Niezen, Carolyn Mrs. Gerald 1944-2010

NIEZEN, MUNNEKE, SCHAAFSMA

Posted By: Wilma J. Vande Berg - Volunteer (email)
Date: 4/4/2010 at 07:36:38

Carolyn Niezen
Born: February 27, 1944
Death: March 7, 2010
Mrs. Carolyn Niezen, age 66, of Orange City, Iowa, passed away on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Orange City Area Health System Hospital.

There will be a memorial service on Friday, March 12, at 11:00am, at the First Christian Reformed Church in Orange City. Pastor Bryan Dick will officiate. Interment will be prior to the service at the West Lawn Cemetery in Orange City. There will be a prayer service on Friday, at 10:00am, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City.

Visitation will be after 4:00pm on Thursday, with the family present from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the funeral home.

Carolyn June was born on February 27, 1944, in Artesia, California, the daughter of Thomas and Swannie (Munneke) Schaafsma. She was raised in Bellflower, California, where she attended the Christian School and graduated from Valley Christian High School. She also attended a cosmetology school.

On December 30, 1963, she married Gerald Niezen in Bellflower. They made their home in California, Maryland, Oregon, and Idaho. In 2007, they moved to Orange City.

Mrs. Niezen was a homemaker and a hairdresser, working at an Army Post in Maryland and at the Inland Christian Home in Chino, California.

Wherever they lived, she was a member of a Christian Reformed Church, including the First Christian Reformed Church in Orange City. She participated in the Goods News Club in Oregon and Coffee Break and Ladies' Chorus.

Carolyn was a very active member of the Republican Party. She enjoyed playing cards, entertaining friends, cooking, and working with and riding horses. She especially liked playing with and spending time with her five granddaughters.

Survivors include her husband of more than 46 years, Jerry; two daughters and their husbands, Kathleen and Steve Swart, of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Kerrie and Kevin Melville, of Joseph, Oregon; a son and his wife, Dan and Mara Niezen, of Orange City; five granddaughters, Kacie, Kaylie, and Katelynn Melville, and Heidi and Gracie Niezen; two sisters and their husbands, Florene and Ronald Hilarides, of Oakdale, California; and Rosie and Gene Van Essen, of Bellflower; a brother and his wife, Tom and Lori Schaafsma, of Joseph; and many nephews and nieces.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by a brother, Loren Schaafsma.
Oolman Funeral Home obit.