Veenstra, Janice G. (Mrs. Kenneth James) 1942-2017

VEENSTRA, HOOGEWERF, WEIDENAAR, BRANDERHORST

Posted By: Marjorie Brunsting-Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:35

Mrs. Janice Veenstra, age 75, of Pella, passed away on Saturday, August 19, 2017, at the Hospice of Pella Comfort House.

There will be a funeral service on Wednesday, August 23, at 11:00am, at the Covenant Reformed Church in Pella. Visitation will be after 5:00pm on Tuesday, with the family present from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the church.

There will be a prayer service on Friday, August 25, at 1:00pm, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City. The Rev. Aldon Kuiper will officiate. Interment will follow the service at the West Lawn Cemetery in Orange City.

Janice Grace was born on February 20, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. She was the sixth of ten children that were born to Gerrit and Greta (Weidenaar) Hoogewerf. Her father had emmigrated from the Netherlands with his older brother at the age of 16 years. She was baptized on April 5, 1942. Growing up, she attended the Engelwood Christian Grade School in Chicago and graduated from the Illiana Christian High School in Lansing, Illinois, in 1960. During high school, she made profession of her faith.

Jan and Kenneth James Veenstra, a son of Lambert and Hester (Branderhorst) Veenstra, met when Ken’s older sister, Delores, was dating Jan’s older brother, Jacob Hoogewerf, in Illinois. They wrote letters to each other during their six year courtship, and two and a half months after leaving the Army, they were united in marriage on May 1, 1964, at the Bethel Christian Reformed Church in Lansing.

Soon the wonderful world of parenting began. Jan had been working at the Lansing Bank and Ken at Rand McNally in Hammond, Indiana. Their first child, James Daniel, was born in 1965, and their son, Kevin John, in 1966, both born in Lansing. As time moved on, Ken began to explore other career opportunities and the urge to move back to Iowa, his birth place. In the fall of 1969, they moved to Orange City and their family grew by the birth of their third child, a daughter, Greta Marie, born in 1971. Greta was born with Down syndrome, which brought not only challenges to the family, but blessings they could not have anticipated. Then in 1974, their fourth child, a daughter, Joy Heather, was born.

Jan never relinquished her responsibilities as the primary homemaker to her family, while working and volunteering throughout her marriage. She worked as a secretary to her husband during his ten years as an Iowa State Representative and State Senator, ran a thrift store in their basement, and for ten years, managed the “Kids on the Block” program, a tool to educate school children about disabilities. She earned the Governor’s “Volunteer of the Year” award from the state of Iowa in 1988. She continued to volunteer for the church, school and Wycliffe Bible Translators with her husband in Florida. Family and friends fondly remember her gift of hospitality. She enjoyed the blessing of a musical family and attending athletic and school activities of her children and grandkids.

In 2005, Jan and Ken moved to Pella, where they became active with the United Reformed Church. They were currently members of the Covenant Reformed Church in Pella. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March of 2016.

Jan’s family includes her husband of 53 years; a son and his wife, James and Renee (Crandall) Veenstra, of Cedar Falls, and their four children, Daniel Jeffrey, Ian James, Jenna Holly, and Ashton Burke; a son and his wife, Kevin and Carrie (Smits) Veenstra, of Pella, and their five children, Devin Kenneth and Danielle Veenstra, of Prinsburg, Minnesota, Brennan Lee and Shelby Veenstra, of Pella, Cailee Jo Veenstra, Kenden John Veenstra, and Jeron William Veenstra; a daughter and her husband, Joy and Shane Scholten, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and their three children, Hailey Greta Scholten, Sierra Ann Scholten, and Ethan Shane Scholten; four brothers and two sisters and their spouses, Helen and Alf Smit, of Hudsonville, Michigan, Lorraine and Robert “Bob” Bultema, of Lansing; Gerald “Jerry” and Delores Hoogewerf, of Highland, Indiana, Marilyn and David Huge, of Crown Point, Indiana, John and Ruth Hoogewerf, of Dyer, Indiana, and Ruth and David Van Dyke, of Jamestown, Michigan; and additional brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law and their spouses, Wilbur and Carolyn Veenstra, Lester and Katrina Veenstra, Marie Veenstra, and Francis Schiebout, all of Pella.

Janice was preceded in death by her daughter, Greta Marie, on December 17, 2002; her parents; her oldest brother, Jacob “Jake” Hoogewerf, and his wife, Delores (Veenstra); twin sisters, Judith Hoogewerf and Joyce, and her husband, Peter Briscoe; and her parents-in-law.

Jan will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and sister, and a faithful servant of and believer in Jesus Christ. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.