Kooiker, Ralph L. 1911-2000

KOOIKER, TESLAA, VANBERKUM

Posted By: Wilma J. Vande Berg - volunteer (email)
Date: 2/3/2014 at 14:59:17

March 29, 2000 Sioux Center News

Ralph L. Kooiker, 88, of Hull died Monday, March 20, at Lyon Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rock Rapids. Services were at 10:30 a.m. Friday at First Reformed Church in Hull with the Rev. Verlyn Boone officiating. Burial was in Hope Cemetery.

Kooiker was born September 16, 1911, in rural Hull, the son of Lambert and Gertrude "Dot" (Te Slaa) Kooiker. He was raised in Hull, where he graduated from high school. He was employed at a black-Smith shop. He opened a small business doing general blacksmithing in 1936. He then developed a system for mounting corn shellers on trucks. He developed and held patents to an engine-powered auger, portable elevator, grain chutes, mill feeder attachments, hydraulic hoists and numerous other items. He built a small factory in Hull, Kooiker Manufacturing, which he sold in 1957 to Sioux Steel Co. of Sioux Falls.

He married Jeanelle Van Berkum on October 29, 1932, in Canton, South Dakota. She died July 31, 1970, in Spirit Lake. He married Tressa (Vanden Bosch) Van Sloten on December 29, 1972, in Chino, California. He wintered in California, spent summers at Lake Okoboji and lived in Hull the Remainder of the time. He enjoyed traveling.

Survivors include two daughters, Beverly and her husband Bernard Wolfswinkel,Jr. of Ontario, California, and Donna Meech Kooiker of Okoboji; six grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; four stepchildren; 11 step grandchildren; 17 step great- grandchildren; two brothers and their wives, Cerril and Alice of Alvord and Donald and Frances of Okoboji; and a sister and her husband, Viola and Peter Van Driel of Rock Valley. He was preceded in death by a brother, Albert.