Andy Ploegstra

Andrew "Andy" Ploegstra, 78, of Sioux Center, IA, formerly of New London, MN, died Wednesday, February 17, 2016, at his Sioux Center residence.

A visitation with the family present will be held on Monday, 2/22, from 1-3PM at the Memorial Funeral Home of Sioux Center. A private family service and interment in Memory Gardens Cemetery of Sioux Center will follow the visitation.

A celebration of Andy's life will be held at the Evangelical Covenant Church of New London on Tuesday, February, 2/23, at 2:00 PM. A visitation with the family present from 12-2PM will precede the service at the church.

In lieu of flowers, Andy requested donations be made to the Union Gospel Mission in Minneapolis, a place he cared about.

Andrew Ronald Ploegstra aka Handy Andy, aka Mr. Wonderful, was born on Groundhog Day, 1938. He met Jesus face to face February 17, 2016. Andy saw a lot of this earth during those years, beginning in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. He went to school in Rudyard, MI, skipping kindergarten and leaving for the Navy when he was 17. He traveled through twenty-one countries and lived at twenty-two addresses in the USA. At a stop in Sioux City, IA he found a nursing student, Mary Rozeboom, and made her his bride on August 26, 1963. They had five kids who all married: Laura (Ploegstra) and JR DeGroot of Grand Rapids, MI; Jim and Bethani Ploegstra of Greeley, CO; Julia (Ploegstra) and Dan Zimmer of Prinsburg, MN; John and Hannah Ploegstra of Visalia, CA; Jeff and Sara Ploegstra of Sioux Center, IA. Those kids had kids: Lauren and Lyndsay DeGroot; Ian and Emilee Ploegstra; Esther, Jack, Marybelle, and Suzanna Ploegstra; Benjamin and Naomi Ploegstra.

Andy served in the Navy, being assigned to the brand new USS Forrestal. He studied Math, Electronics, Science, Chemistry, Metallurgy, and Code graduating as an Aviation Electronic Technician. A knock at his trailer door would determine the next thirty-two years of his life. He was recruited to work for IBM with a signing bonus and money to buy a new suit. He wore the blue suits and white shirts until he retired to run his own resort on a lake in Spicer, MN. He loved that place, the work, and the people. He also loved fishing, golfing, singing in the choir, birdwatching and the million dollar view out his living room window in the New London house he retired in. Andy was well known for the work he did with his hands. "It's already broke, so why not try to fix it" was the motto he learned young and lived by, thus designing, repairing, and building just about everything. He never met a stranger, was famous for his hugs, and made the time to really see people and take an interest in who they were.

He was born to Sam and Esther Ploegstra and had seven siblings: Betty (Ploegstra) and Bernard Doll, Ardith (Ploegstra) and Bill Heemskirk; Harold and Gay Ploegstra; Fred Ploegstra, Bob and Elsie Ploegstra; Marilyn (Ploegstra) and Jim Zylstra; Eugene Ploegstra. They had kids too; many nieces and nephews whom Andy loved visiting with.

Those he will be reunited in heaven with are his daughter, Julia Zimmer; his grandchildren, Calvin, Leah, Andrew DeGroot; his parents, Sam and Esther, and his siblings, Eugene and Betty.

Goodbye for now, Mr. Wonderful. Meet you at the East Gate.