Alvina Jeanette (Ostendorf) DORENKAMP

DORENKAMP, OSTENDORF, GRUIS, VOS-VOELKER, BOELMAN, STADTLANDER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 8/10/2008 at 12:18:56

MESERVEY - Funeral services for Alvina Jeanette Dorenkamp, 82, of Meservey, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the First Reformed Church in Meservey, with the Rev. Rodney Meester and the Rev. Herm Gruis, officiating. Interment will be in the Meservey Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. today at Tenold Funeral Home in Belmond, and will continue one hour prior to services on Thursday at the church.

Alvina Jeanette (Ostendorf) Dorenkamp, the daughter of Jacob and Carrie (Gruis) Ostendorf was born on Dec. 24, 1917, in Alexander, Iowa. She grew up in the Alexander area and graduated from Alexander High School in 1934. In 1936, her family moved to Meservey and she became a member of the First Reformed Church in Meservey. Alvina attended and graduated from Central College in Pella, Iowa in 1941. She went on to teach school at Bagley, Iowa for two years and then in Belmond for one year. On June 7, 1945, Alvina was united in marriage to Elmer Dorenkamp and the couple moved to Mason City, where they both worked. In 1949 they moved to a farm near Meservey. Alvina then became organist and a Sunday school teacher at the First Reformed Church in Meservey. From there, she went to Bethany Reformed Church in Belmond and became their organist for nearly 30 years. Because of her great love of music, she also gave piano and organ lessons to local students for many years. Alvina spent several years researching family history. She was also a member of the Meservey Federated Women's Club.

Alvina died on Monday (Feb. 21, 2000) at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit in Mason City. Survivors include her husband, Elmer, of Meservey; two sons and their families, Curtis Dorenkamp and his wife, Skip, of Belmond and their children, Christine, Timothy and Jennifer; and Mike Dorenkamp, of Mason City and his children, John, Julie and Jason; a sister, Dorothy Vos-Voelker and her husband, Don, of Ames; a sister-in-law, Marie Boelman and her husband, Bud, of Belmond; and many cousins. She was preceded in death by her parents; an infant brother, Luverne Ostendorf; and a sister, Irene Stadtlander. Tenold Funeral Home.

February 23, 2000
Mason City Globe Gazette