Marie Engelsma

Marie Engelsma was a woman who devoted her life to three things: her family, her friends, and her faith in the Lord. She was a wonderful woman, who lived a wonderful life, a life she so richly deserved, and a life we were so blessed to have shared.

Marie’s story began on a cool spring day in 1933, at the height of the Great Depression. Marie was born on April 23, 1933 to James and Rachel (Wielhouwer) DeKome, at their home on Fennessey Lake, just west of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was the first of eight children in the family’s large home, where her father worked as a beekeeper.

Marie attended a one-room schoolhouse as a child, and later Grandville High School, where she graduated in 1951. She also attended the Netherlands Reformed Church, where her deep faith in the Lord was formed.

Marie married James Engelsma on November 15, 1956, the beginning of a wonderful, 50-year marriage, full of love and faith and family. The couple was blessed with seven children in the coming years, and raised them on the Engelsma family farm on O’Brian Road NW.

Marie was an amazing wife and mother, who put her family first in her life. She loved to cook and bake, and was always trying a new recipe she’d found. Her children fondly remember the smell of their mother’s fresh bread baking in the mornings, filling the home she kept so beautifully.

It was also a home she graciously opened to whoever was in need, and the site of so many memorable family gatherings over the years. Eventually, they built another home right across the street, where she lived the rest of her days, and where her many, many grandchildren visited so often, to spend time with their beloved Grandma.

Marie battled cancer against long odds in 2005, through the grace of God and the love of her family. Though sadly, Marie passed away Monday July 9, 2007, at the age of 74.

She will be remembered as a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother, who was faithful to her Lord, her husband and her family. She will be missed by all who knew her.

Surviving are her husband, of 50 years, James Engelsma, her children: George and Carren Engelsma, Heidi and Dr. Richard Olsen, James and Rebecca Engelsma, Dr. Jonathan and Mieke Engelsma, Dwight and Yvonne Engelsma, D. Nathan and Laura Engelsma, Benjamin and Beth Engelsma, Hoan and Yen Dinh; 35 grandchildren, 1 great grandson, her brothers, sisters and their spouses: Gloria DeKorne, Rachel Ann and Arthur Blok, Jacob and Phyllis DeKorne, Cornelius and Judy DeKorne, Robert L. and Betty DeKorne, Jean Stevens, Ruth Densel, her brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law Theodore and Corrine Engelsma, Jeanette DeMaagd, Donald Engelsma, Nellie Engelsma and Barbara Koning and many nieces and nephews. The family would like to thank Dr. Sobong and Susan Eastburg and all of the other nurses of West Michigan Oncology Center for their special care and concern. Funeral services will be held Thursday at 11 A.M., at Heritage Netherlands Reformed Church, 540 Crescent St. N.E., with Dr. Joel R. Beeke and Rev. Foppe VanderZwaag officiating. Interment will be in River Bend Cemetery. Mrs. Engelsma reposes at the Heritage Life Story Funeral Home, Alt & Shawmut Hills Chapel, 2120 Lake Michigan Dr. N.W. where relatives and friends may meet her family Tuesday from 7-9 P.M. and Wednesday from 2-4 and 7-9 P.M. For those who wish, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to the Plymouth Christian School Foundation or the Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary or Hospice of West Michigan would be appreciated. To share a memory of Marie, or sign the online register book, please visit www.lifestorynet.com.