Westra, Rev. Peter J. 1910-1996

WESTRA, KOOI, VANDYKE

Posted By: Paul Van Dyke-volunteer
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:34

Source: Sioux County Index (4-17-1996)

Born: May 4, 1910
Died: April 6, 1996

Funeral services for Peter John Westra, 85, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, were held Tuesday, April 9, in the First Presbyterian Church of Sioux Falls. The Reverend Val Putnam, the Reverend James Fenner and the Reverend Rick Melin officiated. Interment was in Hope Cemetery in Hull.

Peter John Westra, the son of John and Minnie (Van Dyke) Westra, was born May 4, 1910, at Hull. He grew up and received his education at Central College in Pella, graduating in 1936.

He decided to go into the ministry after teaching high school for one year in Salix. He attended New Brunswick Seminary in New Brunswick, New Jersey and served a church in Pottersville, New Jersey on Sundays.

On June 16, 1938, he married Edna Kooi at Pottersville, New Jersey. He completed his education, receiving his master of Divinity Degree in 1940. He served churches in St. Johnsville, New York; Hammond, Indiana; Lewisburg, Pennsylvania; Flandreau, South Dakota; Sioux Falls; Des Moines and Jefferson where he retired for the first time.

After his retirement, he served as calling minister in Sioux Falls at the First Presbyterian Church for seven years. Reverend Westra came out of retirement to start a church, called “Good Life,” in a retirement village in Mesa, Arizona. That church grew to 700 in attendance. The church awarded him with a plaque as a token of love and appreciation for 10 years of ministry in the church.

The outstanding events in his ministry include starting a new congregation and helping to build a new church in Hammond, Indiana; serving at the Presbyterian Church in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where many Bucknell University college students and faculty attended; and being responsible for new members as associate pastor in Sioux Falls at First Presbyterian Church for seven years.

He served as chairman of the committee that laid the ground work for getting a new congregation started in Brandon, South Dakota and at the new Westminister Church in Sioux Falls. In Jefferson, it was his privilege to help build a new church.

He is survived by his wife, Edna Kooi Westra of Sioux Falls; a son, Mark William Westra of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; two daughters, Donna Lee Paige of Casper, Wyoming; and Dr. Ruth Elaine Westra of Duluth, Minnesota; 10 grandchildren; two brothers, Andrew Westra of Aberdeen, South Dakota and John Westra of Centerville, South Dakota; and two sisters Henrietta Madland of Sioux Falls and Marjorie Vanderpol of Cherry Valley, California.

He was preceded in death by his parents; one son, John; and two sisters, Nellie Westra and Dora Sinnema.