ingles, she said with a laugh.

Ingles, a native of Ashland and currently a Boyd County resident, works part-time with Two Hearts Pregnancy Care Center.

According to an ACTC press release, Cornelia Arnolda Johanna "Corrie" ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker and later a Christian writer and public speaker, who worked with her father, Casper ten Boom, her sister Betsie ten Boom and other family members to help many Jewish people escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust in World War II by hiding them in her home.

In front of about a couple dozen folks on Tuesday, "Corrie ten Boom" gave an account of her childhood, her introduction to Jesus Christ, her family and those harrowing Holocaust years. She was the first female licensed watchmaker in The Netherlands.

When World War II began, Holland declared it would remain neutral.

"Then the bombing started," said "ten Boom."

According to ten Boom, "they took our radios," but they hid one under their stairway so they could keep up with current events.

They became part of "The Underground," which helped keep Jewish people safe.

An architect suggested a "secret room," so it was created with bricks. "It was in my room," said "ten Boom."

There was a concealed spot for their belongings, too.

When they got it down to a science, the Jews and their items would be hidden within seven seconds.

The family was eventually caught and arrested — after Corrie and her sister Betsie were beaten by soldiers.

Casper died 10 days after being arrested. He was 84.

Corrie was in solitary confinement for fourth months. She was taken to a Dutch prison. She and Betsie were then transported to the Ravensbruck concentration camp, where — when all was said and done — 95,000 women died.

They lived in a room suited for 400, but there were 1,400 people in the space. There were eight toilets. Beds were stacked three high.

Betsie and Corrie kept their faith and regularly read the Bible throughout the ordeal. Corrie sneaked in with God's Word after not being checked by security, she said. She prayed for angels to protect her.

Betsie died there. Corrie survived and was released on New Year's Day 1945.

"Every woman my age was killed two weeks after I had left," she said.

Corrie ten Boom made it a mission to spread her faith-based story to 64 different countries. She died on her birthday in 1983 at age 91.

Ingles, as ten Boom, sang "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" to close out Tuesday's event.