Vande Steeg, Sharon Kay (Mrs. Russell Allan) 1940-2021

VANDESTEEG, EVERS, COSE

Posted By: Marjorie Brunsting-Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:34

Mrs. Sharon Vande Steeg, age 80, of Orange City, passed away on Saturday, May 1, 2021, at the Orange City Area Health System.

There will be a memorial service on Thursday, May 6, at 11:00am, at the American Reformed Church in Orange City. The Revs. Michael and Elizabeth Hardeman will officiate. Interment will be prior to the service at the West Lawn Cemetery in Orange City. There will be a family prayer service on Thursday, at 10:00am, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City.

Visitation without the family will be on Wednesday, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the funeral home.

Sharon Kay was born on October 18, 1940, in Webster City, the daughter of De Orr and Irene (Evers) Cose. Following World War II, her family move to Maurice, where she graduated from the Maurice High School in 1957. She then attended Iowa State University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in home Economics for general education and met her future husband, Russell Allan Vande Steeg. She also received numerous awards, including being selected as one of the four “Bomb Beauties” for the university yearbook in 1960, and was a member of the queen’s court for the university’s annual spring festival, Veishea.

After graduation in 1961, she started working as a flight attendant for Trans World Airlines and was based in New York City. Russell was working for General Electric, also on the east coast, and they were able to meet frequently. On March 16, 1963, they were united in marriage in an old, Reformed Church in Elmhurst, New York. Together they had three children, and in addition to being a wife and mother, Sharon had various part time jobs outside of the home. Russell’s work required frequent relocation, and Sharon was always very supportive of these necessary moves. The family lived on the East Coast, in the southern United States, in the San Francisco area, and in Los Angeles, where they spent twenty-five years. In 1993, they moved to northwest Iowa, where Sharon worked for Kraai Furniture for more than twenty years. She was also very active in the community through the Dutch Heritage Boosters and participating in Tulip Festival activities.

They were members of the American Reformed Church in Orange City, where she taught Sunday School for many years.

Survivors include her husband of more than 58 years, Russ, of Orange City; her sons, James Vande Steeg, of Dana Point, California, and Jon Vande Steeg, of McKinney, Texas; her daughter, Judy Vande Steeg-Allen, of McKinney; seven grandchildren and four step-grandchildren; a sister, Janice Woolcott, of Orange City; a brother and his wife, Jerry and June Cose, of Omaha, Nebraska; a sister-in-law, Diane Vande Steeg, of Des Moines; and several nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents and Russ’ parents, John J. and Cornelia Vande Steeg; she was preceded in death by a brother-in-law, John M. Vande Steeg; as well as numerous cousins.

Memorials may be directed to the American Reformed Church.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.