Duane Peter Haak

Rock Valley, IA: Duane Haak, 67, of Rock Valley, Iowa, died Thursday, April 6, 2023, at Hegg Health Center in Rock Valley. A memorial service will be held Tuesday, April 11, at 2:30 PM at First Christian Reformed Church of Rock Valley with Rev. Matthew Haan officiating. The service can be livestreamed at https://www.christianworldmedia.com/livechannel/firstcrcrv. Private family burial will be held at Valley View Cemetery of Rock Valley. Visitation, with the family present, will be held Monday, April 10, from 5:00-7:00 PM at Porter Funeral Home of Rock Valley.

   Duane Haak was born April 8, 1955, in Linton North Dakota, son of Peter and Violet (Van Beek) Haak. They lived in the Hull and Strasburg, North Dakota area until moving to Sioux Center, Iowa in 1970. He started school at Baker Country School and later Strasburg school. After moving to Iowa, he attended Unity Christian High School in Orange City, Iowa.

   Duane met his wife Marva through mutual friends while cruising the streets of Sioux Center, in the fall of 1973. It was a match, and they were united in marriage September 26, 1975, at Calvin Christian Reformed church of Rock Valley, Iowa. Their first home was a tiny little house on an acreage near Orange City and then a move was made to Sanborn, Iowa where sons Derrick and Jason joined the family in 1978 and 1981. A move to Rock Valley in 1983 became home, Megan was born in 1986. After Duane’s children had grown-up and married, he delighted in being a grandpa. His grandchildren were the light of his life and oh how he loved to tease them. True joy was found in attending their special events, programs, and sports adventures.

   Duane worked many different jobs, learning something new from each one, from building Harvestore silos, cattle feeding, trucking, hog farming, machine shop CNC operator and finally deciding to start doing construction on his own in 1990 until 2017. He then stepped away from the large construction projects and chose to do smaller jobs. Duane was currently the maintenance guy for Royal Ridge apartments, Rock Valley’s community housing. He created many special treasures for the grandkids in Grandpa’s workshop. Duane always worked hard to provide for the family. He learned the value of hard work while growing up in rural North Dakota. Duane made sure the job was done right and done well. Many stories were told of time spent milking cows for his dad, helping his grandpa and uncles work the land and having good old fun with his many cousins. If punishment was due for misbehaving, the penalty was being sent out to the field to pick rocks. Working the land in North Dakota created his love for a particular brand of tractor, Allis Chalmers D17 Series IV. After a heart attack in 2015, restoring these tractors was his therapy and became a great hobby. He completed 3 in true Duane style, immaculate. Working on tractors put him in his happy place, a tractor that followed him home from Oklahoma last fall sits split apart in the shop where he was working on it up until he went to the ER on Thursday, April 6, 2023, because he just didn’t feel right, and a few hours later, God called him home.

   Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Marva; son, Derrick and Coby (Faber) Haak, and their children, Lincoln and Wyatt; son, Jason and Lynn (Moody) Haak, and their children, Rensie and Abe; daughter, Megan and Steve Coulander, and their children, Lane, Saydee, Willa and Livvy; mother, Violet Haak at Whispering Heights of Rock Valley; siblings and their spouses, Marlene and Ron Abbas of Lennox South Dakota, Larry and Yvonne Haak of Rock Valley, Lyle and Joan Vande Kamp of Sioux Center, and Malia and Dale Nibbelink of Sioux Falls South Dakota; siblings-in-law, Delores Voetberg of Rock Valley, Marlo and June Voetberg of Marcus, Iowa, and Bryan and Donna Voetberg of Magnolia, Minnesota; many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins.

   Duane was preceded in death by his grandparents, Rensie and Ann Haak, and Edd and Mary Van Beek; father, Peter Haak; mother-in-law, Jessie Voetberg; brothers-in-law, Jim Urwin and Harv Voetberg; great-niece-in-law, Natalee Henke; and nephew-in-law, Michael Voetberg.