Jennie Mellema

Rock Rapids, IA Jennie Mellema, age 90 of Rock Rapids, IA died Thursday, March 27, 2008 at the Good Samaritan Home in George, IA. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Monday, March 31st at First Reformed Church in Doon, IA with Rev. Donald Baker, officiating. Burial will follow in Hillside Cemetery at Doon. Visitation will be Sunday, March 30th from 12:00 noon " 4:00 p.m. with the family present from 2:00 " 4:00 p.m. at the Jurrens Funeral Home of Rock Rapids. Jennie Mellema was born on January 16, 1918, the daughter of John and Henrietta (Vander Vliet) Schuurman on the family farm near Hawarden, Iowa. She grew up in the Doon, Iowa area and attended country school there. On February 15, 1935, she was united in marriage to Jake Mellema in Doon, Iowa. Jennie worked very hard to keep their farm yard mowed. After her husbands death, she went to work at the Rock Rapids Health Centre. Jennie was a lifelong member of the First Reformed Church in Doon, where she was very active with the Ladies Aid. Jennie loved to bake and made the best pies. Most of all she enjoyed being with her family and especially babysitting her grandchildren. Jennie is survived by her two children, Henrietta and her husband, Larry Kruse of Inwood, IA and Dowie and his wife, Norma Mellema of Rock Rapids, IA; six grandchildren: Jack and his wife Shari Kruse of George, IA, Daryl and his wife Kris Kruse of Racine, WI, Jill Kruse and her husband Major Anderson of Baraboo, WI, Jake and his wife Tina Mellema of Sioux Falls, SD, Loren Mellema of Rock Rapids, IA and Duane and his wife Tara Mellema of Sioux Falls, SD; ten great grandchildren; one brother, John and his wife Grace Schuurman of Rock Rapids, IA; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Jake, daughter Anna Jean Erickson, five sisters, one brother, and one grandson Dale Mellema in infancy.