Klay, Harold Thomas "Harry" 1929-2020

KLAY, POSTMA, KROESE

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

Mr. Harold Klay, age 90, of Hull, passed away on May 11, 2020, at Sioux Center Health.

There will be a funeral service on Friday, May 15, at 10:00am, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Hull. The Rev. Loren Kotman will officiate. Interment will follow the service at the Hope Cemetery in Hull. Visitation without the family will be on Thursday, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the funeral home.

In light of current events, and in an effort to abide by the recommendation of social distancing, we encourage you to view the service on the First Christian Reformed Church’s cable channel 77, or use our website, www.oolman.com, to participate in the funeral service via live stream, leave a message of condolence, and print a memorial folder.

Harold Thomas was born on September 14, 1929, on a farm northwest of Rock Valley, the son of Tennis R. and Tillie (Postma) Klay. The following year, the family moved to a farm two miles north of Hull. He attended grade school at Lincoln Township Number 6 and graduated from the Western Christian High School in 1946. After graduation, he held several different jobs, hiring on with Northwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1950. He was employed with them for 42 and a half years, retiring in December of 1992.

He was united in marriage to Freda Annetta Kroese, on September 14, 1951 in Hull. They made their home in Hull until he was drafted into the United States Army on December 5, 1951. He did basic training at Camp Gordon, Georgia and served at Okinawa during the Korean Conflict. He served two years and was honorably discharged as a corporal. He became a member of the Wegman-Koele American Legion Post in Hull and was recognized for seventy years of continuous membership on March 15, 2018. Freda passed away on June 26, 2015, in Sioux Center, after more than 63 years of marriage.

“Harry” was a lifelong member of the First Christian Reformed Church in Hull and served as a deacon and an elder. For several years he also served on the Zoning Commission and the Board of Adjustment, both in Hull.

Mr. Klay was especially grateful for being born to and raised in a Christian home, church, and community.

Survivors include his sister, Dolores “Dottie” Van Iwaarden, of Vista, California; two brothers-in-law and their wives, Charles P. and Darlene Kroese and John and Joyce Kroese, all of Hull; and numerous nephews and nieces.

In addition to his parents and wife, he was preceded in death by two brothers, Roger Klay, and his wives, Johanna and Pearl; and Merle Klay, and his wife, Irma Scholten; two sisters, Dorothy Klay, in infancy, and Marilyn, and her husband, Duane Rapp; a sister-in-law and her husband, Hilda and Tom De Jong; and two brothers-in-law, Marion Koele and Leo Van Engen.

Memorials may be directed to the Western Christian High School or the Hull Christian School.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.