De Haan, Ray J. 1905-2001

DE HAAN, VANDER PLOEG, VAN GORP

Posted By: volunteer (email)
Date: 8/10/2005 at 21:50:05

PELLA - Ray J. De Haan, 96, of Pella, died Sunday, April 22, at Pella Regional Health Center's Long Term Care Unit.

His funeral service will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at First Baptist Church in Pella, the Rev. John McNabb and the Rev. James Ebbers officiating. Burial: Oakwood Cemetery, Pella. Visiting hours are open today at Van Dyk-Duven Funeral Home in Pella, with family present 6:30-8 p.m. Memorials: Pella Rotary Club or Forrest Lake Baptist Camp.

Raymond Johan De Haan was born Jan. 27, 1905, in Pella to Simon and Delia Vander Ploeg De Haan. He attended Pella Public Schools, and graduated from Pella High School and then from Central College in 1926. For a year he studied agriculture at Iowa State University in Ames. He then began his lifetime career in farming.

On Aug. 5, 1930, he married Jeannetta Wilhelmina Van Gorp in Otley. As he was a pilot, they began their honeymoon with a flight from the Van Gorp farm near Otley to Des Moines. Ray was a livestock and grain farmer, and continued in farm management all his life. They moved into Pella. Ray was an avid tennis player. He started the tennis club in Pella, gave MVP awards to tennis players at Pella public and Christian high schools, and coached tennis for a while at Central College. In 1997 he was inducted into the Iowa Tennis Hall of Fame.

He was a member of Pella Historical Society, and for 41 years served on the Tulip Time Queen Selection Committee. He was an active member of First Baptist Church in Pella. He sang in the choir for 65 years, and was superintendent of the Sunday school and chairman of the church building committee. He was a member of Pella Rotary for over 50 years, and had served as president. He was a former member of the Central College Board of Trustees, and was a member of the Dutch Masters Auto Club.

He is survived by his children and spouses: Lorraine De Haan Porter and Stanley Porter Sr. of Los Alamitos, Calif., Sidney J. and Norma De Haan of Pella, and Warren V. and Vici De Haan of Boulder, Colo.; eight grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Jeannetta, on Dec. 24, 1993; his parents; his brother, Delwin S. De Haan; and his wife's siblings: Emma (John A.) Den Hartog of Pella, and Wilfred and Bonna Van Gorp of Louisville, Ky.

The Oskaloosa Herald, April 24, 2001