Mrs. Myra Vlieger, age 89, of Orange City, passed away on Tuesday, October 2, 2012, at the Heritage House Nursing Home in Orange City.
There will be a funeral service on Saturday, October 6, at 10:30am, in the chapel of the First Reformed Church in Orange City. The Rev. Jack Ritsema and the Rev. Mark Haverdink will officiate. After a lunch at the church, interment will be at the Sherman Township Cemetery near Maurice.
Visitation will be after 4:00pm on Friday, with the family present from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City.
Myra Geraldine was born on December 30, 1922, in rural Maurice, the daughter of Jacob G. and Fannie D. (Schutt) Den Herder. She was raised on a farm near Maurice, where she graduated from high school. Myra worked briefly in California while the love of her life, James Henry Vlieger, was stationed there during WWII. She returned to Maurice, after he was deployed with the United States Navy’s Pacific fleet.
On April 12, 1946, she married Jim in the Maurice Reformed Church. They farmed the Vlieger family farm southeast of Maurice until 1965, when they moved into town and operated Jim’s Feed Store together for many years. Jim passed away on March 4, 2005, after nearly 59 years of marriage.
In earlier years, Myra was a member of the Maurice Reformed Church, where she sang in the choir and taught Sunday school, catechism, and Vacation Bible School classes. She was also a member of the Pressman-Kosters American Legion Auxiliary, organizing the annual Maurice poppy drive and putting out flags on the graves of veterans at St. Mary’s and Sherman Township Cemeteries at Maurice. She and Jim worked many local elections, and Myra was a census taker in 2000.
In the fall of 2005, Myra moved to Orange City, and in January of 2010, she became a resident of the Heritage House, where she was known for her hymn singing until shortly before her death. She was a member of the First Reformed Church in Orange City at the time of her death.
Mrs. Vlieger enjoyed embroidering, crocheting, growing flowers and making silk floral arrangements, performing “Yankee Dutch” readings, and writing letters of encouragement. She helped write the Maurice Centennial pageant, as well as their history book. She was known for her salted peanut chocolate chip cookies, which were her own recipe. She loved taking photos, especially of sunsets and the people she loved.
Survivors include her two daughters and their husbands, Sandra and the Rev. Jack Ritsema, of Ackley, and Kathy and John Leinenkugel, of Grimes; a son and his wife, David and Carla Vlieger, of Maryville, Missouri; a daughter-in-law, Norine Vlieger, of Altoona; nine grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren; and a sister-in-law, Trudy Den Herder, of Luverne, Minnesota.
In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by a son, Rodney Vlieger; two sisters and their husbands, Jeanette and Wilbur De Jong and Gladys and Kenneth DePree; and a brother, George Den Herder.
Memorials will be directed to the Heritage House Nursing Home.
