Funeral services for Joyce Ver Ploeg, 92, of Pella and formerly of Sully, were held at 10 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023, at Sully First Reformed Church. Interment followed in Sully Cemetery. Memorial contributions are preferred for the building fund of Sully First Reformed Church or for Gideon Living Memorial Plan.
Joyce Vyrlee Van Genderen was born July 16, 1931, northwest of Killduff, a daughter of Leonard and Jennie Charlotte (Brand) Van Genderen. She began her formal education at Kellogg No.3 Country School south of Kellogg (known as Four Corners) and while in the fourth grade moved south of Sully and attended Iron Clad Country School. She graduated from Sully High School with the Class of 1949. Joyce became a receptionist for Drs. Bartley and Bosveld, D.D.S. in Sully and for a short time worked as a secretary for Newton Automatic Washer Company in Newton. In 1950, she became a secretary for the Sully Cooperative Creamery Office in Sully.
June 12, 1953, she and Dick Junior Ver Ploeg were united in marriage at Sully First Reformed Church. Joyce and Junior shared common birth months and years and high school graduating years. They were blessed with three children: Teryl Kirk, Scott Lee, and Carla Kay and after the birth of their first child she was blessed to be able to stay at home and care for their family. They lived west of Galesburg, south of Kellogg, and then south of Sully until moving to the home place of Junior’s parents, Dick J. and Agnes (Van Rees) Ver Ploeg, south of Sully.
Junior began his lifetime career of farming with his father and enjoyed raising and selling purebred Hampshire pigs, as well as raising feeder cattle. Joyce enjoyed going with Junior to hog sales and delivering hogs he had sold. She enjoyed reading and did a lot of mending. Sharing their vacations with their family, and later doing day trips in Iowa with friends, Berdena Vos and the late Carla Zylstra, to enjoy the countryside, were special times. Joyce and Junior moved into Sully in 2006 and became residents at The Cottages in Pella in July 2021. Junior passed away there on June 3, 2022, and Joyce continued residing there until she passed away at the age of 92 on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, at Pella Regional Health Center.
Those who will cherish her memory are their three children and their families whom they followed faithfully in their various activities: Teryl (Carol) Ver Ploeg of Sully, Scott (Lisa) Ver Ploeg of Hartville, MO, and Carla (Rick) Fopma of Lynnville; 11 grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren.
Joyce is the last surviving of her siblings and leaves just a brother-in-law, Wendell Ver Ploeg of Sedona, AZ.
She was preceded into Glory by her granddaughter Jessalyn Marie Ver Ploeg on Mar. 29, 1999; her parents; her sister Lucille and Vernon Huyser; her brother Claris and Sylvia Van Genderen; her parents-in-law; a brother-in-law Chadwick and Irene Ver Ploeg; and her sister-in-law Erma Ver Ploeg.
Joyce was a lifelong, active, faithful member of Sully First Reformed Church. She and her late husband, Junior, thoroughly enjoyed God’s beautiful creation and being on the farm and will be remembered for their spiritual legacy.