How the Dutch town that lost three families in MH17 is mourning

HILVERSUM, Netherlands – The front porch light is on, and the brick sidewalk leading to its front door is lined with bouquets of white roses, orange lilies and other bright-colored flowers. A few white stones taken from the gravel landscape have been assembled in the shape of a heart on the front walk.

But no one is home at the Smallenburg house in this quaint Dutch city. The family was killed on the Malaysia Airlines jet shot down last week.

The Smallenburgs – parents Charles and Therese Brouwer, and children Werther and Carlijn – were among three Hilversum families wiped out Thursday when a missile struck down their flight en route from the Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur.

The sting of the loss touches most people who live in the area. It’s a city with a population of just over 85,000 people, but everyone seems to know someone affected by the tragedy.

During Sunday’s service, they also heard the names of everyone who died from their community, 13 names:

“All over the world, there are people who know victims, there are people who know people who know people who know the victims and we all are damaged by this crash,” Dresme said during the service.

At the Schansman household just a few miles down the road, friends and family came together over the weekend to mourn the loss of Quinn Schansman, the one person on the flight to hold dual citizenship in the Netherlands and the United States.

They held a private gathering in the yard, lighting candles in honor of the young man they loved so much.

News of the tragedy also hit close to home for Nicole Grether, an America Tonight producer who attended high school in Hilversum.

“It’s kind of eerie when the Facebook posts started coming in saying, ‘So-and-so was a passenger on the plane, and we saw him last Monday,’” she said, realizing she had mutual friends with Pim De Kuijer, one of the victims.

“All of a sudden, it hits you that, wow, you can put an identity to one of the passengers. It changes things,” she explained.

Kids at Comenius College, a high school in Hilversum, also learned via Facebook that two students from their school, Zeger Van Heijningen and Chris Allen died with their families onboard the flight.

Marianna Fuchs said Allen had just celebrated his 16^th birthday shortly before the place was attacked. She saw people posting happy messages on his wall just days before he died.

“It’s very weird to see him first happy that it’s his birthday,” she said, “and then you see people posting on his wall about his death.”

Kids rode their bikes to a special ceremony inside the school on Saturday, where they lit candles and laid roses beneath the half-staff flag on the front lawn.

“I think there are no words for it because it’s such a big tragedy, and you can’t almost believe that it happened, even for us. It’s indescribable I think,” said Gert Van Der Hauvel, a staff member at the school.

“The soccer clubs, the schools – everyone is in shock. It’s a big impact," he said. "It’s incredible what happened because whole families died."