Esther Kloet

Esther Kloet was a passionate, caring, determined woman who dedicated her life to helping others. She lived a life that saw many changes in the world, but through them all she remained a woman with a strong sense of family, a love for her church and a deep faith in God. Looking back at the life she led lends an even greater appreciation to her presence in the world, a presence her family and friends will remember for the rest of their lives.

1913 was a quieter, more relaxed time in American history when there was no television, automobiles were a rarity and families tended to sit down to meals together. This was the life of John Gabrielse and his wife, Nellie (Huibregtse). They lived on a farm on the outskirts of Oostburg, Wisconsin with their six daughters, Lauren, Adelaide, Jennie, Henrietta, Wilma and Margaret, and three sons, who all died in infancy. On June 8, 1913, John and Nellie delighted in welcoming the birth of their daughter, Esther, the youngest of their seven daughters.

The family of nine soon filled their farmhouse and John sold it, when he became ill, to buy a house in Oostburg that would accommodate their family. Tragically, John died when Esther was just a young girl, leaving her mother to care for the family alone. They couldn't afford to stay in the large house so Nellie sold it and moved her family across the street to a small three-bedroom house. Eventually, Esther's step grandfather came to live with them when his wife died. He did not speak English so he spent most of his time sitting in the corner reading from his Dutch Bible. Grandpa occupied one of the downstairs bedrooms, leaving one bedroom for her mother and one sister, while the rest of them crammed into double beds in the remaining bedroom.

Living conditions in the Gabrielse household was pretty primitive when Esther was growing up. The house had no indoor plumbing, so the call of nature necessitated a trip to the outhouse, where they used the Sears and Roebuck catalog for purposes for which it was not originally intended. Water was brought into the house from the outside well and everyone drank from a common dipper. Saturday night baths were taken in a basin with water heated on the stove. Of course, there was no refrigeration so items were kept cool in the basement until needed. They had homemade ice cream for birthdays, but only in the winter months when it could be stored outside in the snow. The house was heated by hot water radiators, which were heated by the coal furnace in the basement. During the freeze of winter, Esther remembered wearing long woolen underwear and heavy socks until spring arrived. Then, it was time for spring-cleaning and everything from mattresses and pillows to rugs were taken outside and beaten to get the dust out. Esther's sister Henrietta was the baker in the family and it was her job to bake for the weekends, though Saturday mornings were devoted to catechism and Bible memory verses for the whole family.

It wasn't all work and no play for the girls, though. Many happy memories were spent gathered around their pump organ, which her sister Jennie played. The Fourth of July was one of their favorite holidays and every year the entire family would walk about two miles to Lake Michigan, carrying all their picnic food, including a watermelon, for a day at the beach. Then, it was back home to clean up and head downtown for the band concert and concession stands. There was also an annual Sunday school picnic, which was also greatly looked forward to by the girls. One year when Esther was ten, she was swinging on the rope swing, which broke and she fell, breaking both her wrists. However, Esther was insistent upon returning to the picnic so not to miss the ice cream.

When the girls were old enough, they got jobs and gave their paychecks to their mother to help support the family. Nellie also worked, taking in laundry and they kept a large garden to also help feed the family. When it came to marrying, it was tradition that the girls marry at home with refreshments and cake after the ceremony. At the time, a "chevereas" was the thing to do, and so all the young men would come around the house, making a lot of noise until they were given money, cake and ice cream. With six sisters, Esther attended several weddings, starting with Laureen in 1920, Jennie in 1923, Adelaide in 1924, Henrietta in 1926, Wilma in 1930, and Margaret in 1937. Since she wasn't old enough to marry yet, Esther often stayed with her older sister Laureen and her husband Elmer on their farm, helping to care for the children and feeding the farm hands at harvest time. One particular winter, Margaret contracted scarlet fever and the entire house was quarantined, no one was allowed to enter. This meant the rest of the sisters had to find somewhere else to live for the next five or six weeks, so newly married sister, Jennie and her husband Clarence, took them in.

Unlike her sisters, Esther was able to complete her education. She attended the two-story school in Oostburg, where the first floor was for elementary school and the second floor was high school. Aside from her studies, Esther worked for the local doctor doing various office tasks, and later babysat for his children when they went out of town. At some time, she also worked at the local grocery store and did housework to earn money. After graduating from high school in 1931, Esther continued to work various jobs, trying to earn enough money to go to nursing school. By then, money was hard to come by because of the Great Depression so Esther asked a bachelor farmer, who lived next door to the farm where she once lived, to borrow the money to go to school. He agreed and Esther was soon off attending nursing school at Milwaukee Lutheran Hospital. This was a very rigorous program from which Esther proudly graduated from in 1936.

Esther began her nursing career in Saginaw, Michigan, in a hospital that was affiliated with the Lutheran system. It was during this time that she first met her future husband, John Kloet, and his wife, Caroline. Esther stayed in Saginaw for a year and a half before returning to Sheboygan for another year and a half. She then moved to Grand Rapids and began working at Blodgett Hospital, where she once again crossed paths with John and Caroline. Following Blodgett, Esther did some private duty nursing for a while before she and a nurse friend enrolled in the University of Michigan, taking a semester of Public Health. This led her to a job with the Community Health Service in northeast Grand Rapids.

In 1943, World War II was underway and Esther and two friends decided to enlist in the Army Nurse Corps. They did their basic training at Camp Grant, Illinois before being sent to New York, where they received their uniform and equipment for active duty overseas. Esther spent fourteen days at sea in a very crowded stateroom with eight other people, not knowing where they were headed. Finally they arrived at their destination in Tunisia in northern Africa, which was short lived because she was soon sent to Sidi-Bel-Abbes, to the home of the French Foreign Legion. Esther was later sent back to Bizerte, Tunisia, where she provided general care for patients in the station hospital. As the war progressed north, so did the hospital and Esther found herself in Naples, caring for prisoners of war. When the war ended, she went back to work in a hospital in Burma, but on her third day there, the atomic bomb was dropped. Esther was immediately sent home by ship and she arrived stateside in Virginia fourteen days later.

Esther proudly served in the Army during the Italian and African campaign and was honorably discharged in 1945. In the coming years, Esther stayed in touch with many of the men and women she served with and attended many reunions. In fact, after the war, she and some of her nurse friends took a leisure car trip out west for several weeks (this was long before there were freeways). After returning home to Oostburg, Esther had a hard time adjusting to civilian life again. She had taken orders for so long, she had a hard time making her own decisions. She eventually went back to work, taking a job with Metropolitan Life Insurance Nursing Service, and since she had no car, she made all her visits by city bus. Some time later, this company transferred Esther to Cicero, Illinois, and it was here that she met up with John Kloet again; his wife, Caroline, died in 1947. They soon began dating and were married on September 10, 1948, in Cadillac, Michigan. A year later, the couple welcomed the birth of their daughter, Mary Ellen, on December 13, 1949. Their son, John Gabriel, was born five years later on September 29, 1954. When the children were growing up, Esther took them back to her hometown in Wisconsin by car ferry every year so they could spend time with their grandmother.

Esther and John were very much a team and were always working for the good of their family and community. They were instrumental in forming of the Cadillac Christian Reformed Church and were later involved in the church development in Boca Raton, Florida. With education a top priority, the couple was strong advocates of Christian education and they worked in making sure that those who could not afford the tuition could still get a Christian education. In addition, they also supported World Vision, Northern Michigan Christian High School, Grand Rapids Christian High School, and a host of other charities. Esther was involved with home visitation for the American Cancer Society in Wexford County and served on the Resident Advisory Board at Devos Center and Raybrook Manor. She was looked to as a "grandmother" figure by several of the immigrant friends and Esther took special interest in the aides and their families at Raybrook. When it came to her leisure time, Esther enjoyed sewing, needlepoint, crafts, reading, and earlier in life, she liked golfing.

Esther was an incredibly generous woman who changed people's lives for the better. By expressing her love through her actions, her words and her faith, she allowed herself to be a good friend to everyone she met. She will be deeply missed.

Esther G. Kloet, age 92, of Grand Rapids, MI, widow of John P. Kloet, passed away on Sunday, December 4, 2005. She is the last of her generation of seven sisters. Esther is survived by her children: Mary and Evert Vermeer of Grand Rapids, John and Wanda Kloet of Gladstone; five grandchildren: Jennifer and Elizabeth Hutchison, Joanna, Susan and Gabriel Kloet; nine step grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, December 8, at the Chapel of Raybrook Manor, 2121 Raybrook S.E., at 1 p.m. Interment in Greenwood Cemetery. Friends may meet the family on Wednesday, December 7, from 2-5 p.m. at the Heritage Life Story Funeral Home - Van't Hof Chapel, 851 Leonard St. NW, and for one hour prior to the service at Raybrook Manor on Thursday. Please visit www.lifestorynet.com where you may share a memory of Esther or sign the guestbook. Contributions in her memory may be made to Hospice of Holland Home.