Bras, Carol (Mrs. Leroy) 1934-2024

BRAS, TOP, VANOORT

Posted By: Marjorie Brunsting-Volunteer (email)
Date: 5/18/2024 at 19:25:14

Mrs. Carol Bras, age 90, of Orange City, formerly of Hospers, passed away on May 6, 2024, at the Orange City Area Health System.

A visitation with the family present will be held on Sunday, May 19, from 4:00pm to 6:00pm, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Hospers. There will be a funeral service on Monday, May 20, at 1:30pm, at the Trinity Reformed Church Hospers campus with the Rev. Milton Sikkema and the Rev. Kurt Bush officiating. Interment will follow the service at the Hospers Cemetery near Hospers.

Carol Ruth was born on January 6, 1934, near Newkirk, the daughter of John J. and Anna (Top) Van Oort. She was raised in rural Newkirk, where she attended country school Capel #8 and the Newkirk Consolidated School. Following graduation, she attended Northwestern Junior College in Orange City before teaching in Newkirk and Sioux Center.

On July 25, 1957, she was united in marriage to Leroy Bras in Orange City. They first made their home in Lone Rock, where she taught at the Sentral Community School. In 1967, they moved to Ireton for two years before relocating to Hospers in 1969. While in Hospers, Carol worked as a substitute teacher and later at the Hospers Telephone Company for eighteen years until retiring in 1996. Leroy passed away on April 3, 2009, in Orange City, after more than 51 years of marriage. In 2019, Carol moved to the Pioneer Memorial Home in Orange City, then to Pleasant Acres in Hull in 2020, before becoming a resident of the Prairie Ridge Care Center in Orange City in May of 2021.

Mrs. Bras was a member of the First Reformed Church in Hospers, where she was active in the church choir, participated in the women’s Bible studies, and taught both Sunday School and catechism classes. She also volunteered as part of the Northwestern College Auxiliary. During the summers, the Bras family enjoyed vacations, rotating years focused on fishing or sightseeing for fourteen years, including going to eighteen major league baseball stadiums. In their retirement, she and Leroy enjoyed watching local sporting events, including Northwestern College and local high school sports, as well as following the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs baseball games on radio and television. Together they traveled all across the United States, only missing two states. In addition, they were able to take Canadian fishing trips, visit Hawaii with their sons, and make trips to Japan and South Korea to visit their oldest son, Harris.

Carol was known for her well stocked and assiduously cultivated memory, her good sense of humor, and for truly taking an interest in others. People would often quiz her to see if she remembered something, especially people’s birthdays.

Survivors include her two sons and their wives, Harris and Heejeon Bras, of West Lafayette, Indiana; and Gene and Vicki Bras, of Cerritos, California; three grandchildren, Brittany, and her husband, Brandon Meyer, of Hesperia, California; Laura Bras of Houston, Texas; and Daniel Bras of West Lafayette, Indiana; one great-grandchild on the way; and two sisters, Wilma Vaas, of Orange City; and Hendrine, and her husband, Duane Gutcher, of Casa Grande, Arizona; along with several nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by a sister and her husband, Harriet and Marion Andringa; a stepsister-in-law, Alma Andringa; a brother-in-law, Earl Vaas; her parents-in-law, Harry and Minnie Bras; a sister-in-law and her husband, Margaret and Duane Vande Berg; and two nieces, Anita Hofland and Avis Bennett.

Memorials will be given to Bible League International and Talking Bibles International.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.