Our editors learned of this and it has been confirmed by TV channel VTM. “VTM received the sad news today that Gary Lockitch, Ruth Beeckmans’ partner, has passed away. The entire VTM family expresses its deep and sincere condolences. Our thoughts go out to Ruth and to Ruth and Gary’s friends and family. We wish them all the support and strength in coping with this great loss.”
Beeckmans met Gary at her sister’s party. “I was 25 then,” she said two years ago in the weekly Story† “We started talking, one thing led to another and now we are thirteen years later (meanwhile 15 years, ed.)† Before Gary I had some sweethearts, but I never cut corners.”
At first they weren’t each other’s type. “Gary is a tough firefighter, while I come from a rather alternative art scene,” she said in a 2018 interview with Flair† “I almost had a seizure when he first picked me up in his bright green convertible. I was embarrassed to be seen like that and was afraid of what my friends would think of such a johnny.” (laughs)
Then children
Initially, the couple did not want children, partly because Gary is a bit older than them. “He didn’t necessarily see himself as a father at the beginning of our relationship,” Beeckmans said in a statement Nina in 2017. “For me, that wasn’t a deal breaker: I didn’t see it as a reason to break up. I was so in love with him that it was okay for me to choose a life without children together.”
But in the meantime they had two children together. Charlie Sue (9) and Coby Mae (2). They are raised bilingually. “Gary is a South African and also grew up in South Africa, where he spoke English,” she said last year. Story† “That’s why we raise our children in Dutch and English. Charlie-Sue also speaks English with Gary’s parents. I usually speak Dutch to her, but I often notice that English is the main language at home.
She has had nothing but praise for Gary in interviews in the past. “We are very different in character and interests,” she said before Story, “But we complement each other well, and we can talk well with each other. We’ve gone through some rough times in our relationship, but we always find each other again.”
“We can argue well, yes”, she said last year in Hey everyone† “But I’m not stubborn. If something bothers me, it can get really bad, but after that it’s out of my system. I don’t let the tension drag on all day.” (cds, bpr, adm)
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