Vander Werff, Phyllis (Mrs. Lyle Lloyd) 1936-2023

VANDERWERFF, LOVINS, UHL, BRACK

Posted By: Marjorie Brunsting-Volunteer (email)
Date: 9/13/2023 at 12:09:37

Mrs. Phyllis Vander Werff, age 87, of Orange City, passed away on Sunday, August 20, 2023, at the Orange City Area Health System.

A visitation with the family present will be held on Thursday, August 24, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the American Reformed Church in Orange City. There will be a memorial service on Friday, August 25, at 1:30pm, at the church with the Rev. Verlyn Boone officiating. A private family interment will take place prior to the service at the West Lawn Cemetery in Orange City. The Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City is in charge of arrangements.

Phyllis Jean Lovins was born on April 17, 1936, at the Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was the first child of Lyle Nicholas and Ethel Bell (Uhl) Lovins, who resided in Grandville, Michigan. Lyle and Ethel were new Christians, and helped found the Olivet Reformed Church in Grandville. The joy of the Lord filled their young family and built a strong faith that never wavered in Phyllis’ life.

Phyllis dreamed of becoming a missionary nurse and loved working as a Candy Striper during high school. She studied nursing and mission service for two years at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, where she met Lyle Lloyd Vander Werff. After a short courtship, they were married on August 22, 1958, in Grandville. Phyllis partnered with Lyle while he finished his studies at Western Theological Seminary in Holland before they were called to their first church in New Jersey.

In 1961, their opportunity to join in mission service arrived. They set sail for Europe, followed by a flight to Kuwait, with their one-and-a-half-year-old son, David, in tow. They finished their Reformed Church ministry term in 1964, and spent two years in Scotland, where Lyle continued his education at the University of Edinburgh, and Kathy was born. They eventually made their way to Orange City in 1967, just in time for Kristyn to be born. Lyle fell in love with his teaching job at Northwestern College in Orange City. Their home was regularly filled with international students, and together Lyle and Phyllis worked to share God’s love to students and visitors from abroad through their hospitality. After more than 48 wonderful years together, Lyle passed away on April 23, 2007, in Orange City. In 2018, Phyllis moved to the Landsmeer Ridge Retirement Community in Orange City, and for the last several months, she had been a resident of the Prairie Ridge Care Center.

Phyllis was very active in the Reformed Church in America, serving on the General Program Council with a focus on mission work. As a member of the American Reformed Church in Orange City, she willingly served as a deacon and an elder, participated in Bible classes and women’s groups, and led a team that cared for the church library. She eventually continued her college studies at Northwestern with a focus on library science and worked for seventeen years at the Orange City Public Library. In her free time, she could often be found reading, gardening, doing handwork, bird watching, and getting together for coffee with her dear friends. She also liked to travel, having been all over the world and around the country with Lyle and their family. Above all, she enjoyed raising her three children and spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her family will remember well her joy in the Lord, her positive outlook on life, her honesty, practicality, and encouragement, and not least of all, her pleasure in being the family storyteller.

Those giving thanks for her life include her three children and their spouses, David and Beth Vander Werff, Kathryn and Brad Gabel, and Kristyn and Sean Howe, all of Orange City; eight grandchildren, Drew Vander Werff, and his wife, Dana; Matthew Vander Werff, and his wife, Erin; Heather Gabel, and her fiancé, Levi Ebersole; Jacob Gabel; Jessica, and her husband, Caleb Brower; Michael Howe; Aaron Howe; and Julia Howe; three great-grandchildren, Margaret and Mallory Vander Werff, and Ellis Brower; a brother and his wife, Douglas and Linda Lovins, of Zeeland, Michigan; two stepbrothers and their wives, John and Paulette Brack, of Grand Rapids; and James and Judy Brack, of South Haven, Michigan; and a brother-in-law, Michael Czechowskyj, of Allendale, Michigan; along with numerous nieces and nephews, many of whom she was very close to.

In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by her stepmother, Mildred Lovins; a sister, Marianne Czechowskyj; and a stepbrother, Fred Brack.

Memorials will be given to the Prairie Ridge Care Center in Orange City.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.