Wynia, Syne "Sy" 1934-2021

WYNIA, DRAAYER, WIELENGA

Posted By: Marjorie Brunsting-Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:36

Mr. Syne Wynia, age 86, of Orange City, passed away on Saturday, February 27, 2021, at the Rock Rapids Health Centre.

There will be a private family funeral service on Wednesday, March 3, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City. The Rev. Mark Vande Zande will officiate. Interment will follow the service at the West Lawn Cemetery in Orange City. Visitation without the family present will be on Tuesday, from 3:00pm to 7:00pm, at the funeral home.

Syne was born on November 5, 1934, in Maurice, one of six children born to Sam and Minnie (Draayer) Wynia. He grew up on his family’s farm by Maurice and attended country school through the eighth grade.

He was united in marriage to Esther Wielenga on her parent’s 40th wedding anniversary, February 3, 1956, at the First Christian Reformed Church in Orange City. The following year, “Sy” entered the United States Army, serving overseas from January of 1957 to October of 1958. After being honorably discharged, Sy returned to northwest Iowa and the couple rented a farm west of Orange City until they were able to purchase their own farm place northeast of town. Sy and Esther worked side by side as a team, farming the land, operating a dairy, and raising their family. In January of 2020, they became residents of the Rock Rapids Health Centre.

Sy was a faithful member of the First Christian Reformed Church in Orange City. In earlier years, he was active with the Heritage Village in Sioux Center, and attended many local farm auctions, hoping to add to his collection of antique tractors and farm implements. In later years, he could often be found in his wood shop concentrating on his various projects from wooden signs to miniature farm equipment.

Syne was a man of integrity with a quiet spirit and sincere smile. He will be remembered as a loving, caring, and devoted husband, father, and grandfather, and will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved him.

Survivors include his wife of more than 65 years, Esther, of Rock Rapids; a daughter and her husband, Sheryl and Paul Pilling, of Marion; a son and his wife, Loren and Dawn Wynia, of Orange City; four grandchildren, Karen Pilling, of Marion; Nathan Pilling, of Bremerton, Washington; Troy Wynia, of Sheldon; and Brady Wynia, of Orange City; a sister and her husband, Cynthia and Wilson Haarsma, of Jenison, Michigan; a sister-in-law, Geraldine De Jong, of Orange City; and numerous nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents and his wife’s parents, Peter L. and Gertrude Wielenga, he was preceded in death by two brothers and their wives, Louis and Hermina Wynia, and John and Nelvie Wynia; two sisters and their husbands, Wilmina and Edward Wielenga, and Sadie and Gary Van Ravenswaay; as well as five of his wife’s siblings.

Memorials may be directed to the Orange City Christian School or Unity Christian High School in Orange City.

Source: Oolman Funeral Home online obituary.