Esther Lydia (Keizer) VANDER SCHAAF

VANDER SCHAAF, KEIZER, STILLWELL, AALBERS, HANSMA

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/24/2009 at 10:17:20

Sioux City Journal, Iowa
June 1, 2001

ALTON, Iowa - Esther Lydia Vander Schaaf, 80, of Alton died Tuesday, May 29, 2001, at Orange City Municipal Hospital Long Term Care Facility in Orange City, Iowa. Services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Alton Reformed Church, with the Rev. Stephen Veldhuis officiating. Burial will be in Nassau Township Cemetery. Visitation will be after 2 p.m. today, with the family present 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City.

Mrs. Vander Schaaf was born Aug. 11, 1920, in Alton, the daughter of John C. and Martha Etta (Stillwell) Keizer. She was raised in Alton and graduated from Alton High School in 1938. She attended Northwestern College in Orange City. She was employed as a secretary for Charles B. Hoeven in Alton and later as an assistant clerk at the Sioux County Selective Service Office in Orange City. She married Robert Samuel Vander Schaaf on May 10, 1943, in Alton. Following his discharge from the military, the couple operated Floyd Hatchery in Alton for 12 years. In 1958, they moved to Holland, Mich., where she was employed as a salesperson. Following her husband's ordination, she assisted him as he pastored at Immanuel Reformed Church in Belmond, Iowa, from 1961 to 1970, and Trinity Reformed Church in Fulton, Ill., from 1970 to 1985. They retired and returned to Alton. She had been a Sunday School and Bible School teacher and was involved in small group ministries at various churches. She was a current member of Alton Reformed Church and Mary Circle. She enjoyed reading and gardening.

Survivors include her husband; a daughter and her husband, Rachel and Richard Aalbers of Mount Vernon, Iowa; a son, the Rev. Bob Vander Schaaf Jr. of Volga, S.D.; six grandchildren, Daniel, Ben and Abigail Aalbers, Aaron, Adam and Amber Vander Schaaf; a great-grandson; and a brother and his wife, Gerald and Marie Keizer of Alton.
She was preceded in death by a daughter-in-law, Bonnie Vander Schaaf; stepfather, Theodore Hansma; a brother, Edward Bentley Keizer; and infant sisters, Evelyn; and a sister-in-law, Sena Keizer.