Mrs. Harriet Roetman, age 92, of rural Sheldon, passed away on Sunday, October 18, 2009, at the Orange City Area Health System Hospital.

There will be a funeral service on Friday, October 23, at 10:30am, at the Newkirk Reformed Church in rural Hospers. The Rev. David Powers will officiate. Interment will follow at the Newkirk Cemetery. Visitation will be after 1:00pm on Thursday, with the family present from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City.

Harriet Margaret was born on April 10, 1917, at Hospers, the daughter of Edward and Hendrika (Van Oort) Fikse. She was raised in Sioux County.

On March 24, 1937, she married Austin Henry Roetman at Newkirk. They first lived in rural Alton and then farmed southwest of Sheldon, where they continued to make their home. Austin passed away on May 27, 2004, in Sioux Center, after 67 years of marriage.

Mrs. Roetman was a member of the Newkirk Reformed Church, where she participated in the women's activities. She practiced strong Christian values. She was a wonderful homemaker, who enjoyed gardening, cooking, and sewing. She dearly loved her family and always put the needs of others before her own.

Survivors include her seven children, Janice Kuiper, of Hospers; Rhea, and her husband, Stan Sybesma, of Spirit Lake; Roger Roetman, of Sheldon; Donald Roetman, and his wife, Diana, of Sheldon; Deborah Roetman, of Pacific Palasades, California; Audrey, and her husband, Leigh Gignilliat, of Glencoe, Illinois; and Karen, and her husband, Mark Hill, of Seattle, Washington; nine grandchildren, Greg Kuiper, and his wife, Marg; Dan Kuiper, and his wife, Kathy; Laura, and her husband, Gary Malenke; Sara, and her husband, Jeff Tolsma; David Sybesma, and his wife, Beth; Ann, and her husband, Kris Korver; Olivia Gignilliat; Meg Hill; and Ella Hill; eighteen great-grandchildren; three sisters, Jocoba, and her husband, Harold Van Klompenburg, of Ripon, California; Evelyn, and her husband, Don Stein, of Fairbanks, Alaska; and Eunice Peterson, of San Marcos, California; and a sister-in-law, Beverly Fikse, of Daleville, Virginia.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by a son-in-law, John Kuiper; two sisters and their husbands, Geneva and Art Docter and Wilmina and Casey Gaalswyk; a brother, Henrich Fikse; and a brother-in-law, Roy Peterson.

Memorials may be directed to the church mission fund.