Wilma Van Wyk

Wilma Van Wyk was a devoted mother and grandmother who, through her commitment to her family, redefined the concept of unconditional love. She had a full, caring heart, and everyone who spent time with her felt the warmth of her presence.

The year 1919 is often remembered as a momentous year because it was during this time that the Treaty of Versailles was signed, officially ending World War I. It was also a significant year in the family of John and Katherine (Zweedyk) Velders as they welcomed the birth of their daughter, Wilma, on September 9, 1919. Wilma was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a brother and four sisters who she loved dearly . Her family lived on Arianna Street N.W., and was faithful members of Broadway Avenue Christian Reformed Church. Wilma often told of how she had to walk about half a mile to church, twice on Sunday and then again during the week when she participated in youth group activities and attended catechism class. For her formal education, she attended West Side Christian School and Grand Rapids Christian High, where she graduated with the class of 1937. Wilma was always a good student, but especially excelled in reading. After graduation, she put that skill to good use working as a proofreader at Zondervan Publishing.

Wilma’s life took a new direction when John C. Van Wyk showed up on her doorstep one day. Mutual friends had introduced them so he came over to ask her out., and with that their love story had begun. So surprised by these happenings, Wilma’s mother wrote about it in a letter to a daughter, which the family has to this day. Wilma and John were only dating for a short time before he received his draft notice from the U.S. Army, and went to serve overseas for 4 ½ years. Meanwhile, Wilma wrote to him daily and made a vow to save “a dime a day while Johnnie’s away” for their wedding and life together. Once John was home, the sweethearts were happily married on December 13, 1945, in Grand Rapids. It was such a snowy day that the newlyweds followed a plow truck all the way to Holland, where they spent the night before heading to Chicago for their honeymoon.

After saying “I do,” the newlyweds lived with John’s parents for a while, and became members of Alpine Avenue Christian Reformed Church (where John grew up). During this time, Wilma and John were overjoyed with the births of their two sons, John and Robert. Around 1950, the couple bought some property on Walker N.W. and started to build their new house (with the help of their five year old son too). Not long after settling into their new home, Wilma and John welcomed the birth of their daughter, Sharon, who completed their family. It was easy to see that Wilma considered it pure joy to care for her husband and children. She was active in the lives of her children and she also created a home that was a place where love was plentiful. Wilma loved cooking for her family and made sure they had “three square meals” a day, and satisfied their sweet tooth with any one of her delicious homemade baked goods. The all time favorite of her family was her “pink pie”.

John was self-employed and basically worked all the time. When the family did get a chance to get away, they usually headed for a cabin on a river or lake, where John could do some fishing. Most of the time, extended family members would accompany them on vacation, and Wilma always enjoyed their time together. In order to preserve their vacation memories, Wilma kept a diary of their trip, making sure to keep track of how much money they brought and spent. One of their most memorable trips came later in life when Wilma and John celebrated their 50th anniversary. Their whole family traveled to Florida, where their son Robert was living, and shared wonderful times together in the sun and sand. It was shortly after John was diagnosed with lung cancer, so this was a nice distraction for the family.

With Wilma, the cup was always half full and each day held promises for good things to come. She used to say “Don’t complain unless you have to.” Throughout her life, Wilma relied on her strong faith to persevere through trials that came her way, knowing that faith makes things possible. She would say, “I don’t worry about anything. What good would it do?” After their church closed and moved to another location, Wilma and John joined the Mill Creek Church, which was closer to their home on Walker. Wilma enjoyed worshipping here for many years.

Wilma had one of the kindest, warmest hearts, and always showed her love to everyone around her. Wilma’s home was always a warm and welcoming place and she greeted everyone with “I’m so glad to see you.” The one thing that was sure to put a smile on Wilma’s face was spending time with her precious grandchildren and great grandchildren, who she adored. She enjoyed taking care of them when they were little, and derived great joy from watching them grow and succeed in life. Whenever the kids would leave to go home, Wilma would take her spot on the front porch, throwing kisses to them until they were out of sight. Good-bye was not a word in Wilma’s vocabulary – instead she would say “See you later alligator” and her family responded “After while crocodile.”

After her beloved John passed away in1997, Wilma continued to live independently at home with the help of her family for several years. After she broke her hip about a year and a half ago, Wilma went to live at Meadowlark, a retirement community, where she quickly won the hearts of all the staff and befriended many of the residents. Whenever someone would visit, Wilma hoped they’d bring a McDonald’s hot fudge sundae with them – her favorite treat of all! Sadly, Wilma entered the hospital with pneumonia 10 days ago and passed away on Tuesday, March 20, 2012, at the age of 92.

There is a popular quote – “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. Wilma made you feel loved.

Wilma will be sadly missed by all who knew and loved her. Her family will remember her as a wonderful mother, grandmother and a lady of great faith.

Wilma was preceded in death by her husband, John C. Van Wyk, and her daughter-in-law, Sharon K. Van Wyk. Surviving are her children: John and Jan Van Wyk, Robert and Rachelle Van Wyk, Sharon and Michael Mack; her grandchildren: Cathi and Pat Coryell, Joe Van Wyk, Richard and Diana Wingeier, Brad Wingeier, Nathan Van Wyk, Sara Van Wyk, Brandy and Mike O’Neill, Emily and Ryan Metzger, David Mack and Stephanie Carpenter; her great grandchildren: Sean, Justin, Samantha, John Jr., Jimmy, Dylan, Thaddeus, Liam, Bailey, Ethan, and Owen; her brother-in-law, Gerard Van Wyk; a special niece, Nancy Johnson; as well as other nieces and nephews. The family would like to thank the staff and residents of Meadowlark Retirement Village for all their loving care and kind friendships.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, March 24, at 11 a.m. at the Heritage Life Story Funeral Home, Van’t Hof Chapel, 851 Leonard St. N.W., Grand Rapids, with Pastor Rodney Thole officiating. Interment will be in Washington Park Memorial Gardens. Relatives and friends are invited to visit with the family on Friday, March 23, from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at the funeral home. For those who wish, memorial contributions may be made to the Mill Creek Church. Please visit Wilma’s personal memory page at www.lifestorynet.com, where you may share a memory and sign the online guest book.