Elizabeth Jonker

Elizabeth (Betty) Jonker was a woman cut of the warmest, kindest cloth, who always volunteered her time, her effort, and her love. She was so many things to so many people - a loving wife and mother, a friend and shoulder to lean on. But more than anything, Elizabeth was a wonderful example of the good in people.

Betty was born February 8, 1919, the first of six children to Herman and Paulina Lachniet in Eastmanville, a small town west of Grand Rapids.

A lifelong member of the Christian Reformed Church, Betty went to Grand Rapids Christian High School, and after graduating in 1937, went to Davenport College and then went to work as a bookkeeper in several jobs. Elizabeth also volunteered at Camp Rogers, a Christian camp, her first taste of giving back, which she did so often.

Betty was always willing to give back, to help out. When her sister's husband went off to World War II, she moved in with her close sibling to help raise the children.

Betty met a man named Berend (Ben) Jonker, a kindhearted schoolteacher from the Netherlands, and the two soon fell in love. Together they raised four wonderful children. Ben took a job with the Grosse Pointe Christian Day School, and the family moved to Detroit's East Side for many years, where she volunteered to help at the school, the church (she was always active in the church), and even the local election board. She also continued to work as a bookkeeper for a property management firm. Both she and Ben retired in 1981.

She loved her family dearly, and together she and Ben enjoyed 51 great years of marriage. They traveled together, and she enjoyed many hobbies, including sewing, baking and gardening. But mostly, Betty enjoyed helping others. When she was 68, she took on the responsibility of raising her granddaughter, Laurel Fultz. Like everything, she did so willingly, and lovingly.

A stroke in 1997 forced her to have fulltime care in 1999 at Christian Rest Home, as the family moved back to Grand Rapids. She passed away Monday from complications of that stroke, but her spirit and love for others was always indomitable.

Betty was a wonderful wife, mother, and example, and will be deeply loved and fondly remembered always.

JONKER - Mrs. Elizabeth M. (Lachniet) Jonker, age 86, of Grand Rapids and formerly of Detroit, passed away Monday October 24, 2005. She is now with her Lord and is experiencing the truth of Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint." Surviving are her husband of 51 years, Berend, her children: Berry and Joyce Jonker, Jonathan and Linda Jonker, Jeanne and Robert Nienhuis, Elinor Fultz, her grandchildren: Tracy, Robert, Jesse, Jake, Laurel, Paul and Adam; her brother and sister-in-law Dennis and Marjorie Lachniet, her sister and brother-in-law Theresa and Irwin DeRuischer, her stepsister Alice Lachniet, and nieces and nephews. Funeral and committal services will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Westend Christian Reformed Church, 1015 Westend N.W., with Rev. William DeVries and Rev. Henry Admiraal officiating. Interment will be in Woodlawn Cemetery. For those who wish, memorial contributions may be made to the Christian Rest Home or West End Christian Reformed Church. Relatives and friends may meet her family Wednesday from 2-4 and 7-9 P.M. at the Heritage Life Story Funeral Home, Van't Hof Chapel, 851 Leonard N.W. Please go to www.lifestorynet.com to read her life story, leave a memory of sign the online register book.