Oldenkamp, Evelyn (Mrs. Bill) 1930-2020

OLDENKAMP, KOOL, ROELFSON

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

Mrs. Evelyn Oldenkamp, age 90, of Orange City, passed away peacefully in her sleep, on Tuesday, December 1, 2020, at the Prairie Ridge Care Center in Orange City, with friends and staff at her side.

There will be a private family funeral service on Saturday, December 5, at 2:00pm, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City. The Rev. Timothy Poferl will officiate. Interment will follow the service at the West Lawn Cemetery in Orange City.

Evelyn was born January 21, 1930, to Evert J and Anna (Kool) Roelfson in Orange City. She moved to Alton at age eight, living on the family farm. She went to high school and church in Alton and worked at the local drug stores and the hatchery where she met her future husband William (Bill) Henry Oldenkamp.

Bill and Evelyn were married September 15, 1961 and along with Bill’s two children Roger and Gary, the family lived in Orange City. On their third wedding anniversary, their first son together, Gregory, was born. Shortly after, the family moved to South Dakota and then to Saint Cloud, Minnesota, following Bill’s work. In 1970, their second son Mark was born and then in 1972 the family moved to Cottage Grove, Minnesota, where they resided until Bill retired in 1990. In 1990, Bill and Evelyn moved back to their hometown of Orange City, reuniting Evelyn with two of her three sisters. After a stroke and two years in the nursing home, Bill passed away December 27, 1999. Evelyn continued to be involved in her church, playing games with her sisters, visiting friends for coffee and helping out with shut-ins until she moved to Landsmeer in 2007. In 2009, Evelyn moved into the Heritage House and was then one of the first “kids” to be moved into Prairie Ridge once it opened.

Evelyn was a lifelong homemaker. Her home always had a hot pot of coffee on the stove and there was no 5-second rule for food that fell on her floor, for anyone that knew her, it would be an insult to think that her floors were not clean enough to eat off. Any phone conversation with Evelyn generally included a summary of what she cleaned that day. Evelyn had a special bond with her twin sister, Shirley, and she spent most of her retirement, even after entering the nursing home, with Shirley, playing games, having coffee and visiting their friends. Evelyn was very involved in her church, Dover Avenue Alliance, up until the time she entered assisted living. She always had religious programming on, like the Gaither Hour, or one of her Christian CDs and her well-worn Bible was always by her side, even at the nursing home. Evelyn enjoyed life and, in the end, she lived it to its fullest, enjoying her two favorite things until the end, a bowl of popcorn and a dish of ice cream.

A loving and caring mother and wife, a dry wit and an opinion always at the ready to give, Evelyn will be greatly missed by all those that knew and loved her.

Evelyn is survived by her three sons; Roger (Ann) Oldenkamp, Gregory (Ann) Oldenkamp, and Mark (Danielle) Oldenkamp, as well as eight grandchildren, six great grandchildren and a seventh on the way. She was preceded in death by her husband Bill (William), son Gary, her parents Evert and Anna Roelfson and her three sisters and their husbands, Irene (Hal) Bunz, Joan (Bill) Vande Brake and Shirley (Art) Hanson.

The family would like to thank the staff at Prairie Ridge Care Center. Evelyn was under their care for nearly eight years and then three years prior to that at the Heritage House. They were more than attendants, they became friends to her and her care was loving and unwavering. The family, in lieu of flowers, would prefer any memorials go to Prairie Ridge or to the family to pass on.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.