Rock Valley, IA: Sue Kooima, age 104, died Wednesday July 16, 2014 at Whispering Heights in Rock Valley. Funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, July 21 at First Christian Reformed Church in Rock Valley. Rev. Matthew Haan will be officiating. Burial will follow at Valley View Cemetery. Visitation will be held Sunday, July 20 with the family present from 2-4 p.m. at Porter Funeral Home in Rock Valley. Condolences may be left for the family at www.porterfuneralhomes.com and memorials may be directed to Hope Haven.
Sue was born February 23, 1910 at Rock Valley, Iowa, daughter of Gerrit and Alice (Van Otterloo) Hoekstra. At a young age she moved with her family to a farm near Hancock, Minnesota where she graduated from the 8th grade at the country school. She often spoke of the farm work she and her two older sisters did helping their father on their farm. There were trips by horse and buggy or sleigh rides to school and church when their 1916 Model T was not able to travel the roads. At the age of 15 the family returned to a farm southwest of Rock Valley near Hudson, South Dakota.
Sue married Sam T. Kooima on June 17, 1932. They farmed in the Rock Valley area except for 3 years in the early 1940s when they lived in Hull, Iowa. They enjoyed winter trips to California to visit Sues two older sisters and fall trips to Little Pine Lake in Minnesota. They retired from farming in 1974 and moved to Rock Valley. After Sam passed away in December of 1977, she continued to live in the home they built on Main Street until December 2005 when she moved to Four Seasons. In 2009 she moved to Whispering Heights.
She was a faithful member of the Rock Valley First Christian Reformed Church and was a member of Ora et Labora and Martha Circle. At Whispering Heights she enjoyed many of the activities offered, especially the weekly Bible Studies and sing-alongs. She was affectionately known by her many grandchildren as Grandma Sue. Her children and grandchildren benefited from the many words of encouragement she had for them
Surviving relatives include two sons, Tim (Clarine) Kooima, and Gary (Joan) Kooima, both of Hull; daughter, Karen (Dennis) Gaalswyk of Cannon Falls, Minnesota; 17 grandchildren; 47 great-grandchildren; 30 great-great-grandchildren; two brothers-in-law, Art Kooima of Rock Valley, and Ted Ribbens of Sioux Center, Iowa; two sisters-in-law, Gertrude Rozeboom and Elsie Kooima both of Rock Valley; and many nephews and nieces.
Sue was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Sam T. Kooima; daughter and son-in-law, Elda and Jim Van Maanen; four sisters, Lena Pieksma, Jessie Boer, Fanny Ekema, Ann Dirksen and their husbands; three brothers, Tony, John, Charles, and their wives; and one great grandchild.
Visitation
2:00 - 4:00 p.m. ,Sunday, July 20, 2014
Porter Funeral Home ~ Rock Valley
1704 15th Street Rock Valley, Iowa 51247
Funeral Service
10:30 a.m. ,Monday, July 21, 2014
Rock Valley First Christian Reformed Church
1401 16th Street Rock Valley, Iowa 51247