De Boer, Harvey John 1931-2020

DEBOER, VANDYKE, VREEMAN

Posted By: Marjorie Brunsting-Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:32

Mr. Harvey De Boer, age 88, of Orange City, passed away on Monday, February 3, 2020, at the Royal C. Johnson Veterans Memorial Hospital in Sioux Falls.

There will be a funeral service on Friday, February 7, at 10:00am, at the Redeemer United Reformed Church in Orange City. The Rev. Todd De Rooy will officiate. Interment will follow the service at the West Lawn Cemetery in Orange City. Visitation with the family will be on Thursday, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City.

Harvey John was born on August 25, 1931, on his family’s farm near Melvin, the son of William and Rose (Van Dyke) De Boer. He was raised on the farm until his family moved to Hartley in 1939. He attended the Melvin and Hartley Public Schools, and Sanborn Christian School. Following graduation from high school, he enlisted in the United States Army and served during the Korean Conflict and in the Army Reserves.

He was united in marriage to Delores Carol Vreeman, on January 14, 1955, in Sheldon. Together they made their home in numerous communities in northwest Iowa. In 1957, they moved to Artesia, California, where he worked construction. In 1961, they moved back to northwest Iowa, where he farmed until 1967, when they moved to Orange City. He then worked for Northwest Implement and Siouxland Harvestor, both in Orange City, and Poppema Sikma Construction in Sheldon. In 1989, at 58 years of age, he graduated with his Associate Degree in Drug and Alcohol Dependency. He worked with the Lewis and Clark Mental Health and Alcohol Drug Programs out of Yankton, South Dakota. After the program shut down, he worked for Schuster Trucking in Le Mars until retirement.

He was a member of the Redeemer United Reformed Church and had previously been a member of the Hartley Christian Reformed Church, where he had served as Sunday School superintendent. He was also a member of the Pressman-Kosters American Legion Post in Orange City.

Harvey enjoyed ice skating, roller skating, woodworking, and collecting a number of different things. He also had a love for music. He played the accordion as well as the harmonica and was learning to play the dulcimer. From 2000-2013, he and Delores were active with SOWERS (Servants on Wheels Ever Ready). He also volunteered at Bibles for Missions in Orange City and was a Senior Companion. Spending time with his family was very important to him and he cherished every moment.

Survivors include his wife of more than 65 years; six children, Carla Drost, of Sheldon; Paula, and her husband, Martin Top, of Alton; Harlan De Boer, and his wife, Michele, of Pella; Denise Tifft, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; James De Boer, and his wife, Shelly, of Yankton, South Dakota; and Darrell De Boer, and his wife, Jody, of Smithville, Missouri; twenty grandchildren; 27 great-grandchildren; a brother and his wife, James and Bernice De Boer, of Orange City; and a sister, Lucille Van Der Linden, of Luverne, Minnesota.

In addition to his parents and parents-in-law, William and Sena Vreeman, he was preceded in death by a brother and his wife, Cliff and Bernice De Boer; a brother-in-law, Henry Van Der Linden; and Delores’ three brothers, Gerrit, Howard, and Kenneth Vreeman.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Orange City Area Home Health and Hospice or the Orange City Christian School.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.