Muyskens, Kenneth E. 1933-2013

MUYSKENS, DEJAGER, JUNE

Posted By: Wilma J. Vande Berg - volunteer (email)
Date: 4/15/2013 at 09:42:53

Kenneth E. Muyskens

December 20, 1933 - January 3, 2013

Kenneth Elmer Muyskens, 79, formerly of Kanawha, passed away Thursday, January 3, 2013 at Good Shepherd Health Center in Mason City.

Funeral services for Kenneth Muyskens will be held on Monday, January 7, 2013 at 10:00 AM at the Kanawha Christian Reformed Church, 129 East 3rd Street, in Kanawha with Pastor Steve Schulz officiating. Burial will be at West Lawn Cemetery in Orange City at 4:00 PM on Monday.

Kenneth Elmer Muyskens, born December 20, 1933, was the second child of John C. Muyskens and Grace nee DeJager Muyskens. He grew up on the family farm, a mile west of Newkirk, Iowa, milking cows before attending Newkirk Public School. Ken graduated from Newkirk after being the center on the state championship basketball team of 1951. He then attended Northwestern Junior College for two years and finished his bachelor’s degree at Westmar College in Le Mars, Iowa, where he not only played basketball, but was student body president and published in Who’s Who of College Students 1954. He graduated in 1955 with a degree in economics and social studies.

At Westmar, Ken met the love of his life, Doris June. They were married August 19, 1955, by all accounts, “the hottest day of the year.” Ken taught and coached basketball and other sports at Melvin, Hubbard, and New Providence, Iowa, taking a 10-year hiatus to go into full-time sales work. Ken returned to teaching at Twin Rivers Community Schools, Bode, Iowa, once his daughters reached high school age, in order to spend more time with his children. Eventually, he taught and coached all his children, completing his teaching career in Kanawha, Iowa, where all 5 of his children graduated from high school.

Ken was always very active in the churches of which he was a member, teaching high school, college-age, or adult Sunday School classes, serving as deacon and elder, leading a county-wide evangelism effort, filling pulpits as a lay preacher and serving on the state Child Evangelism Board.

Ken impacted many lives with his dynamic and firmly grounded faith in God, leading his family in devotions at every meal. Every decision was bathed in prayer and Christ was very evidently the center of his marriage and his family. He shared that faith most strongly with the five children he leaves behind: Deborah (Ron) Ausborn of Lytton, Iowa; Karla (Dean) Smidt of Kanawha, Iowa; Kent (Kristi) Muyskens of Yale, Iowa; Dennis (Susan) Muyskens of Mason City, Iowa, Kevin (Sandy) Muyskens of Sheldon, Iowa; as well as his 22 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his wife of 57 years, Doris, two sisters, Joyce (Howard) Hop and Sharon (Wayne) Vander Schaaf, both of Orange City, Iowa; many cousins, nieces and nephews, as well as hundreds of students whose lives he impacted.

Ken spent the last years of his life in Sheldon, Iowa, to be closer to his sisters and youngest son and family, and the last few months at Good Shepherd Home in Mason City near to son Dennis.

Source: Ewing Funeral Home, Kanawha, IA., obit.