De Groot, Janet (Mrs. Donald Jay) 1928-2023

DEGROOT, VANROOYEN, HUISMAN

Posted By: Marjorie Brunsting-volunteer (email)
Date: 11/8/2023 at 13:42:57

Mrs. Janet De Groot, age 95, of Hull, passed away on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at the Hegg Health Center in Rock Valley.

A visitation with the family present will be held on Friday, October 13, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Hull. There will be a funeral service on Saturday, October 14, at 10:30am, at the American Reformed Church in Hull with the Rev. Mark Cercone officiating. Interment will follow the service at the Hope Cemetery in Hull.

Janet Arlene and her twin sister, Mina, were born on August 13, 1928, on a farm near Alton, the daughters of Herbert M. and Kate (Van Rooyen) Huisman. She grew up in rural northwest Iowa and attended country school through the eighth grade. Her family moved to Rock Valley when she was a teenager and she graduated from the Rock Valley High School. She continued her education at Westmar College in Le Mars, earning her teaching certificate before working in a country school west of Rock Valley for four years.

She was united in marriage to Donald Jay De Groot on March 2, 1950, at the First Reformed Church in Rock Valley. She and Don first made their home on a farm near Boyden, until moving to the De Groot Family farm north of Hull, where they raised their family. In 1983, Janet and Don moved to a house in Hull, and Janet worked part-time as a cook at the Pleasant Acres Care Center in Hull. After more than 65 years of marriage, Don passed away on September 10, 2015, in Sioux Falls. Janet remained in Hull until becoming a resident of the Whispering Heights care facility in Rock Valley.

Mrs. De Groot was a long-time member of the American Reformed Church in Hull, where she participated in the women’s ministries and as a part of the church’s quilting group. Janet liked to spend time cooking, baking, and canning the produce from her extensive garden. She enjoyed being a part of the Tuesday afternoon Women’s Bowling League in Hull and cheering on her children and grandchildren at their sporting events. She also liked sewing, quilting, and crocheting, as well as playing the piano and accordion, and she looked forward to going on camping and fishing trips with her husband and watching the Minnesota Twins games.

She is survived by her seven children, Karla Keizer, of Joplin, Missouri; Daryl De Groot, and his wife, Marla, of Orange City; Jolene, and her husband, Steve Reekers, of Powell, Wyoming; Pat, and her husband, Dean Woelber, of Ceder Falls; Marlys, and her husband, Mark Freese, of Lincoln, Nebraska; Pastor Doug De Groot, and his wife, Alethea “Lee”, of Rock Rapids; and Dan De Groot, and his wife, Sheila, of Alta; 23 grandchildren; 50 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; two sisters, Harriet Kleinhesselink, of Orange City; and Wilma, and her husband, Stanley De Boom, of Le Mars; a sister-in-law, Greta Huisman; and several De Groot in-laws, along with numerous nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by a son-in-law, Leon Keizer; two sisters and their husbands, Edith and David Kuiken, and Mina and Sam Renes; two brothers, Matthew Huisman, and his wife, Gertrude; and Gerald Huisman; and a brother-in-law, Kenneth Kleinhesselink.

Memorials will be given to Inspiration Hills Camp and Retreat Center near Inwood.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.