Dale Verburg

It would be hard to miss a larger than life personality than that of Dale Verburg. He made new friendships wherever he went and enjoyed his life and family to the fullest. He wasn’t afraid to talk and make you feel at ease in the conversation. It was safe to say he knew many people and could remember specific details about them and the conversation he had, that most people would probably forget about. When Dale talked to you, he listened and cared about what you had to say. He might give you a hard time, just to get you riled up, but it was always in good fun and just enough to get a good laugh. Dale was a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He loved his family dearly and cherished every moment with them. He was very proud of them and wasn’t afraid to share the pride he had in them. New acquaintances would be informed of his amazing family in just a very short time of meeting! This pure love he carried with him his entire life.

Dale Harold Verburg was the third of four children born to Lewis and Henrietta (Boer) Verburg on April 29, 1942. He was close in age to older brothers Bob and Loren and nearly 6 years after, little sister Mary came along. They all grew up in a little house on Ann St in northeast Grand Rapids Michigan and attended Palmer School and graduated from Creston High School. The family attended and were members of Bethel Reformed Church, easy walking distance from their home. The church and music was an important part of their life. Lewis was an Elder in the church for many years and played the organ. Both he and Henrietta played piano often playing duets on the family piano. Most of the family sang in the choir. Lewis and Bob sang tenor while Dale was a strong bass. You could hear the booming bass line strong and clear singing in the choir years later. While Dale did not take up the piano, he did learn to play the trombone and tuba! In high school he joined Creston’s ROTC program and was a member of the color guard. He was active in Creston’s Youth for Christ Bible club and had parts in several school plays. To earn money and save for college, Dale (and his brothers) had paper routes. He also worked at Betty Lou Bakery and in the cafeteria at Fisher Body Plant on Alpine. Dale was a hard and dependable worker then, and continued until he retired many years later. Family time as a youngster included playing games, visiting relatives in the Holland and Zeeland area, and taking car ride trips and seeing the Mackinac Bridge being built!

The year 1957 was a pivotal year where Dale attended a Youth for Christ roller skating party at Tarry Hall. A cute young lady with a pony tail caught his eye and she thought he was very nice too! She was Willa Dreyer, also a member of Youth for Christ at Union High School. As fate would have it, this chance encounter would last a lifetime. They continued to “go steady” and graduated in 1960 from their respective high schools. As summer began, Dale started classes at Ferris State College studying mechanical drawing and Willa took a job as a nurse aide at the Christian Rest Home. Time and distance took them apart for a bit, and after a year, Dale left Ferris to join the Air Force. Willa studied nursing at Butterworth Hospital School of Nursing and graduated in 1963. By then, they connected again, got engaged and were married 9/19/1963 at Willa’s church, Trinity Reformed Church. The honeymoon was short as Dale was given orders to Wheelus AFB, Tripoli, Libya for 18 months. In May 1965, Dale returned with new orders to Little Rock AFB in Arkansas. Little Joy Michelle arrived first in February 1966, then Timothy Dale came next in August 1967. A busy little family living in a mobile home in the south! Life in Arkansas came to an end in August 1968 when Dale received his new orders to Ubon, Thailand. The mobile home was moved from Arkansas to Michigan in Comstock Park so that Willa could be near family. Joy was 2 ½ and Tim just turned 1 when their dad left to go halfway around the world. Life was hard for all of them. Fortunately, although Ubon was located near the Vietnam War arena, it was not an especially dangerous place. Dale found the people, culture and food interesting! He also occupied his time taking a correspondence course in mechanical drawing as he attempted to prepare himself for civilian life. Finally, after having achieved the rank of staff sergeant, his last day in the Air Force was 9/9/1969 and he returned to Grand Rapids a civilian. Joy was very glad to see him return and leaped into his arms from the airport stairway. Tim was not so sure and took a few days to warm up to his dad.

Adjusting to family life and finding employment in the early 1970’s was not easy and Dale found that mechanical drawing and the die designing field was not as steady as he would have liked. He took more die design classes and during this time little Paul William was born in June 1972 to complete the family unit. The mobile home was getting a little small for the family of 5, and the house hunt began. Dale and Willa purchased a home in the Leonard Heights area of Walker MI and Dale became a paid volunteer fire fighter for the City of Walker. Willa went back to work in 1975 at The Christian Rest Home. Trying something new, Dale found a job at Huizingh’s Hardware on Wealthy St which he loved! After all, he was a people person and enjoyed talking to and helping people find just the things they needed from the hardware store. After 3 years, Mr. Huizingh retired and the store closed. Dale took EMT classes through the fire department and was able to find employment at an ambulance company in Hastings and then Bud’s Ambulance before they eventually closed. He worked for GRATA (now The Rapid) and drove a city bus for a few years. His final career path took him literally down the road for 21 years driving a 10 wheel straight truck for The Empire Company delivering millwork around the Midwest US until he retired in 2008. He enjoyed his freedom on the road, visiting the same routes and people. He got to know so many people along the way and when they saw his truck pull in for the night or a meal, they greeted him by name. The friendly banter he gave was always reciprocated much to his delight. Through the struggles of employment, Dale prevailed and still found time to be a Cub Scout leader, sing in the choir at Trinity Reformed Church, take the family camping and play Liverpool (card game) on Sunday afternoons when his mom would come for dinner.

By 1993, Dale and Willa became empty nesters as Joy and Tim found their spouses and Paul his own home. Tim and Anne purchased the family home after Tim’s time in the Navy was done and the empty nesters tried out apartment living for a time, then duplex living. Finally in December 2001 the last move they would make was to purchase a condo in Ironwood Estates. It was perfect for family gatherings and holidays as the grandkids were here and getting bigger! These times also included vacations and time away. Favorites were cruises in Alaska, 2 Netherlands waterway cruises and 2 other river barge cruises on the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers. Dale loved to drive his 2007 Blue Honda Odyssey (named “Little Brother”) and many getaways included drives to almost anywhere and were usually spontaneous without a map! Never by highway, they always found adventure in out of the way places via “the scenic route”. Funny thing is, they always made it home! Train watching was also a favorite pastime and they found ways to incorporate trains into the trip. They took 2 major Amtrak vacations to Glacier National Park and a whopping 12 day cross country tour that took them to New York City, New Orleans and San Francisco.

Dale’s retirement years were mostly spent quietly at home working on 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, playing computer games or reading a book. He liked to watch cooking shows and the History Channel or listen to southern gospel, Gaither style. In 2018, they joined Westend Christian Reformed Church and Willa retired from the nursing profession at the Christian Rest Home after an amazing 43 years of service. He was glad she was home and they could enjoy their time together. Recent years of physical limitations slowed them both down, however, not their spirit. Stories and antics from now all the great grandkids kept them entertained.

Dale became known to one and all as “Grampy” fittingly named by his granddaughter Amanda. This name he would be called, by young and old alike. “Grampy” his personalized license plate on the Honda Odyssey, just so you’d know he was there. Like, who could miss this larger than life guy? We will. We all will, terribly. Rest peacefully with our Lord and Savior, your work here is done. Until we meet again…

Mr. Dale Harold Verburg age 80, of Walker, went to be with his Lord and Savior on Friday, September 16, 2022. He was preceded in death by his brother, Loren Verburg; and brothers-in-law, Alvern Poest and Tom Kosten. Dale is survived by his wife of 59 years, Willa; children, Joy (Gary) Weersma, Timothy (Anne) Verburg and Paul (Theresa) Verburg; grandchildren, Simon Verburg, Aimee (Jacob) Bentley, Sara (David) Riley, Kelsey (Sylvester) Taylor, Amanda (Zach) Watkins, Adam Okorowski and Brandon Verburg; and 13 great-grandchildren. Also, surviving are his siblings, Robert (Carol) Verburg, and Mary Poest; sisters-in-law, Mary Verburg, Laurie Kosten, Dianne (Ron) Verhaar, Coralee Bell, and Bonnie Sheldon; and many nieces and nephews. The Funeral Service will be held at 11 AM on Thursday, September 22, 2022, at Westend Christian Reformed Church, 1015 Westend Ave NW. The family will receive visitors at Heritage Life Story Funeral Home – Alt and Shawmut Hills Chapel, 2120 Lake Michigan Dr. NW on Wednesday from 2-4 PM and 6-8 PM and again on Thursday for one hour prior to the service. Contributions in his memory may be made to Edison Christian Health Center Foundation or Mel Trotter Ministries. Please visit www.heritagelifestory.com to submit a favorite memory, or photo, or to sign the guestbook.