Elsie Meendering

 Elsie Meendeing, age, 100, of Sioux Center who died on Tuesday afternoon, October 5^th at the Royale Meadows Care Center in Sioux Center.

     Memorial services will be at 10:30 AM Friday, October 8, 2021 at the First Reformed Church with the Rev. Roger Voskuil officiating.

     Prayer service for family and friends will be held at 9:30 AM Friday at the First Reformed Church in Sioux Center, IA. Interment will follow the prayer service at the Memory Gardens Cemetery of Sioux Center, IA.

     Visitation with family present will be from 6-8 PM Thursday, October 7, 2021 at the Memorial Funeral Home of Sioux Center.

The Meendering family prefer memorials be directed to the Orange City Christian School or Sioux Center Hospice. 

     Elsie (Jasper) Meendering, age 100 years, was born on the family farm near Orange City to Jacobus and Gertrude (Slickers) Jasper on December 27, 1920, the eleventh of seventeen children. She was baptized and made profession of faith at the First Christian Reformed Church in Orange City, Iowa. She attended the Orange City Christian School, graduating from eighth grade in 1934. After graduation, she worked around the house and farm, including helping raise her younger siblings, and began working for ladies in the neighborhood. She also worked at the former Gambles Store in Orange City.

     On June 26, 1947, she married Albert H. Meendering from Hull, Iowa. Al and Elsie lived in Orange City for a short time while Al worked at the Coop Gas Station. They moved to a rented farm seven miles west of Orange City and in 1949 moved to the family farm northeast of Sioux Center. Al and Elsie farmed together until April, 1994, when Al passed away. Elsie then moved to a small house in Sioux Center and later to Crown Pointe and eventually Royale Meadows in Sioux Center. During Al and Elsie’s almost 47 years of marriage, three sons were born, Harry Allen in 1948, Kenneth Dean in 1951, and Robert Dale in 1958.

     Elsie was an active member of the First Reformed Church of Sioux Center, and after losing Al, sang in the Church Choir and was involved in the Church’s annual Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day Noon Meal for anyone who did not have family nearby. In earlier years, she taught Sunday School as well as serving with the Ladies Aid and the local chapter of the VFW Auxiliary. She was a loving mother and grandmother as well as enduring the many practical jokes her husband and three sons devised. She had a great sense of humor, a forgiving spirit, and was a great cook. She will indeed be missed by her family on earth and welcomed into heaven by her faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, her husband Al, her parents and all her Jasper siblings.

     Elsie is survived by her three sons and spouses, Harry and Dolores Meendering of Hull, Kenneth and Kathleen Meendering of Orange City, and Robert and Rochelle Meendering of Sioux Center. 10 grandchildren: Barbara Meendering, Nancy and Jason Metcalf, Kristi and Bret Van Wyk, Eric and Alyssa Meendering, Jennifer and Joel Walker, Debra Meendering, Angela and Nathan Bosman, Nathan and Danbi Meendering, Cody Meendering, and Alexis and Daniel Wunderink. 13 great grandchildren: Sophia, Samuel, and Gabrielle Metcalf; James, Paige, Rilynn, and Piper Van Wyk; Brooke and Molly Meendering; Ava Walker, Emma, Kyra, and Audra Bosman. She is also survived by one sister-in-law, Helene (Vernon) Jasper of Seal Beach, California, one niece from Al’s family, Lois and Lynn Petersen from Minnesota,, and several hundred nieces, nephews and subsequent generations of Jasper family members.

     She was preceded in death by her husband Al, her father in 1943, her mother in 1979, Al’s parents, and all 16 of her brothers and sisters, (in order of birth- Jessie, James, John, Arie, Rena, Alice, Raymond, Hermina, Marion, Harriet, George, Viola, twins Vernon and Vera, Gertrude, and Clarence), 15 of her brother and sister in laws, all of her husband Al’s siblings and spouses, as well as several nieces, nephews, and subsequent generations.

In lieu of flowers, memorials in Elsie’s honor may be directed to the Orange City Christian School or the Hospice of Sioux Center. In addition, Elsie’s family encourages you to give Praise and Thanksgiving to our heavenly FATHER for a long life well lived and for the certain eternal future HE has promised to all HIS children. To HIM be the honor and glory, forever and ever AMEN!