Boon, Berend "Ben" 1926-2004

BOON, VANBEMMEL, KEMPEMA

Posted By: Mary Lou Verburg Volunteer (email)
Date: 8/23/2014 at 14:02:57

Born: October 8, 1926 Rural Doon, Iowa
Died: January 13, 2004 Rock Rapids, Iowa

Berend "Ben" Boon, 77, Rock Rapids, died Tues. Jan. 13, at Rock Rapids Health Care Centre.

Services were Fri. Jan. 16, at Rock Rapids Christian Reformed Church. Burial with military honors was at Riverview Cemetery in Rock Rapids, under the direction of Roste Funeral Home in Rock Rapids.

Ben Boon, son of Marinus and Hendrika "Hattie" (Van Bemmel) Boon, was born Oct. 8, 1926, in rural Doon. He grew up on various farms in the Doon and Rock Valley areas and received his education at Rock Valley Christian School. During the later stages of World War II he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He was assigned to the Occupational Forces in the South Pacific and served his country until the war ended. He married Hermina Kempema on Nov. 14, 1951, at the home of her parents in Luverne, MN. They lived on the Boon home place near Rock Valley for four years. They moved in 1955 to Rock Rapids, where he worked as a mechanic for a local car dealership for a few years. For the next 20-plus years he was employed at Modern Home Store in Rock Rapids, where he was an installer and repairman of appliances and furnaces. For the next 17 years he worked as a secondary road maintenance equipment operator for Lyon County, retiring in 1990. During the past year his health declined and he recently was hospitalized in Sioux Falls, S.D. for two weeks. He returned home but just a week and a half ago it became necessary for him to become a resident of Rock Rapids Health Centre.

He was a lifelong member of the Christian Reformed Church and served his church in many capacities.

Survivors include his wife Hermina Boon of Rock Rapids; a son Wendell Boon of Sioux City; a daughter, Barbara Boon of Sheldon; three grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; four brothers, Andrew and Johanna Boon of Rock Valley, Elmer and Fannie Mae Boon of Rock Valley, John and Beverly Boon of Rock Valley, and Marvin and Eileen Boon of Hull; five sisters, Mary and Herm Steensma of Byron Center, MI, Gert Van Engen of Rock Valley, Martha and Bernard De Jager of Rock Valley, Hilda and Dale Vink of Rock Valley, and Joan and Virg Horstman of Hull; and a brother-in-law, Marinus and Harriet Van Hofwegen of Rock Valley.

He was preceded in death by sisters, Henrietta Nibbelink and Grace Van Hofwegen; and two brothers-in-law, Gerrit Nibbelink and Gerald Van Engen.

Source: Northwest Iowa Review 1/7/2004