Marian De Jong

Marian De Jong, 91 of Sioux Center, Iowa died Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at the Royale Meadows Care Center of Sioux Center. Visitation will be held on Friday from 4-8PM with the family present from 5-7PM at Memorial Funeral Home of Sioux Center. A memorial service will be held Saturday at 11AM at the Faith Christian Reformed Church of Sioux Center, with Rev. Cliff Hoekstra officiating. Internment will take place prior to the memorial service in the Hillside Cemetery of Doon, with Rev. Bernie Haan officiating the committal service. The De Jong family prefers memorials be directed to the Faith Christian Reformed Church Christian Education Fund. Marian De Jong and her twin sister, Esther, were born on September 29, 1920 to Harry and Gertrude (Grifhorst) Faber in their farm house near Doon, Iowa. She attended the Doon Christian School through eighth grade. She helped out on the family farm during her teen-age years. She married Jake De Jong on January 2, 1942 in the De Jong family farm house four miles southeast of Doon; they would make this their home for the next 60 years. She would go on to serve the Lord by helping out on the farm and being a homemaker while their children were growing up. In 1972 she began working as a cleaning lady at Valley Manor Nursing Home in Rock Valley; she faithfully continued this for the next 23 years until she fell and broke her leg. In 2002, she and Jake moved to Sioux Center. Marian was a lifelong member of the Christian Reformed Church, first with the Doon CRC until 1997, then with the Trinity CRC of Rock Valley until 2005; and finally with the Faith CRC of Sioux Center. Marian possessed an outgoing personality and a good sense of humor. It was important to Marian to stay busy and to be useful. She enjoyed baking and cooking and trying new recipes. One of her favorite things to do was to have ladies over for coffee and tea parties. Other interests of Marian were shopping, reading, and doing crossword puzzles. She will be remembered as a warm and loving mother, grandma and great grandma, fun to talk with and visit. Those still living who go on to cherish her memory are her daughter, Brenda, and her husband Bernie Haan of Sioux Center; her daughter-in-law, Marlys De Jong of Orange City; as well as her 10 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren, and one great, great grandson. Marian was preceded in death by her husband, Jake, in 2009; by their three sons, Robert in 1998, Glenn in 1970, and Dean in 1973; by her siblings and their spouses: Francis and Gertrude Faber, Bern and Pearl Faber, Bill and Marie Faber, Del and Henrietta Faber, and Esther and Arie Berkhof; and by her husband's siblings and spouses: Josephine and Gerrit Pap, and Clarence and Edna De Jong.