Audrey Jongerius

Rock Rapids, IA        Audrey Jongerius age 84 of Rock Rapids, IA died Sunday, November 20, 2016 at the Sanford Hospital of Rock Rapids, IA.           Funeral service will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, November 26, 2016 at First Reformed Church of Rock Rapids, IA with Rev. Dan Haggar officiating. Burial will follow in Riverview Cemetery at Rock Rapids, IA.        Visitation will be Friday, November 25th from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. with the family present from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Jurrens Funeral Home of Rock Rapids.      Audrey Ann (Prince) Jongerius was born September 15, 1932 in Rock Rapids, Iowa, the daughter of Ralph and Dora (Van Dyke), Prince. She grew up in the Rock Rapids and Lester areas. Audrey graduated from Lester High School in 1950.  On June 6, 1952, she was united in marriage to Duane Jongerius, also from Lester.  Following their marriage they lived briefly in El Paso, Texas where Duane was in the United States Army.  After Duane’s discharge the couple moved to Rock Valley for several years where Duane was a high school business teacher.  In the fall of 1959, Duane and Audrey and their family moved to Rock Rapids where Duane began his career as business manager of DGR, a local engineering firm.  After moving to Rock Rapids, Audrey remained busy raising and loving her family, was active in the Rock Rapids First Reformed Church, and at times also worked at several part time jobs, including at JC Penney and at the Lyon County Courthouse.  Audrey enjoyed spending time with her immediate and distant family, golfing, entertaining, and playing cards games, especially bridge.  She loved playing all kinds of games with her grandchildren which were also the love of her life.  Following Duane’s retirement in 1993, the couple enjoyed spending the winter months in Arizona.  After Duane’s death in November of 2000, Audrey remained active in the church, and with her family.  She truly enjoyed human contact and did some volunteer work at the local schools with special needs students and later at the local ATLAS.  Audrey had several battles with breast cancer dating back over 20 years and did spend several long periods in remission.  The cancer came back 3 years ago and on November 20, 2016 she passed away in the Sanford Hospital in Rock Rapids at the age of 84.      Surviving Audrey are her children, Kevin Jongerius of Rock Rapids, Bruce Jongerius and his wife Kelly Welch and their children Ben, Grant, and Yi Ken of Overland Park, KS and Beth Zimmerman and her husband Randy and their children Jeremy ,and Tate and his wife Jenna of Jenison , MI.  Also surviving are a sister Joan Olivier and her husband Alonzo of Spring Park, MN, and her brother Joel and wife Mary of Knoxville, TN., along with many nieces, nephews and cousins.