Clarene Kroon

     Clarene Kroon, age 89, of Sioux Center, Iowa, died Tuesday, January 29, 2019, at Royale Meadows Care Center of Sioux Center.

A funeral service will be held at10:30am on Friday, February 1, 2019 at the First Reformed Church of Sioux Center, with Rev. Stephen Breen officiating.   Interment will follow the service in Memory Gardens Cemetery of Sioux Center.

A visitation will be held prior to the service from 9:45am to 10:30am in the fellowship hall of First Reformed Church.

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Funeral Home of Sioux Center.

   Clarene Kroon was born October 29, 1929, in Sioux Center, Iowa. Her parents were Henry and Hattie (Van Roekel) Kroon. Her father died of cancer in 1942 at the age of 64 and her mother passed away in 1980 at the age of 94.

   Clarene comes from a large family, being the 11th of 12 children. She had seven sisters and four brothers. Only one sister is still living.

   She attended country school from primary through 5th grade. She and her sister cleaned the country school house in exchange for piano lessons from Alice Eppink. Clarene finished her schooling at the Sioux Center schools. She was very involved in the music programs at school, both vocal and instrumental as well as accompanying other musicians on the piano. A particularly fond memory is going to the National Music Contest in St. Joseph, Missouri. They traveled the 270 miles to St. Joseph (in a school bus.) Clarene accompanied a trumpet trio that earned a Superior rating.

   While still in high school, she did an "office practice” session at Wesselink Insurance Agency, which turned into a 49-year career as secretary and bookkeeper for the agency. Music continued to be an important part of her adult life. She sang in the choir and accompanied various music groups at First Reformed Church as well as in the Sioux Center area.

   Clarene retired from her working career in 2000 and enjoyed living at Roya le Meadows since January of 2016.

   She is survived by a sister and brother-in-law, Arlone and Wilbur Vos of Sioux Center as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

   Preceding her in death are her parents, Henry D. and Hattie Kroon; brothers and sisters-in-law: Cornelius and Wilhelmina Kroon, Gerrit and Mary Kroon, Richard and Anna Kroon, Rev. William and Marjorie Kroon; sisters: Cornelia Kroon, Marilyn Kroon; sisters and brothers-in-law: Gertrude and Peter Punt, Della and Henry Van De Berg, Bernice and Henry Baker and Margaret Voortman and her husbands, Manus and Merenus Voortman.