Obituary

Gertrude Kingma of Lynden, Washington, went to her heavenly home on Thursday, July 24, 2014. Gert was 92 years young and was born on October 18, 1921 to Thomas and Jennie (Van Dyken) Veltkamp in Amsterdam, Montana. Gert truly walked with God while on earth. She called the Lord Jesus her “best friend” and spent a lot of time conversing with him. Her faith and her love of hymns and other sacred music were firmly rooted in the traditions of the family she grew up in. Music was in her blood and faith was always in her heart. Although never enjoying the luxury of paid music lessons, Gert taught herself to play proficiently on the piano, violin, and organ. She also had a wonderful singing voice. As a teenager, Gert started playing hymns for church services in Churchill, Montana, and continued to lead congregational singing in Lynden’s Second Christian Reformed Church, Bellingham CRC, and Mt. View CRC. A highlight of Gert’s musical adventures was playing violin in the orchestra that accompanied the Palm Springs Follies in California. Gert loved word games like Scrabble and Boggle, and was not ashamed to be a gleeful winner. She also enjoyed tending to her garden flowers, sewing clothes for her children, and swimming laps wherever she could find a pool. Her artistic endeavors included painting, pottery, crocheting rugs, knitting afghans, basket weaving, and tumbling stones for jewelry. Gert was preceded in death by her first husband, John Harka VanderMolen; second husband, Simon Kingma; daughter, Lois VanderMolen; and siblings Martha Bos, Christine DeBoer, Nell Bos, and Jack Veltkamp. Gert will be greatly missed by her surviving children: John (Ida) VanderMolen, Marijane (Ben) Huizinga, Kathy (Bill) Kamphouse, David (Nonie) Kingma, Linda (Phil) Roorda, Irene (Bob) Sytsma, and Mike Kingma; and lots of wonderful grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She will also be missed by siblings Al Veltkamp and Kay Duthler; and numerous nieces, nephews and special friends.

Farewell Tribute Information

Graveside service will be held Friday August 1st at 1:00 p.m. at Monumenta Cemetery, Lynden, WA followed by a Memorial Service at 2:00p.m. at Mountain View Christian Reformed Church, 6678 Old Guide Rd., Lynden, WA Donations Information

Memorial donations may be made to Mountain View Christian Reform Church, 6678 Old Guide Rd., Lynden, WA or World Renew – Disaster Response Services 400 76th St. SE., Byron Center, MI., 49315