Jeltema, Karen Agnes (Mrs. Gregory Jay) 1954-2022

JELTEMA, BELTMAN, VANLEEUWEN

Posted By: Marjorie Brunsting-Volunteer (email)
Date: 1/25/2023 at 13:35:06

Mrs. Karen Jeltema, age 68, of Orange City, passed away on December 23, 2022, at the Orange City Area Health System.

There will be a funeral service on Friday, December 30, at 10:00am, at the First Christian Reformed Church with the Rev. Jordan Helming officiating. A luncheon and time of visitation with the family will follow the service. A graveside service will be held at 1:00pm on Friday, at the West Lawn Cemetery in Orange City. The Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City is in charge of arrangements.

Karen Agnes was one of four children born to James and Joyce (Van Leeuwen) Beltman. She was raised on a farm near Hospers and graduated from Unity Christian High School.

On May 16, 1973, she was united in marriage to Gregory Jay Jeltema in Hospers. To this union, they were blessed with four children. They made their home on a farm near Orange City, eventually moving into town. She worked as both a dietary aide and in housekeeping at the Orange City Hospital but was most known for serving up delicious meals as a cook at The Hatchery Restaurant in Orange City. Greg passed away on May 28, 2018, after more than 45 years of marriage.

Karen was always a jokester and was definitely her father’s daughter. She enjoyed making every holiday a special occasion, from spending hours on ideas and detailing Halloween costumes, to all the fun and games she'd plan out for family Christmas. She loved spending time at Paullina Lake camping and fishing with family and friends. A highlight of her days was watching all types of sports, particularly baseball and the Youth and Major League World Series. To visit the Field of Dreams near Dyersville, Iowa and to have her cardboard cutout at a Minnesota Twins game were big on her bucket list. She loved chit chatting at the kitchen table with anyone that knew her. She will be missed by many.

Survivors include her four children, Jody, and her husband, Chad Van Regenmorter, of Inwood; Harly Jeltema, of Orange City; Tammy, and her husband, Cory Groen, of Little Rock; and Heath Jeltema, of Orange City; five grandchildren, Rebecca, and her husband, Blake Roetman; Emily Van Regenmorter, and Aftin, Cade, and Avery Groen; a brother and his wife, Arlyn and Elaine Beltman; a sister-in-law, Doris Beltman; Greg’s mother, Alice “Nupe” Jeltema; and his siblings and their spouses, Wes and Teresa Jeltema, Pam and Rob Van Riessen, and Lyle and Karen Jeltema along with many nieces, nephews, and extended family.

In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by a granddaughter, Kaylee Van Regenmorter; a brother, Dennis Beltman; a sister and her husband, Gloria and John Peuse; and her stepmother, Gladys Beltman.

Memorials will be used by the family for a memorial at Paullina Lake.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.