Jake De Jong

Jake De Jong, 87, Sioux Center, died Saturday, October 31, 2009 in his home where he had been receiving hospice care for the past few weeks due to pulmonary fibrosis.

A memorial service will be held Tuesday 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.

Visitation will be held on Monday from 2-8PM, with the family present from 5-7PM at the Memorial Funeral Home in Sioux Center.

The De Jong family prefers memorials be directed to the Faith Christian Reformed Church Christian Education Fund.



Jacob De Jong, son of William and Rena (Boer) De Jong, was born January 31, 1922 in their farm house near Doon, where he lived for 80 years. He attended a nearby country school through the eighth grade.

Jake married Marian Faber on January 2, 1942, in that very same farm house. He would go on to serve the Lord in the areas of farming and trucking. As a truck driver he would spread lime and fertilizer through J & K Lime, and then for Farmers Co-op of Sioux Center. In 2002, at the age of 80, he and Marian would move to Sioux Center.

Jake was a lifelong member of the Christian Reformed Church, first with the Doon CRC where he had the privilege of serving as a deacon, then with the Trinity CRC in Rock Valley, and finally with the Faith CRC in Sioux Center. Jake also served as a member of the Doon Christian School Board.

Jake possessed a quiet, yet friendly personality. He had the ability to strike up a conversation with just about anyone when sitting on a bench at the mall while his wife would be shopping.

Those still living who go on to cherish his memory are his wife of 67 years, Marian; his daughter, Brenda, and her husband Bernie Haan of Sioux Center; his daughter-in-law, Marlys De Jong of Orange City; as well as his 10 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

Jake was preceded in death by his sister and her husband, Josephine and Gerrit Pap; his brother and his wife, Clarence and Edna De Jong; his three sons: Robert in 1998, Glenn in 1970, and Dean in 1973; his wifes siblings and their spouses: Francis and Gertrude Faber, Bern and Pearl Faber, Del and Henrietta Faber, and Arie and Esther Berkhof.