Herman "Bud" DeVries

Herman (Bud) Bogert DeVries, age 94 of Grand Rapids, Michigan left to be with his Lord on Jyly 1, 2025. He was born July 28, 1930. He leaves behind his children: Terry & Becky DeVries, Lori and Dean Eldred, and Cheryl and Andre Pierre, Jr. Grandchildren: Mark DeVries, Matthew and Rachel DeVries, Zachary and Ashley Eldred, Emily and Tony McLaughlin, Jared and Mercedes Eldred, Jenny Eldred and great grandchildren, Colter, Gunnison, Miles and Liam Eldred. Brother Gordon and (Lynn) De Vries, sister Kathy DeVries, and many nieces and nephews.

Preceding him to be with their Lord are his wife, Elaine (Schievink) DeVries, his parents Herman and Marjorie DeVries. sister Lorraine DeVries, and brother Roger and Ruth DeVries.

Herman got his nickname, Bud, to separate him from his father, also named Herman. Bud went to Congress Elementary School and Central High School. He completed half of the 11th grade. He was two years behind Frank Westveer and his brother John. John left high school, so, Herm, Frank and John would “go around at night,” and Herm couldn’t keep up with his studies, so he too left high school. He eventually got his GED when he was in the Army.

Frank Westveer introduced the then 18-year-old Bud to Elaine. Frank’s girlfriend, Helen, went to Walker Christian Reformed Church, the same church where Elaine was a member. It was a blind date. When dad was about to be introduced, he told Frank, “She better not be tall”. She was, but they dated for three years before they were married on February 29, 1952 while Bud was on furlough from the Army for 10 days. Bud was stationed at Camp Leonard Wood in St. Louis, Missouri. Bud said that if he was going to be deployed to Korea the marriage was going to wait, however, if he was going to Germany then they would be married now.

While in high school, Bud worked for Mr. Nagelkirk, where he learned the shoe repair business. He made $0.35 an hour. On May 8, 1950, Bud started his own business called, Bud’s Shoe Repair on Michigan Street. Bud then entered the army on September 4, 1951 and did basic training at Fort Leonard Wood. In October, his grandmother passed away. Unfortunately, there was a massive blizzard with 18” of snow, so he could not make it back to attend her funeral. After basic training, Bud went to carpentry school for five weeks. In March, Bud flew to New York and boarded a ship to Iceland on March 10, 1952. He talked about the 50’ waves – and the restrooms were in the front of the ship; you can image the fun that was! They dropped off a detachment of Air Force men in Iceland, then a stop in the Netherlands and eventually where on a train to Schönecken, Germany. Bud thought he would be deployed to combat to Korea, but the army took the first 12 men in the alphabet (out of 45 men) and he ended up in Germany instead. On March 13, 1952 he arrived in Frankfurt at the train station. Bud was left on the railroad platform with his duffle bag; everyone else had left. A guy eventually came up -and asked if he was “DeVries” and told Bud to “come on.” Bud then arrived at Camp King. He pulled guard duty for 6 months then got a job in the Intelligence division. Bud was a map coordinator whose responsibility was to verify routes crossing the border from behind the iron curtain. He received his corporal stripes while in Germany. He would have made sergeant if he’d stayed for another nine months. But he needed to leave to get back to his shoe shop. During his time in the army, Bud leased his shoe store and towards the end of his tour, his brother Roge kept the shoe shop opened. Bud was honorably discharged from the Army in August of 1953 as a veteran of the Korean War.

When Bud left the army, he and Elaine lived in his Grandpa Bogert’s house on Diamond Street across from Houseman Field in Grand Rapids. Dad remembers watching the Standale tornado of April 1956 from the front porch. They eventually built a house in Standale. Elaine’s father had a plot of land and sold it to Bud for $500. When Bud went to get a mortgage, he didn’t have any house plans so they weren’t going to give him a loan. They then asked who the builder was. When Bud said George Schievink, the banker said, oh, that is fine then. Just have George build it and when it’s done, we’ll give you the loan. Back then, a man’s handshake and reputation were all that was needed. Bud and Elaine moved into 613 Faircrest, NW, Grand Rapids, MI on January 15, 1958. Even though Bud was small in stature he was a hard worker. One example was a leaky basement wall in the 613 Faircrest house. He would come home from work, eat dinner then go out and dig out the front yard so he could tar the basement wall. He would do this for several evenings.

After 28 years in the shoe repair business, in August of 1978, he closed Bud’s Shoe Service and went to work at Steelcase for 14 years – 8 years on days and 6 years on nights. Bud enjoyed his time on nights because there was no boss constantly telling him what to do. He just did his job just like he had done before Steelcase. After he closed Bud’s Shoe Shop, he had his single stall garage torn down and a 2 ½ stall garage, with a workshop in the back, built so he could continue to perform work for Hoekstra Shoe Company at night and on weekends where he would take stock shoes and add lifts, braces, etc. to them to assist adults and children in correcting walking issues. He retired early at 62 on June 1, 1992. Bud always felt that he was going to pass away early, like his father, so he wanted to enjoy his retirement, and at 94 years old, you can see he had a long retirement!

Bud and Elaine enjoyed raising their three children, Terry, Lori & Cheryl. Bud and Elaine were life-long members of Standale Reformed Church and Bud was a deacon, treasurer, Sunday School superintendent, and was a member of the choir. Bud also was coach of the women’s softball team where his wife and two daughters played – and even won the championship one year! Family was everything to Bud, and he loved watching his kids, and, eventually, his grandchildren play sports. Bud enjoyed small game hunting, especially with his brother Gord (although they used to get mad at Dave and Lori, who would tag along, but talk the entire time they were trying to hunt!). Dad was also an avid fisherman and went every chance he had with his brother-in-law, Clyde and if Clyde wasn’t available his brother Gord was always willing to go. Bud also enjoyed bowling and was an avid Detroit Tigers fan. Bud and Elaine lived in their house for 68 years, until Bud and Elaine moved in with their daughter Lori and her husband Dean. In 2023, Bud moved into Grand Brook Memory Care.

Herman Bogert DeVries (Bud), aged 94, of Grand Rapids, Michigan went to be with his Lord and Savior on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. He was born July 28, 1930. Bud leaves behind his three children, Terry and Becky DeVries, Dean and Lori Eldred, Andre and Cheryl Pierre Jr., his grandchildren Mark DeVries, Matthew and Rachael DeVries, Zachary and Ashley Eldred, Emily and Tony McLaughlin, Jared and Mercedes Eldred, and Jenny Eldred, four great grandchildren, his brother and sister-in-law Gordon and Lynn DeVries and sister Kathy DeVries and many nieces and nephews. Bud was proceeded in death by his wife Elaine Alice DeVries, his parents, Herman and Marjorie DeVries, sister Lorraine DeVries, brother and sister-in-law Roger and Ruth DeVries.

Bud was a corporal in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany during the Koreon War. He owned a shoe repair business (Bud’s Shoe Shop) on Michigan Street for over 25 years and then went to work for Steelcase until his retirement. Bud was a life-long member of Standale Reformed Church where he was a deacon, treasurer, Sunday School superintendent, was a member of the choir, and coached the women’s softball team. He was an avid fisherman and enjoyed small game hunting with his brother, Gord. He also enjoyed deer hunting with his childhood friend, John.

Bud’s children would like to express their appreciation and gratitude to the staff at Grand Brook Memory Care for taking such wonderful care of their father.

A celebration of life will be held at 11 AM at Heritage Life Story Funeral Home, 2120 Lake Michigan Drive, Grand Rapids, Michigan on Monday, July 7. His family will visit with family and friends from 10 AM until the start of the service. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Standale Reformed Church. His earthly resting place is Rosedale Memorial Park.