Margaret Vander Schaaf

      Funeral Service Livestream Link

     Margaret Vander Schaaf age 78, of Sioux Center, Iowa, died Friday, February 24, 2023, at Royale Meadows Care Center in Sioux Center, IA.

     A Celebration of Life service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 1, 2023, at the Memorial Funeral Home in Sioux Center, with Reverend Dave Smit officiating.

     A burial will follow in the Memory Gardens Cemetery of Sioux Center.

     Visitation will be one hour prior to the service on Wednesday at the Memorial Funeral Home.

     In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to Sioux Center Christian School in memory of Margaret Vander Schaaf.

     Margaret Vander Schaaf was born on February 10, 1945, in Beetgumermolen, Friesland, in the Netherlands. She was baptized in Beetgumermolen and professed her faith in Jesus Christ at the First Christian Reformed Church in Artesia, CA. The oldest child of Ted and Dina Vander Schaaf, she immigrated to the United States in 1950, living a year in Minnesota before moving with her family to Southern California. As the oldest child of immigrants, Margaret learned English quickly and took on added responsibilities of helping the rest of the family navigate the new culture, a role she retained the rest of her life. She attended Bellflower Christian Schools and graduated from Valley Christian High School in Cerritos, California, in 1963. She attended Calvin College for two years and later earned her degree at Pepperdine University.

     Margaret lived and worked her entire career in the Los Angeles area. She worked at the University of Southern California for several years and then at the University of California Irvine until she retired. Four years ago, she moved to Sioux Center, Iowa, where she bought a large home, hosting many family members and even a college student for a summer. She adjusted remarkably well to Iowa winters.

     Margaret was single her entire life and was an important and loved member of her family. She inherited the Vander Schaaf gift of storytelling and loved to sit at the kitchen table with her siblings, drinking tea and telling and retelling stories that invariably ended with uproarious laughter. She was the special aunt who sent each niece and nephew a crisp $10 bill on their birthday and who arrived every Christmas with a trunk full of presents, See’s candies, and McDonald’s gift certificates. She extended this love and generosity to her many grand-nieces and grand-nephews, who had a special place in their hearts for “Aunt Margaret.”

     Margaret is survived by her brother David Vander Schaaf of Ontario, California, sisters-in-law Rose Vander Schaaf of Nampa, Idaho, and Carol Vander Schaaf of Ontario, California, and brothers-in-law Wayne Kobes of Sioux Center, Iowa, and Tom (Sherri) Alger of Fiona, Texas. She is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.

     Margaret was preceded in death by her parents Ted and Dina, her sisters Corrie Alger and Helen Kobes, and brothers Albert and Dick Vander Schaaf, and niece Diana Alger.