Published: October 31, 2008 03:38 pm            

Lucille Van Wyk

Lucille M. Van Zee was the youngest of three children that were born to Andrew E. and Trynie De Wild Van Zee. She was born on October 31, 1927, at the Mahaska County Hospital in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Lucille was baptized as an infant at the First Reformed Church in Pella, Iowa. She attended the Valley Country Grade School southeast of Pella and graduated from Pella Public High School with the Class of 1944. Lucille’s mother died in 1945 when Lucille was 17 years of age. Lucille then quit her job to keep house with her father, Andrew and her two older brothers, Clarence and Lester Van Zee. Lucille had held various office jobs with the Farmers’ Cooperative Exchange and Rolscreen Company in Pella. Lucille met Ralph Van Wyk, a son of John Will and Ella Wyngarden Van Wyk , in downtown Pella and they were united in marriage by a former Bible School teacher, Rev. Cornie G. Reynen, on September 8, 1950, in Holland, Michigan. Ralph entered the United States Army soon after they were married. Lucille joined him in Kansas while he served his basic training where she worked at an Army Hospital until returning home to her father in Pella when Ralph was deployed to Korea in 1951. Lucille remained very, very faithful in her communication with Ralph during this time and joined him in Indiana upon his return to the United States. Following his discharge from the U.S. Army, Lucille and Ralph located in the Sully, Iowa area. Lucille’s goal in life was to raise a Christian family and to this union three children were born: Verlan E., Marlin L. and Carlyn L. Lucille and Ralph farmed in the Sully area for 40 years. During this time Lucille was a devoted homemaker and in 1992 she and Ralph moved to their home in Pella. She loved to read Christian literature and was very ardent in sharing her faith in writing, through the use of the scriptures.

Lucille had made profession of her faith in her early teens at the First Reformed Church in Pella and was a former member of the First Reformed Church in Sully. At the present time she was a member of the Third Reformed Church in Pella.

On Wednesday evening, October 8, 2008, Lucille went home to be with her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ while being cared for at the Hospice of Pella Comfort House in Pella 23 days prior to her 81st birthday. Lucille continued to faithfully share her faith with her family, her husband of 58 years and friend for 62 years, Ralph Van Wyk; three children and their spouses, 10 grandchildren, 2 step-grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren and 3 step-great-grandchildren.

Lucille leaves her brother, Lester Van Zee and his wife, Gertrude, and her sister-in-law, Loretta (Clarence) Van Zee all of Pella; and a brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Harold and Jonella Van Wyk of Sully. She was preceded in death by her parents, Trynie and Andrew E. Van Zee, her step-mother, Josie (Vroom) Van Zee and her brother, Clarence Van Zee. Lucille and Ralph took several trips together and Lucille always enjoyed Pella’s Tulip Time. She enjoyed painting and cake decorating and had an appreciation for Christian music. Arrangements by Van Dyk- Duven Funeral Home. Online condolences may be made at www.vandykduven.com

For those desiring, memorials may given for the Dialysis Department of the Pella Regional Health Center or the Hospice of Pella Comfort House in Pella.

        

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