Vander Lugt, Allan 1928-2019

VANDERLUGT, KOOI, VUGTEVEEN

Posted By: Marjorie Brunsting-Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:36

Allan Vander Lugt of Grand Rapids, MI, died on July 21 after a vigorous and prolonged battle with old age and the modern world. He was 91. The youngest son of Gerrit and Bertha (Kooi) Vander Lugt, Allan was born on the family farm near Lebanon, IA on May 26, 1928. He grew up during the height of the Great Depression and World War II. He graduated from Calvin College, and took a teaching position in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1961. It was there that he met his match, Annetta Vugteveen, and they married in 1964. Their partnership continued for the rest of his life. Al devoted his life to living out the joy of the gospel. He taught and inspired generations of students at Eastern Christian Junior High, alienating only the occasional slackard and more frequent board member. His unmatched enthusiasm and unshakable confidence in God's ability to shape, renew, and transform both the individual and institutions led him to work tirelessly for racial reconciliation and world-wide economic justice in his adopted home of Paterson, NJ, as well as through the Christian Reformed Church and other Christian organizations. During their years in Paterson, he devoted much time and energy to the establishment of the Dawntreader Christian School, to one of the first "fair trade" organizations, Jubilee Crafts, and to the Madison Avenue CRC, where he served for many years as custodian, elder, VBS leader, and Sunday school superintendent. When he retired in 1989 and he and Annetta moved to Grand Rapids, he continued expressing his joy and confidence in the Lord by mentoring and teaching others at Mel Trotter Ministries, and through constant prayer. Al was a thankful person. He was thankful for his devoted wife. He was thankful for his children. He was thankful for ever-improving treatments for his severe arthritis, he was thankful for his equally devoted teaching colleagues, and for all his brothers and sisters in Christ -- whether or not he'd ever met them personally. He saw God's goodness at work even in the toughest of circumstances and maintained an optimism which only occasionally flew in the face of the facts (sending his son to a Christian Reformed grade school wearing a George McGovern pin, when Nixon was the anointed one is just one such case in point). Having narrowly avoided losing his job for wearing a beard in the classroom, he was thankful he would survive to teach 16 more years at ECS. His life spanned the Great Depression, World War II, Korea, The Vietnam War, the '60's, the Reagan Revolution, not to mention the ignominious rise and fall of "Praise Teams." But no matter how calamitous current events seemed, he could, with great confidence and humble submission, trust that God had all well in hand. He relished lively and impassioned conversations with friends and colleagues about current events, and political and ethical perspectives, sometimes even - to his great surprise - discovering that his own views had been changed. Al is survived by Annetta, his wife of 56 years, his daughter Ellen and her husband Pablo Mora, sons Ethan & Terrie Vander Lugt, & Eliot Vander Lugt and Hector Rodas, 9 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren, and sisters Lois Hooyer, and Dorothy Bennett. He was preceded in death by siblings Ray Vander Lugt, Margaret Vander Stoep, and Grace Haverhals, and by his youngest daughter Emily Vander Lugt. Visitation will be at the Raybrook Manor Chapel (2121 Raybrook SE, GR, 49546) on Wednesday, July 24, at 10:00am with a memorial service immediately following at 11:00am. If one wishes, please consider making a memorial contribution to CRC Race Relations. (Payable to: “Race Relations”, 1700 28th St. SE, GR, 49508-1407)

Source: Zaagman Memorial Chapel online obituary.