Aberson, Thelma (Mrs. Gilbert John) 1936-2023

ABERSON, BRANDS, DEWIT

Posted By: Marjorie Brunsting-Volunteer (email)
Date: 8/14/2023 at 12:54:12

Mrs. Thelma Aberson, age 86, of Orange City, passed away on Friday, June 23, 2023, at her home near Orange City.

A visitation will be held after 3:00pm on Monday, June 26, with the family present from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City. There will be a funeral service on Tuesday, June 27, at 10:30am, at the First Reformed Church in Orange City with the Rev. Mark Haverdink officiating. Interment will follow the service at the Nassau Township Cemetery near Alton.

Thelma was born on August 5, 1936, in Rock Valley, the daughter of Jacob and Jeanette Brands. She grew up in Rock Valley, where she was a student at the Rock Valley Christian School. In 1953, she graduated from the Western Christian High School in Hull before earning her teaching certificate from Northwestern College in Orange City. She worked as an early elementary school teacher in several northwest Iowa communities as well as in California and Illinois.

On December 30, 1964, she was united in marriage to Gilbert John Aberson at the First Christian Reformed Church in Rock Valley. Together they made their home and raised their family on the Aberson Family farm south of Orange City.

Thelma was a member of the First Reformed Church in Orange City. She regularly participated in the church’s women’s ministry and Miriam Circle as well as serving as a Sunday school teacher and as part of the Northwestern College Auxiliary. She liked doing counted cross-stitch and handwork, reading, doing word searches, cooking and baking, and harvesting produce from her garden for canning and freezing. In later years, she and Gilbert enjoyed going on numerous bus trips together across the country, and she loved being able to spend time with her children and grandchildren.

Survivors include her husband of more than 58 years, Gilbert, of Orange City; three children and their spouses, Kevin and Kim Aberson, of Elgin, Illinois; Kathy and Thomas Pressey, of Kalamazoo, Michigan; and Kurtis and Kelli Aberson, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; six grandchildren, Sydney Pressey, Connor Pressey, Alexis Pressey, Riley Pressey, Paige Aberson, and Dawson Aberson; and a sister, Irene Ter Haar, of Sioux Center; as well as several nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her stepfather, Joe DeWit; a stepbrother and his wife, John “Dutch” and Lenora DeWit; two stepsisters and their husbands, Mildred and Herman Dirksen, and Florence and William “Bud” Termaat; and a brother-in-law, Donald Ter Haar.

Memorials will be given to the Orange City Area Home Health and Hospice.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.