Macy, Harriet (Van Roekel) 1909-2004

MACY, VAN ROEKEL, DE VRIES

Posted By: Barbara Hug (email)
Date: 3/15/2005 at 13:34:04

Newton Daily News, Monday, November 15, 2004

GRINNELL -- Harriet Macy, 95, of Grinnell, died Saturday, Nov. 13, 2004, at the Mayflower Home Health Care Center in Grinnell
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A funeral service will be held Tuesday at 2 p.m., Tuesday at the Smith Funeral Home in Grinnell with the Rev. Pete Schuler officiating. Burial will be at Woodland Cemetery in Lynnville.

Visitation will be held from noon to 8 p.m. today at the Smith Funeral Home. The family will be present for a time of visitation prior to the funeral service beginning at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be directed to the Lynnville Historical Museum.

The daughter of Anthony T. and Frances (DeVries) Van Roekel, she was born Sept. 4, 1909, in rural Marion County. She attended grade school at Pleasant Grove and was a Monroe High School graduate with the class of 1927. She played piano and bass violin in the LeGrand Orchestra, made up of a group of young people in her neighborhood. She attended Central College and graduated in 1933 with degrees in both English and music. Following her graduation, she taught third and fourth grades and vocal music in Lynnville for two years. On Sept. 12, 1936, she married Howard Macy in Pella.

After her marriage, she became a homemaker in Lynnville, where she gave private piano lessons. When her husband entered military service during World War II and was stationed in St. Paul, Minn., she followed him there where she was employed by the Army Engineers and volunteered with the American Red Cross. Following the end of the war, they returned to Lynnville. She was the bookkeeper for concrete plants in Lynnville and Grinnell and Searsboro Feed and Grain, companies owned and operated by her husband and brother-in-law.

After living in Lynnville for many years, in 2000 she moved to a Mayflower apartment in Grinnell. For the past year, she has been a resident of the Mayflower Home Health Care Center in Grinnell. She was a member of the Lynnville Friends Church and served as organist and choir director. She also was a member of the Order of Eastern Star Lodge, Soroptomist Club and a charter member of the Lynnville Women's Club.

Survivors include nieces and nephews, Kay McGarry of Surprise, Ariz.; Rae Gregory and Dwain Van Roekel, both of Newton; Tony Van Roekel of Plano, Texas; Tim Van Roekel of Batavia, Ohio; and Merritt Van Roekel of Monroe.

She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; two brothers, John A. Van Roekel and Henry Van Roekel; a sister, Edna Van Roekel Terpstra; and her nephew.