Funeral services for Tunnet Van Wyk, 98, of Otley will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015, at Otley Reformed Church for which memorials have been designated. She died Dec. 11, 2015, at her Vriendschap Village apartment in Pella.
Tunnet Wilma Van Zante, the only child of Frank and Maggie Pauline (Van Ginkel) Van Zante, was born Oct. 19, 1917, on the family farm in Summit Township, Marion County.
Tunnet attended the Summit County School through the eighth grade. She helped her parents on the farm during her growing up years. On Nov. 27, 1940, she was united in marriage to Marion Van Wyk of Sully at the home of her parents. She and Marion started married life farming just east of Otley, where they lived for two years. At that time, they moved to the home place where they raised their six children.
Marion passed away Nov. 17, 1992, and Tunnet continued to live on the farm until January of this year, when she moved to Vriendschap Village in Pella. She was a homemaker and spent many hours doing sewing projects for the family. She enjoyed cooking and baking, and her Chocolate Chip Cookies and No-Bake Cookies were favorites of all her grandchildren. Sunday afternoons came to be known as coffeetime with grandma on the farm. For many years, she drove a school bus for the Pella Community School. She took great pleasure in keeping her farm neat and spent many hours on her riding lawn mower. She enjoyed sitting on her deck at the farm watching cars go by and also doing word-search puzzles. Tunnet always looked forward to visits from her family, even to the point of not wanting to leave the farm for fear of missing them!
Tunnet was a member of Otley Reformed Church and made her profession of faith there many years ago.
Tunnet is survived by her six children: Melvin (Kay) Van Wyk of Des Moines, Mary Lou (Ron) Van Roekel of Otley, Francis "Fry" (Avis) Van Wyk of Des Moines, Jo Ann (Jim) Schroder of Otley, Ronnie (Barb) Van Wyk of Melcher-Dallas, and Marv (Nancy) of Boiling Springs, SC; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. She is also survived by sisters-in-law, Edith Van Wyk and Nellie Van Wyk; brother-in-law, Henry Terlouw; and many other relatives and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Marion, daughter-in-law Tammy Van Wyk, grandson Zac Van Wyk, and great-grandchildren Cameron Webb, Jaclynn Bentley, and Kelsey Michelsen.
