Steenhoek, Jeanette (Grootveld) 1908-2006

GROOTVELD, STEENHOEK, PLATE

Posted By: volunteer (email)
Date: 11/6/2006 at 20:55:40

Jeanette Grootveld was born on November 19, 1908, east of Knoxville, Iowa, near a small French town known as Flagler.

There were 13 children born to Henry and Effie Plate van Grootveld and Jeanette was the tenth child. She had five brothers and seven sisters: Jake, John, Cornie, Minnie, Cora, Margaret, Hattie, Herman, William, Mary, Helen Mae and Esther Irene. Jeanette grew up on a farm and was only four years old when she started school and was small for her age. The school called Sumpter was a large one-room school house. Since the road to the school was very hilly, her sisters and brothers often made a seat for her with their hands and arms and carried her part of the time.

A hilly road continued to be a lifelong lesson for her. When she was in the seventh grade, her father bought a 12-acre plot of land just northwest of the previous A & W Restaurant in Pella, Iowa; a restaurant she later enjoyed frequenting. When they moved to Pella she and three of her sisters went to the Christian School.

Transportation was a big problem when she was in high school, they always walked or went on roller skates. When she was in high school, Jeannette decided she would like to have a middle name like her classmates and her two youngest sisters. So she named herself Janet Faye Grootveld -- an early sign of her independence and she used the name Janet the remainder of her 97 years, 8 months and 18 days.

During her junior and senior years of high school, she took "Normal Training" which was required for those planning to teach in the rural schools. She proved to be, however, not the "normal teacher". She studied very hard and after graduation chose the European III country school which was located north of Pella as her first teaching position where she taught for two years. Since she was not yet 18 years old until November, a substitute teacher began the school year.

After her first year of teaching she and her brother, Cornie, and his family ventured to California in a Model T Ford touring car. Following this adventure, she began teaching at the Plain View Country School, which was located northeast of Pella. She taught all 8 grades and was a strict teacher, but at noon and during recess she always went out to play with the pupils, a virtue she continued to display to her family during her lifetime. The next nine years she continued teaching at the Plain View and Battle Ridge Country Grade Schools.

Janet then met Gerrit Albert Steenhoek at an ice cream social near Prairie City, Iowa. He was farming with his parents, Gysbert S. and Jennie Van Zee Steenhoek, at the time. Five years later, she and Gerrit were united in marriage on March 17, 1931, in the parsonage of the Second Christian Reformed Church in Pella. This was during the depression and no one could afford a church wedding.

Gerrit was driving a livestock truck at the time and most of his wages and her teaching money were used to buy a large semi-truck. He did much long distance driving and was gone for several days at a time. After nine years of marriage, their first daughter, Janice Rae, was born on July 2, 1938. Their second daughter, Glenda Sue, was born on December 1, 1942. When Glenda was three years old, Janet underwent colon surgery in Des Moines, an anomaly that eventually contributed to her death. She was hospitalized for 28 days. At that time you could stay in the hospital until you felt you were able to take care of yourself and your family. The family was living at the West End of Pella at this time where Gerrit and Janet operated the gas station and café. Gerrit and Bill Grootveld, her brother, became partners, a relationship that always remained very special for them; business, fishing, hunting, traveling and socially.

Gerrit, whose initials were coincidentally GAS, operated the West End Service Station until retiring in 1971. In 1968, Gerrit and Janet built a new home at 804 Adams Street in Pella. When Gerrit became ill they decided to sell their home and while still living there, Gerrit passed away on Easter Sunday morning, April 2, 1972 at the age of 65 years.

Janet became a gracious, healthy widow and adjusted to this hilly road. She moved into Midtowne Apartments and enjoyed the next 33 years living there where she continued to maintain her independence; being close to church, George's and Central Park Cafe and spending time with family and special friends. In September of 2005, she became a resident at Jefferson Place in Pella where she passed away Monday morning, August 7, 2006.

Janet was a longtime member of the First Reformed Church in Pella. Of her original family of a 'bakers dozen', she leaves Esther I. (Vande Noord) De Zwarte, and a sister-in-law, Eva (Bill) Grootveld both of Pella. Those who will cherish her memory are her 2 daughters, 8 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Gerrit A. Steenhoek; a son-in-law, Edward Lamson; her parents, Henry and Effie van Grootveld who were born in Ede, Gelderland, the Netherlands; and the following brothers and sisters and their spouses: Jake and Belle Grootveld, John and Roxie Grootveld, Cornie and Laura Grootveld, Minnie and Dick Hugen, Cora and Brooks Klyn, Margaret and Bill Vande Voort, Hattie and Abe Vander Beek, Herman and Joan Grootveld, Bill Grootveld, Mary and Robert Ver Ploeg, Helen and Marion De Zwarte; and her brother-in-law, Harris Vande Noord.

The family will always remember her for the time she spent with them rather than the things she made for them.

For those desiring memorials may given for the Pella Community Foundation.

The Pella Chronicle, August 25, 2006