Kirk, Joyce LaRue Vriezelaar – 1923-2006

BUWALDA, HATCH, HIEMSTRA, KIRK, MESSAMER, PLATH, RAY, VERDUGHT, VRIEZELAAR

Posted By: Donna Sloan Rempp (email)
Date: 6/19/2016 at 08:53:16

Services Held
Services for Joyce LaRue (Vriezelaar) Kirk were held Saturday, September 16, 206, at Fielding Funeral Home in Chariton. Interment was at the Oakwood Cemetery in Pella, IA.
Joyce La Rue (Vriezelaar) Kirk passed away in her sleep at home, on September 11, 2006, at the age of 83.
Joyce LaRue Vriezelaar Kirk was born March 9, 1923 at home near Otley, Iowa, to John and Emma Annetta Hiemstra Vriezelaar. Joyce’s father John passed away when she was just four months old and her brother Lee was 4 years old. In 1929 Emma married John J. Buwalda, a widower with two daughters, Sara 6 and Alice 4. In 1932 Ruth was born, completing the family.
Joyce grew up in Jasper and Marion Counties, attending First Baptist Church in Pella, Pella Public Schools and graduating from Pella High School in 1941. She attended Simpson College for two years receiving a degree in education.
Following college, Joyce taught school in Polk City for 2 years, then worked for the phone company in Des Moines until moving with her parents in 1948 to Mesa, Arizona. They lived in Arizona until 1951, when they returned to Iowa. Joyce then became a saleslady at the Utica in Des Moines.
On December 14, 1958, Joyce married Raymond Kirk in Kellogg, Iowa. Joyce and Ray farmed in Story County, where daughter Kristen was born in 1960. They later farmed in Marion County and in Lucas County until they retired to Chariton in 1999.
Joyce was preceded in death by her father John, mother Emma, stepfather John, brother Lee, stepsister Sarah Buwalda Plath, and half-sister Verna Ruth Buwalda Ray. She is survived by her husband Ray of Chariton, daughter Kristen (Bill) Messamer of Russell, granddaughters Candace (Brian) Hatch of Knoxville, and Nicole Messamer of Russell, and great-grandson Mason Hatch of Knoxville; sister-in-law Mary Lou Vriezelaar of Pella, stepsister Alice (Arie) Ver Dught of Monroe, as well as many nieces, nephews and cousins.
Source: Monroe Legacy; 21 September 2006