Mrs. Nelvina Thomas, age 89, of Orange City, passed away on Thursday, October 15, 2009, at the Happy Siesta Nursing Home in Remsen.

There will be a memorial service on Friday, November 6, at 11:00am, at the First Reformed Church Chapel in Orange City. The Rev. Cecil Martens will officiate. Interment will be prior to the service at the West Lawn Cemetery in Orange City. There will be a prayer service on Friday, at 10:00am, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City.

Visitation will be after 5:00pm on Thursday, with the family present from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the funeral home.

Anna Nelvina was born on March 20, 1920, in rural Orange City, the daughter of John Arie and Anna (Vischer) Ver Steeg. She was raised in the Middleburg and Orange City area. In 1937, she graduated from the Orange City Public High School. She then moved to Holland, Michigan, where she attended the Holland Business Institute. In 1941, she moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where she later attended the Mahers Business College.

She continued to live in the Kalamazoo and Parchment, Michigan area, where she was first a secretary at the Spring Air Company for three years. She then began her employment with the Upjohn Corporation, which continued for 36 ½ years. She first worked in the pharmaceutical marketing department and later became a supervisor in the fine chemical marketing area. In 1970, she received the Employee of the Year Award, and she retired in 1977.

On October 19, 1986, Nelvina married Lyle Thomas in Kalamazoo. He passed away on July 27, 1987, in Michigan. In 1988, she returned to Orange City. She became a resident of Happy Siesta in February of 2008.

She was currently a member of the First Reformed Church in Orange City. In Michigan, she was an active member of the Haven Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, where she served as chairwoman of the music committee and as a member of the missions committee for many years. On the classical level, she was a leader of the Girls League for Western Michigan and a member of the missions committee.

Mrs. Thomas enjoyed traveling and had visited Europe, including Spain, Israel, and Greece.

Survivors include a stepdaughter, Lynne Smith; and a step-son and his wife, Thomas L. and Denise Thomas, all of Kalamazoo; four grandchildren and their spouses, Richelle and Joseph Bower, Jennifer and Chad Lane, Rebecca and Charles Lamb, and Joshua and Amy Hamilton; four great-grandchildren; three sisters-in-law, Sadie, Wilmina, and Sue Ver Steeg, all of Orange City; and many nephews and nieces.

In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by three sisters, Carrie Boone, Mable De Haan, and Henrietta Wesselink; and nine brothers, Jake, Lawrence, Benjamin, Gysbert, Marion, Harold, Wilbur, Clarence, and infant Clarence Lester Ver Steeg.

Memorials may be directed to the Thomas-VerSteeg Christian Service Scholarship Fund at Northwestern College in Orange City.