Genaveva Bertha (Gruis) BARKEMA

BARKEMA, GRUIS, OSTENDORF, BUSEMAN, PALS, CLIFTON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:58

March 19, 1919 ---- June 22, 2018

Genaveva "Gen" B. Barkema, 99, of Belmond, IA, most recently of the Rehabilitation Center of Belmond, died, Friday, June 22, 2018, at the Rehabilitation Center of Belmond. Funeral service will be Monday, July 2, 2018, 10:30 AM, at the Immanuel Reformed Church east of Belmond. The Reverend David DeKuiper will be officiating. Burial will be in the Belmond Cemetery. Visitation will be Sunday from 4-7 PM at Andrews Funeral Home, 516 1st St. Southeast, Belmond and will continue one hour prior to the services at church Monday.. Those wishing to express their sympathies through a memorial in Gen's name may wish to consider to the donor's choice.

Genaveva Bertha Barkema, the daughter of Peter and Gesena (Ostendorf) Gruis, was born March 19, 1919, on her parents farm in Franklin County, north of Alexander, IA. She was baptized in the First Reformed Church of Alexander in her youth and later made her confession of faith at the church. Gen attended rural schools and then graduated from Alexander High School with the Class of 1936.

Gen was united in marriage to Lambert Barkema on January 1, 1941, at her parent's home. The two the farmed and raised their children: Donna, Dennis, and Byron on the farm east of Goodell, IA. In addition to being a loving wife and partner in the farming, Gen relished her role as a mother to her children and truly looked forward to supporting them in all their endeavors. Her family and extended family was of utmost importance in her life in addition to her faith. She was a longtime member of the Immanuel Reformed Church where she had been a Catechism teacher, Sunday School teacher, and youth sponsor. Additionally she had been active in the DORCAS and RCW over the years.

Gen looked forward to family gatherings and times spent in the presence of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was excellent at embroidery and other handicraft and had made many sets of dish towels with beautiful embroidery work. All of her great-grandchildren had received a baby blanket she embroidered at the time of their birth. Gen was a wonderful cook and baker and shared her excellent culinary delights of date filled cookies, strawberry pies, and other treats from her kitchen with both family and friends. Gen was always quite active be it helping with the farming, raising chickens, or caring and nurturing her family. She liked hosting family events and entertaining visitors. In retirement years she enjoyed playing bridge, golfing with Lambert, bi-weekly bowling outings, and gathering daily with the Bloemke Pharmacy Coffee group for many years. Gen and Lambert had spent 18 years wintering at their get away in Haines City, Florida.

In 1990, Gen and Lambert retired from full time farming and moved to their home at the Belaire Condos in Belmond, where they lived until Lambert's passing in May 2007. Gen continued to live there for a time and later moved to the Bellehaven Assisted Living in Belmond in the fall of 2012. She then became a resident at the Rehabilitation Center of Belmond in 2013.

She will be remembered as a beautiful soul, friendly demeanor, and innate sense of place and kindness toward all who crossed in her life footprints.

Her memory will be carried forward by her family including her daughter Donna (Harold) Buseman, Belmond, IA; sons Dennis (Betty) Barkema, Belmond, IA, and Byron (Sherry) Barkema, Two Harbors, Minnesota; her sister Malinda Pals, Belmond, IA; 11 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and one great-grandchild on the way, as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins, and other extended family. Gen was preceded in death by her parents, Peter and Gesena, in-laws Dick and Minnie (Pals) Barkema, husband Lambert Barkema May 11, 2007, and a granddaughter Tamara Clifton. Andrews Funeral Home, Belmond, Iowa.

http://www.andrewsfuneralhomeandfloral.com/obituary/genaveva-gen-barkema