Mrs. Bertha Van Gelder, age 88, of Orange City, passed away on Sunday, May 10, 2009, at the Orange City Area Health System Long Term Care Facility.

There will be a memorial service on Wednesday, May 13, at 11:30am, at the First Christian Reformed Church in Orange City. The Rev. Robert Drenten will officiate. Interment will be prior to the service at the West Lawn Cemetery in Orange City. There will be a prayer service on Wednesday, at 10:30am, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City.

Visitation will be after 5:00pm on Tuesday, with the family present from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, at the funeral home.

Bertha Visser was born on December 10, 1920, the first child of Pleun and Dora (Haarsma) Visser, on a farm outside of Ireton, Iowa. She attended elementary school at Maurice, Iowa, where she never forgot the school's fire escape, a curly slide she took great joy in using once again, sixty years later, in the Maurice City Park--on a whim.

Tragically, her father died when she was 14. His death meant her mother and five younger siblings needed additional income so she ended her schooling after the eighth grade and began several years of “working out” as a hired girl for families who needed help with household chores.

When the Visser family moved to Orange City, Bertha began “clerking,” as she liked to call it, at an old “five-and-dime” named “The Golden Rule”, right downtown. For a young girl from rural Sioux County, moving to town seemed pure joy. Often throughout her life, she recalled a host of her favorite customers, no matter, back then, whether they spoke Dutch or English or some comical hybrid of the two.

In the spring of 1940, she was thrilled when the populace of Orange City voted her the Tulip Festival Queen. That particular moment, nearly 60 years ago, was among the fondest memories of her life.

The war years were difficult for her, as they were for most of the town. But once the war was concluded and local boys returned from WWII, she gave her heart to Randall Van Gelder, who'd spent two years following the European front in the Army's motor pool. They were married on July 5, 1946, in First Christian Reformed Church, Orange City.

When the newlyweds began farming, south and west of Newkirk, a mid-summer hailstorm destroyed their very first crop, sending Randall back to town to work as a mechanic in order to make ends meet. Together they worked hard to establish a family and a life.

For almost all of her married years, she operated an upholstery business out of her basement, when they lived on the farm, and behind the garage, once they moved to town. She was well into her 80s when she found it impossible to continue. Her loyal customers recognized the care she took with their furniture.

Her joy was never greater than when, in 1948, their only child, Barbara Kay, was born in Orange City.

Her grief in the following years was profound, as she watched her brothers, all of them younger, leave this earth before her, each of a different illness.

She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Randall, their daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and James Schaap, of Sioux Center; two grandchildren, Andrea Jane (Piet) Westerbeek, also of Sioux Center, and David Michael Schaap, of Stillwater, Oklahoma; as well as two great-grandchildren, Jocelyn and Pieter Westerbeek. Her sister, Marie (Merlyn) Rowenhorst, is her only surviving sibling, but she has three sisters-in-law, Lois Visser, of Lady Lakes, Florida; and Everly Visser and Marge Visser, both of Orange City.

She was preceded in death by her four younger brothers, Henry, Ivan, Clarence, and Paul Visser, as well as one sister-in-law, Alma Visser Andringa.

Throughout their lives, Randall and Bertha have been loyal supporters of Christian education, as well as devoted church members. For several years, Bertha taught Sunday School at the First Christian Reformed Church. When a group from that church decided to start a new fellowship, Immanuel Christian Reformed Church, Randall and Bertha joined the movement, because they believed this new church needed some older people. Both of them have appreciated their fellowship at Immanuel.

Memorials may be directed to the Orange City Home Health and Hospice.