Ward Smets

Edouard "Ward" Smets known as Nonkel Ward (21 November 1929 – 23 December 2022) was a Belgian puppeteer from Antwerp. He was a puppeteer for 67 years.
Biography.
Smets was born in Seefhoek, Antwerp in 1929. He had a brother who was 18 years older. During World War II he lost both his parents. He lived for four years in the "Heilig Kruis" boys' home in Zandhoven. He worked for a while at the .
In the mid-1960s he performed at theatre in Antwerp. In 1965 he played 26 albums of "Piet Pienter en Bert Bibber" at the "Kalkoense Haan" room in Antwerp. Smets made the dolls himself. His wife Denise Matthys made the clothes. Until a late age he gave puppet shows. When he was eigthy years old, he created eight village figures from on a (heritage day).
Smets died at residential care campus WZC Cadiz in Antwerp on 23 December 2022, at the age of 93.