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While we were in Great Falls, we were members of Christ’s
Church on the Hill, a Reformed Church. I served six years as an
elder. But, the sermons were so superficial that I think it turned off
our kids. They went to a pastor-led classroom to make a profession
of faith and then refused to make it because they felt it was mean-
ingless. We made some friends at that small church. We had tried
others, but found none we thought were better.
BACK TO BOZEMAN
The house in Bozeman was in a great location with views of moun-
tains everywhere. It was the nicest house we had had so far and it
became the last house we would ever own. Only a few years old,
it needed repairs from the single mom and her two boys who had
done so much damage that the walls had many holes and the car-
peting had been so badly stained and the stairs worn down to the
jute on the edges. I think the boys must have “tobogganed” down
the stairs and crashed into the walls. The owner fixed the walls and
painted everything a light cream. Re-carpeting was left to us. We
chose a light gray that went with everything and wore very well.
The rest of us moved when school was over. I had not been able to
get a job anywhere in special education. So, I worked in a motel
laundry until I got my first paycheck and found out what a shyster
the owner was. I was promised so much an hour, but was paid
based on the number of rooms that had been used.
I continued to look and found a job as a house parent at Bozeman
Shelter Care. It was used by both the social services and the proba-
tion system to take care of kids who had been removed from their
homes because they were the perpetrators or victims of trouble in
the family. It was in transition by the director who was changing
it from being run by a couple who lived in the house, to a model
where workers would come in on shifts. One of the first things we
did was to adapt the handbook of a similar home in Montana to our
needs and register as a non-profit. That was barely complete, when
the director Maurice moved to Washington state. I became the act-
ing director while they did an employee search, and was chosen to
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be the director. I worked at the home during the business hours,
staffed it with MSU students, most of whom were social service
majors. They came about four pm and stayed overnight, leaving
shortly after I arrived at eight am. But I was on call 24/7, as I had
to give the okay on any new intakes, often getting a call during the
night from the police who had picked up a teen who had gotten in
trouble. I had to do the books, with help from Galusha, Higgins
and Galusha as Bill Galusha was on the board. I had to do the
payroll, something I had to learn on my own, the hard way. After
we had returned from Africa, I had taken some accounting courses
with the idea of getting into bookkeeping. That did help a little. I
did that for three years. I hope that I was a ray of light and love for
some of those kids. Some kids had to stay for more than a year,
or were in and out several times before they became eighteen or
found a good foster parent. We were a resource for Gallatin, Park
and Meagher Counties, who paid according to the teens they sent.
The State paid for the food that we fed the children. We had to
have one staff for every six clients. It was hard to run it on that
budget. Several non-profits helped. The United Way directors
were helpful in teaching me how to run a non-profit and we did get
a yearly donation from them as one of the non-profits in Bozeman.
I think we got help with used vehicles from car dealerships.
But, for various reasons, after three years, I displeased the board
and they hired a friend of the board president. I was stressed out
and burned out anyway. Through Barb Jerke, a member of Boze-
man Christian Reformed Church, and unofficial assistant manager
of the local Christian Book store, the Lord got me a job as their
bookkeeper. Val Kaufman Deeney, who had done the job and was
on the board, taught me all I needed to know to run the everyday,
and helped with the monthly financial statements for the board. I
enjoyed that job and really liked the people I worked with. It was a
time of healing.
Meanwhile, Lou continued at Darigold. By this time, all three kids
were in Grand Rapids. Shawn and Lynelle were still at Calvin and
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Lisa had graduated from Reformed Bible College and was work-
ing in Raybrook Manor, a CRC run retirement home. We took in a
boarder, Ed DeVries, who was working on a doctorate. We never
bonded with him. He may not have liked us either. One day, when
Aaron was needing a place to stay, he said that he could easily
move in with a former roommate. I replied, “Then why don’t you.”
And he did. Before Ed stayed with us, Woody Woods, a friend of
Shawn’s who was the track star of CM Russell High, was having
trouble keeping his academics up to keep his athletic scholarship.
We got along with him, but, after I came into the kitchen at 6 one
morning, there was a girl in the kitchen with Woody. I asked if she
had spent the night. She had. I said that that could not continue. So
he left.
Our friends Fred and Thora Decker were divorcing. She stayed in
our upstairs guest room for a while, before she decided to move
to Great Falls to be with her friends there. After that, Lou said he
didn’t want any more people living with us. But, our kids boomer-
anged.
THE CHILDREN RETURN AND MARRY 1993-2007
After Shawn graduated Calvin, he roomed with some friends, but
fiance Deborah Schuerr stayed with us for a year while she got a
master’s in history at MSU writing about the Story family. She also
worked at the post office at Van’s IGA, a job Thora had helped her
get. Shawn and Deb married in August, 1993, and moved to Mis-
soula where he began three years of law school. During that time,
Lynelle moved back from Calvin and began working at Gibson
Guitar Factory and doing her art. Her fiance, Aaron Schuerr, had
stayed here for the summer before deciding to do his last year of
art school in Dundee, Scotland, where he had spent his junior year
as an exchange student. After being in the Scottish Highlands, and
then in Montana, his heart did not want to return to the impersonal
Art Institute in downtown Chicago. He was able to arrange to take
his senior year and graduate from Dundee. Lynelle decided to visit
him and attend his graduation, and while she was there, he pro-
posed. He roomed with us that year, staying in the downstairs
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bedroom and she in the upstairs room.
They were married in June of 1996. He worked as a waiter part-
time at Cafe International and was part of an art group that rented a
studio in the Emerson School, where the cafe was located. He also
painted every moment he could. It was who he was. They found
an upstairs apartment to rent near downtown and she worked at
Second Wind Sports. They had a fun wedding. In Springhill, about
a half mile from the church, was a wedding venue. Aaron had his
two best friends from Dundee, Scotland come out for the wedding,
and they brought a full authentic kilt for him to wear. Aaron and
Lynelle found 3 kilts to rent from a costume rental store at The
Emerson for Ian and Stuart, and our Shawn. During their year
here, Aaron and Lynelle had found a Scottish dance group and that
was one of their weekly night outs. They hired the Broken String
Band and a caller and invited the dance group to the wedding. The
ceremony was outdoors and, when the preacher said that they
would have storms in their life together, the first thunder sounded.
As we finished the reception line, it began to rain. We had to run to
the dining hall which was a bit too small for the crowd. After the
dinner we danced Scottish reels. One of my friends told me later
that she had never had such fun at a wedding.
In the summer of 1998, Lisa lost her job as an occupational ther-
apist assistant due to a government cutback of how much therapy
was allowed after certain medical procedures. She moved back
here to work in Carla Phillips’ home day care. One of the clients
had her second child that year. That extra baby would put Carla in
a bind with state rules. She would have had to hire one more staff,
but her home wasn’t big enough to have more children to break
even. She suggested that Lisa take care of both Geoff and Brenda
Solberg’s children. It was a win-win situation. Brenda hired Lisa as
a live-in nanny and was spared the rat-race of getting two children
ready for day-care, and Lisa was more independent and could
come home on weekends. And Carla would still make a comfort-
able margin on the daycare.
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After Riley Solberg was ready for school, Lisa spent a year or so
living with Gordon and Edna Dykstra. They were needing extra
help with so many things, but didn’t want to go to a retirement
home. Lisa lived with them as a caregiver. Somewhere along the
line, she got on a Christian On-line Chat Room. She and Pastor
Don Hill made a connection, began private on-line conversations
and then 2 hour phone calls several times a week. He came out
over Christmas to meet all of us over one Christmas and later Lisa
moved to Aberdeen, where she got an apartment and a job and
could visit Herried, SD every weekend. They were married in
August 2005. Now, all three kids are married… no they aren’t. In
2003, Debbie had asked Shawn for a divorce. They were separated,
trying to work things out. A terrible time in all of our lives. By the
time Lisa got married, the divorce was final, and Shawn had begun
seeing Megan Hall Ault, who had also recently had her divorce fi-
nalized. They had all been part of the Bozeman 30-somethings and
shared many friends. We all liked Megan, and realized she would
soon be part of our lives. What to do about the wedding? Lisa had
Megan at her shower and Debbie at the wedding. Lisa’s wedding
and reception was at the Springhill Church where we had been
going since about 2000. It was a small wedding as only a few of
Don’s friends, and a few of our relatives and friends came. We had
a pig roast for the reception, as Lynelle had had for hers. Only no
keg out back and no dancing. It was a very nice traditional wed-
ding. Trouble was, Lisa had to move to Herried, SD, where Don
pastored a small Assembly of God church. My parents have been
to all the weddings so far. In fact, this would be the last time they
were able to visit Montana. They had sold their home in Arizona
and were headed for a retirement home. Babe, who had come out
here with my sister Sharon and Charlie Dykstra, drove them in
their car back home.
Almost two years later, in June, 2007, Shawn and Megan were
married at Hyalite Youth Camp. We were there from Friday after-
noon on. Most of us stayed in campers or tents on the grounds. It
was mostly their friends, and her parents, and a brother with his
56
husband. Our family had Art Van Wolde and his family, and Rog-
er and his son Nathan. It was a two day camp-out. The kids, our
six grandchildren, including Shawn’s three stepsons, Nathan Van
Deel, the four Van Wolde and the children of the other guests, were
a pack of wild children, playing with kayaks in the lake, hunting
squirrels, and running loose. The only tears were from three-year-
old Jasper upset that the other boys might actually KILL a squirrel.
The wedding was on Saturday afternoon. Lou’s mom had died the
evening before.We had to leave soon after the wedding reception
(another pig roast) to head back to South Holland for the funeral.
For Art, it was worse, for he had been chosen to do the funeral for
his grandmother. There he sat, Saturday morning, trying to write
his speech at a picnic table. This wedding was different in a few
ways. The audience was on benches overlooking the lake. The
minister included Megan’s three boys in the wedding. The couple
pledged to give the boys their love and support as part of the vows.
I liked that very much. Shawn would not be adopting them as their
father was still part of their lives and they didn’t want to change
their last name. They were 9, 11 and 13 by now, having been a
part of Shawn’s life for two years already. My parents were in a
retirement home in the Chicago area and not able to travel now.
This was the only wedding they missed. But they had met Megan
when they came out for Lisa’s wedding two years before and liked
her and the boys. My dad said that Megan was a good mother. He
said he could tell that from how well-behaved her three boys were.
From him, that was high praise.
THE SIX GRANDSONS
The long awaited grandchild finally arrived on April 3, 2000. It
was payroll day at Color World, and there was no way for me
to take off even an hour. Lynelle was having a home birth at our
house. I prayed for them and waited all day for a phone call to
announce news of the new arrival. I knew she was having trouble.
Lou was there and dealt with his anxiety by pruning bushes and
cutting the branches into six-inch pieces. Late in the afternoon,
they decided to go to the hospital. August’s head was at a weird
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angle. The ob-gyn had to use suction several times. On what was
going to be the last attempt before a cesarean, he emerged. The col-
or of a peach, he was definitely a ginger. I rushed over to the hos-
pital after work in time to see Aaron give him his first bath. I was
glad to see the hospital initiating close contact between infant and
father so soon. I don’t think Aaron was ever afraid of handling his
newborns again. It was a good thing, because Lynelle was so weak
from the ordeal that she could not lift August for quite a while.
Needless to say, he was the focus of the family. Everyone adored
him. My parents came out to see their first great grandchild and
have the obligatory four generation pictures taken. They eventually
got to see all three of the Schuerr boys, but I don’t think we took
any other four generation pictures of the others. Perhaps because
they didn’t come out so soon after they were born.
The other boys were born in the hospitals with doctors rather than
a midwife. There was no trauma. I really don’t remember any
details of either birth, other than that when I visited the family in
the hospital, they had a very homey room and that Aaron could
stay with them. Lisa cared for August when Jasper was born. I do
remember being called in the middle of the night when it was time
for Issak to be born. I went over to their house and slept in their
bed until August and Jasper woke up. We had recently returned
from our niece Sara’s wedding, and my brother Dave had fallen off
a ladder, shattering a foot, while we were en route home.
It was great being a grandmother. However, I was soon working at
HRDC and could not spend as much time with the boys as I would
have liked. It was special when Lynelle would take the kids on a
stroll and stop by my office. Lou actually was a better grandfather.
He was fully retired when Isaak was a baby and babysat when
Lynelle went anywhere. She took a course at MSU and dropped
him off with Lou. They really bonded. Isaak would follow Lou all
over like a puppy, but paid little attention to me. I was jealous, but
I understood. When Lou bought me a decoration that said, “My
favorite people call me Grandma,” he covered the “ma” with
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a sticky note that said “pa.” Isaak finally realized that I did love
him. He was about eight when he said that he didn’t used to like
me, but now he does. It was great to see what great parents Lynelle
and Aaron were. They involved the boys in daily chores, explain-
ing everything to them. The boys used to love to stand on a chair
by the stove to watch when Aaron cooked and to stir the food.
Once, Jasper pulled the cast iron pan against his belly and had to
be treated for burns. I made the boys aprons with heat reflective
padding and matching hand mitts decorated like dragons so that
they wouldn’t get burned. I hope they wore them, but I never heard
of any burns after that. Now that the boys are working and living
in their own apartment, they have often remarked at how glad they
are that they know how to cook.
Aaron and Lynelle would go to the Charlie Russell Art Show in
Great Falls to exhibit Aaron’s art. I stayed with the boys during
several of those trips after they moved to Livingston. I probably
had them at my place before then. One time I left August and
Jasper in the yard for a few minutes while I put some laundry
from one machine to another. When I returned, I couldn’t see them
anywhere and was beginning to panic when they called to me from
high up in the old lilac “trees.” They were all “boys.”
AUGUST
I had told Lynelle that it was important to talk to her babies a lot
and to start reading to them when they were six months old. She
probably would have anyway. August was verbal from a young
age and surprised Aaron one morning as he was leaving and said,
“Papa work.” By the time he was 16 months old, he could repeat
virtually everything you asked him to. A philosopher friend of Sue
and Larry’s was on vacation here with them and didn’t believe us.
So he challenged August to say, “Cartesian Philosophy.” He was
shocked when August repeated it flawlessly. August liked atten-
tion. He usually got lots of it because he was so cute and had such
beautiful red hair. Once while in this stroller, he felt he was being
ignored while Lynelle stopped to talk to a friend. So he took off
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his hat so that she’d say something about his hair. But, he was usu-
ally very eager to please. I babysat him one weekend in September
while Lynelle went antelope hunting in Eastern Montana with the
guys. I concentrated on potty-training 18 month old August, and
had M & M’s for rewards. Because of his sensitive fair skin, he
hated wet diapers and welcomed being able to avoid them. He was
trained at the end of the weekend. It also helped that he could talk
and ask for help.
Soon after that he was a big brother and took his role seriously. He
was very protective of his younger brothers and set a very good
example for them. Because he was so verbal, he did very well in
school and since he was with educated adults a lot, he knew much
more than the average elementary student. He could hold forth on
many topics his peers had never heard of and soon became a leader
in the class. Sometimes he knew more than the teacher about an
item of trivia that a child might ask about. One teacher quipped, “If
August says so, then it must be right.” He had really enjoyed and
excelled in a computer class where they could create and print on a
3D printer. He had done well in pottery class as well as shop, mak-
ing beautiful and useful items. After he graduated high school, he
decided to pursue designing things on computer at the new Gallatin
College. He got the training to do what he wanted in one school
year. He was working for Knicht Engineering before the year was
over, and loves working for them. He programs robotic machines
to construct metal parts for complex machine parts and monitors
them. He has all kinds of ideas for things he could make with his
growing skills on his own and hopes to combine his skills with
Jasper’s and start their own business some day.
JASPER
From the time he could walk, Jasper was fascinated with fire. Be-
fore Isaak was born, we were camping at Mammoth in YNP. Lou
started a campfire before supper and we could not get Jasper to eat.
So I remarked to him that we would not have a fire the next night
until Jasper had eaten supper. The next night, he gobbled up his
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supper, got up from the table and announced that he had eaten and
it was time to have a fire. It’s no wonder that, especially after we
visited the blacksmith shop at the Lindley Farm at the museum,
that Jasper wanted to be a blacksmith. He got to work with fire.
When he was eleven, he had copied a painting Aaron had done of
the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. It was one of his last paintings.
About that time he made a knife from a railroad spike he found
along the rails in Livingston. After that, he consulted every black-
smith he met at craft sales, scouted junk yards for scrap metal and
things to build his own forge, learning how by watching videos
on YouTube. That was a big switch, because from the time he
was four, he had claimed to BE an artist. When someone who had
bought one of his paintings from him for $.50, asked him if he was
going to be an artist when he grew up, he replied. “I AM an artist.”
In fact, he flew with Aaron to a plein air convention in California
once. He set up his easel next to Aaron and drew quite a crowd
and sold at least one painting on the spot. He was invited to get up
to speak at the dinner and auction at the end. They allowed him to
enter a painting and it got bid up to $500. But now he sells very
beautiful and sharp knives for about $1,000. He really worked on
his blacksmith skills the year after high school. Then he decided
to follow August’s example and took a computer design course
at Gallatin College. Fairly early in the year, he began working
part-time where August works. But, in about March, Bone Den-
tal recruited him to work making teeth for implants, partials and
dentures. Mr. Bone said that Jasper’s fine attention to detail on his
knives was why he sought him out. He does enjoy his job, but is
still determined to continue honing his skill with forging. He is
now setting up a shop near Livingston where he can.
ISAAK
Isaak is his own person and doesn’t join the crowd. He is wise
beyond his years with a penchant for seeing the heart of an issue.
Perhaps from the example set by Grandpa Lou, he has an acute
sense of satire. Many kids have a hero and dress like that hero.
Isaak’s hero was Dr. Who, a British movie sleuth. So at the age of
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seven, he began wearing a hat, a bow tie and a sports jacket. Aunt
Lisa bought him a hat or two over the years and I made a sport
coat for a couple of Christmases. The hat, sport coat, button down
shirt and a bow tie made up his school “uniform” every day for
two or three years. From an early age, he would set out his clothes
the night before and be the first one up and dressed in the morn-
ing. From the time he was still in his crib, he hated going to bed
before the other boys went to bed and would cry for a long time.
Once when we were camping, we had to drive him around in the
car until he fell asleep. When he was a bit older, he would never
go to bed before the older boys and be the first one up. He adored
his grandfather. He is very satirical and doesn’t care that other kids
are put off by it. He just says that they are too stupid to understand
his humor. Once he went to see “Hamlet” with Lynelle and me. I
was astounded at the questions he asked publicly in the discussion
after the play. I wished I had had the perception to ask such deep
questions. I felt sorry for Isaak because his sophomore and junior
years were deeply impacted by all the restrictions of Covid. There
was little opportunity for sports and for a great deal of those years,
school was closed and classes were all on-line. This year those re-
strictions have been lifted and school has been more normal. Issak
has taken up wrestling and is doing very well in the tournaments
that he has attended.
THREE AT ONCE
While Shawn’s divorce was one of the most difficult things to face
in the adult lives of our children, it proved to be a blessing in dis-
guise. I had thought he was happy in his first marriage, but being
married to Megan Hall Ault, a divorcee as well, is far better and he
is much happier. I am glad, too. Megan is a great DIL and always
lets me know what she likes and where she stands. There is never
any second guessing her or wondering if I’ve offended her. She
and her three wonderful boys have become such a wonderful part
of our family. August and Jasper said they were glad that Shawn
was going to marry Megan because then they would have cousins.
Nick, Connor and Dylan are two years apart and Nick, the young-
est, is two years older than August. They were 7, 9 and 11 when
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Shawn and Megan met, and 9, 11 and 13 at the wedding. The pas-
tor included them in the wedding and Shawn and Megan pledged
to be parents to them. Steve, their father is still very much a part
of their lives, and has become our friend as well. Once, Dylan was
skiing with both Steve and Shawn and met one of his friends from
school at the lift. He said, “I’d like to introduce you to my dads.”
After he got a quizzical look, he clarified, “This is my father and
this is my stepdad.” Because Steve had taught his boys to ski when
they were two, Nick and Dylan were proficient enough to become
ski instructors when they were sixteen. They started out teach-
ing preschoolers. Sometimes their little charges would not know
how badly they needed the bathroom and would have an accident.
Then, to avoid embarrassing the tot, they would say that they had a
“golden trout” and the other ski instructors would know why they
were taking that child away. As they gained seniority they got very
prestigious clients. After being in charge of scheduling all the ski
instructors, Dylan now has a job from 9-5 M-F. They took a long
time finishing college because they work as ski instructors in the
winter quarter and as fishing guides or on a commercial fishing
boat in the summer. They are very much alike in their pursuits.
Dylan married Desiree whom he met one summer when he manned
a raft for Yellowstone Whitewater out of Gardiner. Desiree was the
photographer who took a picture of each boat as it came out of a
dramatic ride in the rapids for souvenirs. Most people love those
pictures. Not wanting to delay their wedding one year because of
Covid, Dylan and Desiree got married on May 16, 2020. Her fam-
ily was planning to witness the outdoor ceremony, but her father
came down with Covid and couldn’t make it. Thinking it would
be so unfair that his side of the family could be there and hers
couldn’t, they decided to put the ceremony on-line so that everyone
could see it up close. They had planned to have a big party a year
later, but had a great opportunity to buy a condo. The party didn’t
seem that important, but more like an afterthought.
Nick has had a special girlfriend that he met as a fellow ski instruc-
63
tor. Martha is now in law school and they are closer than ever. She
is working in an internship this summer in Anchorage for thestate
of Alaska through her law course at UCLA, Berkeley. Every
one in the family likes Martha because she is so down to earth. I
have never seen her wear make-up. I doubt they will marry before
she finishes law school. Nick went to Anchorage, Alaska to be
with her and took the summer term on-line. Now they are back at
school, they travel to see each other as often as possible. I’m very
fond of her and hope that they get married and live “happily ever
after.”
Connor is different from his brothers. An accomplished skier, he is
not the outdoorsman that they are. He has dreams of being a career
musician. He loves children and worked for Big Brothers, Big Sis-
ters while still in high school. He went to New York, near his Un-
cle Casey, to try to get into playing music. But he found that he had
to work so hard just to cover the cost of living in the Big Apple,
that he didn’t have time for his music and came home. This was
the second time he tried living out East and I think he really likes
Montana. He now lives in his parents’ apartment, nannies twin
three-year-old boys he has had since their mom’s maternity leave
ended, and pursues his music. He has turned one of the rooms into
a sound studio and is working on recording his work. He can play
several instruments and sing. As hard as he works and enjoys what
he is doing, I hope he can realize his ambitions of becoming a
career musician and a happily married father. He and friends have
just started doing “gigs” at local venues.
CAREER TRANSITIONS
It is a euphemism to call my series of jobs a career. About the time
I was 57, after Zondervan dissolved my job, I got a job at Color
World Printers. From the ad, I couldn’t tell which company I was
applying to. I knew from the job description that I was really not
qualified, but I had to apply for two jobs a week for unemploy-
ment. However, Val Deeney, who had trained me at Christian
Supply, was a very good friend of one of the partners and highly
recommended me. The company was hurting because my prede-
64
cessor had embezzled them out of over half a million dollars and
had nothing to show for it. They needed someone who they could
trust, and someone who could learn the job. Val must have said I
could do it. All I know is that it was a God-send. He had worked
behind the scenes to get me a job where I could serve. I handled it
for several years until they bought two businesses in Cody, Wyo-
ming. I had to handle more accounts and the staff there was calling
me at least once a day to ask how to do things. I was not good
enough to handle it all. So the owner graciously let me go in such a
way that I was once more getting unemployment checks.
I applied for a job at HRDC, but didn’t make it. I worked for a
time at a sewing shop where we turned home designers’ orders into
reality for the wealthy at Big Sky and other top developments in
Bozeman. I really learned a lot of finishing techniques there and
enjoyed the interlude. I dyed my hair to a shade that was slightly
strawberry blond, applied at HRDC again and got the job this time.
I did accounts payable there for seven years until I retired a month
after my 67th birthday in September, 2009.
The next day we bought a Jayco camper and went on a camping
trip soon after. We had it for several years and sold it because we
really didn’t need such a big one and bought a slide-in camper to fit
on the truck. That way, we thought we could pull the canoe behind
the truck. We used that a few summers, but Lou hated putting it off
and on again almost as much as he hated driving it around with the
camper on all the time. We sold it in 2021. It had been sitting on
the driveway for a couple of years and it was a relief to get rid of it.
I got tired of retirement as we did not travel as much as I would
have liked. I had a few older friends whom I would visit and one
special friend whose apartment I would clean because she couldn’t
do it nor pay for someone else to do it. One day I met an acquain-
tance from Curves, where I used to exercise, and asked what she
was doing. She told me about Home Instead Senior Care. I decided
to apply. I got hired on January 23, 2015. I do what I did for my
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elderly friends, except that now my clients become my friends and
I get paid for my efforts. I have been doing this for almost 8 years,
one of the longest of any job I’ve had. I have had well over 70
clients, over half of whom have died. Some have been just to fill-in
while another worker was on vacation and some were for several
times a week for two years or more. I will never forget those people.
I know what it is like to be over 90 and not be able to take care of
yourself anymore. But, I now see a 90-year-old woman who still
does some pottery and sells it at a local shop and enjoys life. I hope
I can be like her, able to do what I want. As I am 80, I have cut my
hours down to 20 hours a week and enjoy the three ladies that I
have. One is an old acquaintance from the CRC we used to go to. I
take her to church three Sundays a month, help her get dinner, eat
with her and her bachelor son, and clean up after the meal. I see
the other two for four hours each every Monday and Friday. They
were complete strangers a year ago when I started with them, but
are very interesting women who have great hobbies and families
that they love and are loved in return. I would like to stay with
these three as long as they need me because I enjoy them so much.
I take my life as it comes from His hand until he leads me some-
where else. I will resign to help take care of a great grandchild or
just enjoy more time with Lou.
FRIENDS
Over the years we have had many friends, depending on where
we lived. A few from each place have become permanent, even
though we were separated. Somehow, our lives would intersect by
circumstances, other times the bonds were so close that we would
visit them, or they would visit us. Sometimes we had multiple
connections to several people of the same extended family. The
Byker family is the main one. We had Don Byker as a speech prof
in the only college class that we took together. When we taught in
Hudsonville, Gary Byker was a leader in the church and commu-
nity, became state senator and we each had one of his boys in our
classes: Gaylen (Butch) who became a president of Calvin College,
66
was in my class, and Harlan, in Lou’s class, inventor of three ev-
eryday things that involve glass reflection. One of Gary’s brothers
was Will, to whom we became the closest, and the youngest broth-
er was Harry, who taught with Lou at the junior high in Hudson-
ville for a while. We met Harlan and his wife Terri again in Mon-
tana when he went to MSU. His inventions enabled him to give
back so much to MSU that “Byker Hall” in the chemistry building
on the Bozeman campus is named for him. They went to Gateway
Church when we did and we had them over quite a bit. While we
were in Nigeria, they used our washer and dryer so that it wouldn’t
“die” from lack or use. We saw him last year when he stopped by
at his Uncle Will’s lake home while we were sick with Covid, and
he got it, too, we heard from Aunt Mary Jane.
Darryl and Maris Vander Kooi were from Hudsonville, and he was
already teaching at Manhattan Christian when we arrived in Mon-
tana. They “adopted” us immediately and became our mentors. He
taught Lou much of what he knows about how and where to hunt,
and, when I became a stay-at-home mom, she and I would spend
at least one day a week together, having picnics with the kids, or
canning, making jellies, and going to Bibles studies. Bykers lived
within walking distance from the apartment where we lived on
Churchill and we spent a lot of time with them, as well. Maris and
Jane were like sisters to me until they moved away. Darryl landed
a job at Dordt College and stayed there the rest of their career. We
would see them from time to time over the years, and write to each
other. The Bykers’ went to Illiana where Will was the principal
where I attended high school, and then returned to Hudsonville
where he worked at Byker Realtor with his brother Gary, and con-
tinued it when the latter retired. Almost every time we went to see
our family in Illinois, we would make a trip to see Will and Jane.
We were always welcome. We took our trip in September, 2021,
to see family, friends, to attend Sandy’s 60th high school reunion,
and to see our friends Darryl, Maris having died several years ago,
and Will and Mary Jane. Will died December 2, 2021; Darryl died
November 6, 2022.
67
Larry and Janet Senti are among our enduring friendships, as well.
Larry came to teach science at MCHS the same year we did, but
we really didn’t become close until we moved to the ranch. When
Lynelle was born, Shawn stayed with the Sentis. He became three
when I returned from the hospital and their youngest, Thad, was
two. They were great friends after that until the Sentis left for
Greeley in 1980 when Shawn was 11. We went on some great
camping trips with Larry, Janet, and her cousin, John Heersink and
his wife. Once we camped in Tom Miner Basin, and once we rent-
ed some cabins in Yellowstone Park at Roosevelt Lodge. For some
favor Lou had done for the Park concessioners, they had promised
us a Stage Coach outing with a steak dinner on the trail. However,
there was a late afternoon thunder and lightning storm making it
too dangerous to host both days we were there. As a substitute,
they gave us all a free dinner at the Lodge Dining Room. Although
we enjoyed that, it wasn’t the adventure we had hoped for.
When Larry left MCHS under duress, he and John Heersink
bought a tire store together. Before the next school year ended,
they had lost everything. It was a very sad day when the Sentis left
for Greeley, Colorado, where they lived until his retirement. When
I spent two summers at UNC in Greeley, I saw them often. After
his retirement they moved to a home in the country near Zeeland,
Michigan, because their two sons were living nearby. In 2010, at
age 75, Larry was killed felling trees for the Holland, MI airport.
We flew out for his funeral and stayed with the Bykers. Last year,
after I had recovered from Covid, I spent an afternoon with Janet
in her townhouse on the outskirts of Holland.
SPECIAL TRIPS
When Lisa was living in Fredericksburg, VA, while working as a
COTA, we went to visit her. (I was working at Color World at the
time.) For a very modest price, the town had tickets to 6 or 7 of
their famous historical sites. We saw the home of Betty Washing-
ton, George’s mother, the home of the Lewis Clan where Meri-
wether was born, which had been used as a hospital during the civil
war. We noted the bullet holes in the bricks. We toured an old inn
68
from the 1700’s and learned the customs of the time. We also took
the train to D.C. for a day and saw some of the famous museums.
The most solemn was the Holocost Museum, where people were
even more quiet than they are at funerals to see how brutal man is
to man in war time. It was not the last time in recent history that
an evil regime has tried to exterminate an entire ethnic group as if
they were animals.
After retirement, we had the time to take extended trips. The first
was a cruise to Alaska in 2011 or 2012. We enjoyed the 30 hours
that week that we spent on land far more than the rest of the week
that we spent on board and decided that we wouldn’t cruise again.
We loved doing a seven sectioned zip line above the Tongass
National Forest. It was Lou’s first zip trip, while I had had a small
taste of zipping on an Outward Bound day trip for the at-risk kids
we taught for my master’s program at UNC and I convinced him it
was something we should do. He agreed afterward that it had been
a blast. In Sitka, I enjoyed the Russian Orthodox Church with its
artwork, some even medieval. I also loved the museum of Indige-
nous handiwork and culture built by a Presbyterian minister who
realized that they would all be replaced by manufactured goods
in a few generations. The genius of the Inuits to make everything
they needed from their harsh environment, making them things of
beauty as well, impressed me.
In March of 2014, we took a road trip encompassing 20 states
and over 4,000 miles. After visiting family in the Illiana area, we
headed to downstate Illinois. We had never gone to the southern
tip of Illinois before and hadn’t realized how far that was. When
we crossed the Ohio River, we were almost in a different climate,
with different vegetation. The first rest area was a restored planta-
tion house that had been abandoned and then trashed by transients.
We stayed with Rich and Lavonne Harp, friends we had made in
Great Falls, now living in Humboldt, Tennessee, for a few days.
They took us to their church potluck where we ate southern home-
cooked food. The next day they took us to see the home of Casey
Jones, the train engineer who sacrificed himself to save his passen-
69
gers. He was memorialized by Johnny Cash. Our destination was
to stay with my cousin Charlene Lush. They lived on a reservoir
near Cobb, GA. Before we got there, we visited Plains, where we
saw the home, former high school, now presidential museum of
Jimmy and Rosalind Carter and their family’s stores in Plains, a
very small town. On Saturday, we took their five children (three
foster children whom they finally adopted) to see the Anderson
Prison where thousands of Union soldiers died under abject con-
ditions. They didn’t even have a roof over their heads, latrines or
fresh water until a spring (some say miraculously) appeared. Their
food was meager, because the South could barely feed their own
troops. They have built a museum there to show the condition of
POWs in all of the subsequent wars the U.S. has fought.
From Georgia, we headed west through the deep south, never
reaching the Gulf. One night we stayed at a motel along the Mis-
sissippi and saw many paddle boats on it. We took old Route 66
through parts of Texas. We camped one night in Palo Verde Can-
yon, which they said was the second deepest canyon in the US, but
we thought the Canyon of the Yellowstone beats it. It was beauti-
ful though, and a very warm, relaxing spot. I remember visiting a
museum on the Texas A & M campus the next day. We spent a day
and a night in Santa Fe, NM, moving on to the Four Corners. We
got there a half hour after they had closed the gate to the monu-
ment. We found a motel down the road, but didn’t return as we
were eager to get back home. We camped on Antelope Island near
SLC, UT on our last night out. It was so early in the season that we
didn’t have trouble finding a spot. It seemed milder than it had one
night in the South as they had had an unusually cold season.
Our most extensive, most exciting vacation was with Western
River Expeditions down the Colorado through Grand Canyon NP.
Seven days of white water rapids, a mini-course in geology, natural
flora, the history of the first inhabitants and all those who became
well-known by exploring or living in it since John Wesley Powell.
We learned that rapids were named for those who died in them, and
were happy not to claim that fame. We had a great time getting to
70
know our raft-mates in the evenings. Our friend Butch Bach had
invited most of the people on the two rafts, and we had invited
Larry and Sue Schuerr to come as well. Larry is a character and
most of the people got to know him. It was the last week of May
and temperatures got warmer the deeper into the canyon we went.
Because our 50th Wedding Anniversary was the following January
(an awful time to float a river) we considered it our celebration and
the group acknowledged it at our final dinner.
Another trip was to Big Bend NP in Texas. That is desert coun-
try and only a few old homestead and ranch remains are left. It is
also starkly beautiful. We saw a valley full of tall Yucca plants in
bloom, lots of ocotillo bushes, which bloom twice to coincide with
the migrating hummingbirds who depend on the blossoms. We
toured the Texas Observatory and wished that we could have seen
it at night. From there we went to Carlsbad Caverns, but didn’t
venture very far into them. None of the elevators were working and
it had taken everyone available to get the seniors seven stories up
to the top the day before.
Besides Yellowstone which we have visited 5 times this year alone,
another national park we recommend is Great Basin, just in Neva-
da from Utah. It is one of the least visited parks and it was so easy
to just drive there and pick a spot almost anywhere. John and Deb
Scherer thought of it and we came along to spend a week there ex-
ploring an ancient Indian village, remains of sluices for early min-
ing, and just hiking. We wanted to get to the top of the mountain
nearby, but (our rotten luck, again) the road was closed. We went
home in separate ways. We went up through Nevada to Ely, where
a short railroad had been abandoned by a mining operation and
deeded to the town. It has been preserved as they left it one Friday
afternoon, with all the office forms still in their bins and the paper
trash still in baskets. It has become a “living” museum. They are
still working in the machine shops repairing and rebuilding steam
engines and operating a week or two-long training for old retirees
who wanted to become railroad engineers when they were young.
71
They learn how to start those old engines, learn all the signals and
dress up in the old pin-stripe denim bibs. We thought of Stu Grey-
danus who is so crazy about steam engines that he followed a big
boy from St. Louis to Ogden, UT to celebrate the 150 years since
the completion of the Transcontinental RR at Promontory Point.
We joined them on the last day of the festivities. There we saw
replicas of the engines that had met on those rails. We had seen
them being worked on a few years before on our way home from
Georgia.
This past summer (2022), I finally got to see the Ault family cabins
on Elbow Lake in upper Minnesota. Lou had been there twice be-
fore having the time of his life fishing. We had an idyllic week with
Megan, Shawn, Dylan and Desiree. Megan and I hung out while
the others fished. We’d go for boat rides, hike, relax, watch the lake
from the porch of the new cabin, and tell stories while eating fish
for supper and roasting marshmallows around the fireplace on the
deck of the old cabin. I got to row my own kayak for the first time
and we chalked off another national park, Voyageurs. We also got
to stay in Grandma Jacque Ault’s home in Virginia. I was struck
by how simply she had lived and how she had been such an active
member of the community before she died two years ago.
On our return, we stayed with Don and Lisa for two nights. I went
with them to Bismark where they were making preparations for his
cancer surgery, which was successfully completed in October.
Over the years we went home so many times to see family in
Chicago, first South Holland, then Lansing, IL and finally St. John,
IN. I’m sure we made that trip over fifty times. While my parents
were still alive, we would stay with them. After Mom died and Dad
was in the rest home, we’d stay with Sharon and Charley. Some-
times we both stayed with the folks in Mesa, AZ. I made several
trips by plane to see them when Lou didn’t want to go east. (In
2021, we stayed with Jack and Chris because Sharon had both Josh
and Todd back home.)
72
We finally got to take a trip with just Sharon and Charley in Sep-
tember of 2014. They were planning to fly to Seattle and take 12
days to explore the coast to San Francisco, but didn’t have any
itinerary in mind. I suggested that we meet them in a motel near
Seattle and then travel in our truck, sleeping in three Oregon
campgrounds with yurts, and splitting the cost of motels. They
agreed. We had a fabulous, carefree time. We took a tour of Seat-
tle which covered all the admissions of places that we toured. We
didn’t have to worry about which roads to take or where to park. It
would have taken us two days to see all that we saw. And half the
time we wouldn’t have known the significance of what we did see.
The first thing was the Space Needle. There was a huge line, but
the tour totally bypassed it. By noon we were in the famous Pike’s
Market. We saw an upscale neighborhood overlooking Puget
Sound and Haight-Ashbury to name a few. The next day we went
up to Mount Rainier on our own. One day we saw a reconstructed
Russian fort which had exported furs and lumber.
We spent a day in the town of Astoria riding an old trolley back
and forth along the shore. Two retirees were our hosts. One was
the conductor and the other told the history of the town. When they
reversed the trolley, they reversed roles. Lou and Charley visited
a maritime museum in the afternoon while Sharon and I enjoyed
a seafood lunch and visited a museum in one of the old mansions.
Crescent City was one of my favorite towns. We had a seafood
dinner on one side of the harbor where seals were perched on rafts
calling to each other. There was a lighthouse on the other horn of
the crescent-shaped shore.
We saw Mt. St. Helens and the devastation its eruption in 1980 had
caused. Just over the line into California, we enjoyed the Redwood
Park that Lou had visited once before and now got to share with
them. All the things we saw after that were entirely new for both
of us. The seacoast was fabulous. We’d walk along the shore and
watch whales. We crossed the iconic San Francisco Bridge about
four times. We saw the trolleys and Chinatown, and a couple of
museums that have become a blur. What stands out in my mind is
73
Muir Woods gifted by friends of John Muir to Teddy Roosevelt
for a national park. A lone island of redwoods in a sea of na-
ture-starved city dwellers, it is being loved to death.
We got along so well that the whole time was almost like one big
picnic together. Except that Charlie was acting strangely. We all
were beginning to see that Charlie needed looking after. He was
not himself. Sharon told me that if they had been alone she would
have had to do all the driving. We told her to have him tested when
they got home. That’s how we learned that he had Pick’s disease,
which gradually destroyed his frontal lobe so that he had to be on
strong medications and spend his final years in a memory care unit.
I am so glad we had that last fun trip together while he still could
enjoy it. Almost every time we saw Charley after that he’d say,
“Hey, remember our trip to California?”
SAYING GOODBYE
The painful act of saying goodbye starts early in life, as friends
move away, and through death. We have made major moves in
our lives, forcing us to leave whole communities behind. We said
goodbye to highschool chums, college friends, friends we had
made in Hudsonville, MI, when we left our first teaching jobs for
Montana.
When we left for Nigeria, we returned within two years to many
of the same friends we left behind. But we bid farewell to close
friends we had made in Nigeria when we returned. Many of our
friends left Montana to find better jobs, return to family, then, more
recently, to move to be with their children in their dwindling years.
Many of our friends have left us behind. In September, 2021, we
traveled to see many of our close friends. Some, like Ralph Brux-
voort, had died earlier that year. Two of the special friends we
spent time with, Daryl Vander Kooi, and Will Byker, have since
“graduated.” We went to my 60th high school class reunion and
two people from it have also died.
74
The first family death that I remember was Grandfather Andrew
Spiekhout, in early September, 1954, when I was 12 years old. He
was only 66 years old and died from spinal meningitis. All 32 of us
cousins loved him. He had been so strong that early that summer
he had lifted me above the ground with one arm and 10 year old
Jack on the other. His death hit us all hard. The other grandparents
lived until I was married and had children of my own. Grandma
Louis Van Deel died in 1967, when Lisa was about 6 weeks old.
She had seen a picture of her first great grandchild, but that is all.
We took pictures of Lisa with Grandma Agnes Spiekhout in a four
generation picture. Grandpa John Van Deel died a few months after
we lost Shawn Louis, 1968, and Grandma S died about the time
Louis “Shawn” was a few months old. Shortly before Lynelle was
born, Sharon and Charley lost their 16-month-old daughter, whom
I hadn’t seen yet. Lou had seen her when he flew to an interview at
Illiana. She had climbed up to get Sharon’s prenatal pills, mostly
iron, and died later in the day. She was their first-born and Todd
was already on the way. I don’t know which was harder for me.
My mom wrote in her memoir that losing two grandchildren was
the saddest thing that had happened in her life. Now that I am 80,
Aunt Babe Van Deel, nearing 97, is the last survivor from both
relations from the previous generation.
We have lost almost one third of our cousins already, as well as
siblings and their spouses. March 13, 2016, “baby” brother Dave
Van Deel died at 56 years, just 5 years after our father who died at
96. Clair Van Wolde died on Nov 10, 2019, before Covid. Charlie
Dykstra died in the memory care unit of Covid on November 3,
2020. And finally, Alice Van Wolde, Lou’s only sister left us on
April, 25, 2022. It makes us thankful for every day we get to spend
here with our loved ones.
Whenever we visit someone from the past, if they love Jesus as we
do, we do not say good-bye. We say, “We’ll see you in the morn-
ing,” knowing that we will be reunited with all saved sinners at the
Resurrection. We aren’t sure how it will happen, but we know that
God always keeps His promises. We pray daily that all of our loved
75
ones will put their faith in all of God’s promises as well. I do not
even want to think about any of them dying before they know
Jesus as their Savior. It is hard for me to write this, even harder
to speak of it. I don’t fear dying myself. I know I will see Christ
face to face when I die, but I fear I may have to say a final good-
bye to many of my family who do not profess to believe. That
will be the hardest good-bye of my entire life. To everyone who
shares our faith of everlasting life in the new heaven and the new
earth where God will make all things new, and everything will
be as He planned in the beginning, we say, “SEE YOU IN THE
MORNING!”
76
John Van Deel and Louis Vree,
1912
Andrew Spiekhout and Agnew
Bergsma, circa 1912
The Spiekhout family crest pic-
turing a blacksmith in medieval
costume drilling the the hole in a
wheel. Spiekhout means “spoke
wood.”
77
Alice nee Kelder and Albert Postma
Tina nee Boersma and Paul Regnerus
78
Lou Regnerus, Sr., and Eleanor nee Postma at their 50th Anniversary. 1987
Art and Jean celebrating 50
years, in November 1990.
They had eighteen years to go.
79
Lou Regnerus, Junior, 1941
Sandra Gail Van Deel in 1942
80
The new
Mr. and Mrs. Regnerus.
January 25, 1964
Lynelle Regnerus Schuerr in
Jeannette Van Deel’s 1940
wedding gown, the only
grandchild to wear it, she made
her grandmother proud.
June 28, 1996.
81
The new Mr and Mrs Donald
Hill at Springhill Church
August 28, 2005
Megan Ault, soon
to be Regnerus.
June 30, 2007.
82
1989 pictures of 911
O’Connell just before we
moved in. There were
few trees and houses
around then.
83
Right side of Churchill House in
1980 with Lynelle in front.
Backyard pig roast to
bid a friend adieu.
Left side of Churchill
House, new roof, siding
and second stall of garage
have been added.
The home we owned
in Great Falls, 1988.
84 Lou and Sandy,
about 2008
Four generations, GG
Jean Van Deel, Lynelle
Schuerr and Grandma
Sandy Regnerus.
June, 2000.
Great Grandpa Art Van Deel
and August Carver Schuerr
Lou and Sandy dressed for the
formal dinner on their Alaskan
Cruise, 2012.
85
The John Van Deel
family dressed for
Easter, about 1937.
Children of John and
Louise Van Deel on
“Babe’s” first day of
school, 1932.
Jeanne
Spiekhout and
Art Van Deel
headed to a
Chicago White
Sox Game,
1938.
Van Deel Family Re-union in
Breckenridge, Colorado, 1980
86
Lou and Stu Greydanus in front of an old
steam engine in Ogden, Utah.
Mary, Leah and Jeanine in front of
our house when they came to visit
us in 1992.
Mary, Sandy and
Lou are waiting
to see the Big
Boy leave Ogden
for the West
after the 150th
Anniversary of
the Golden Spike
at Promontory
Point, UT.
87
LIFE IN NIGERIA,
1977-1978
Stu and Lou helping
mission pilot Gordon Buys
refuel the plane. They have
to strain through an old silk
scarf to remove the crud in
the gas.
Four year old Lynelle
huddling near our prize
fryer raised from a chick
in the cage behind them.
Mary Greydanus and Lou near our car in an empty
market. Her hand is bandaged from the accident in
which their month old baby was severly injured.
Lou, then the 4 of us,
Lisa hidden behind
me, and 4 friends
board a leaky dugout
to cross the Niger
River while on holiday
at Stu and Mary
Greydanus’ village.
88 Isaak, August and
Jasper, 2009.
Jasper at 16 months, after he
said “Grandma, raspberries.” Grandpa Lou’s
handmade rocker,
2002. They all
spent many hours
“galloping” on it
until it became a
broken down nag.
August, Jasper and Isaak, all have their own rooms,
done the way they want them. Isaak’s has a strong
English influence with Union Jack’s for curtains.
89
Proud big sister Lisa holds 1 month
old Lynelle with 3 yo Shawn.
The passport
picture for Nigeria,
now 3, 6, and 8.
Family picture at Giant
Springs, Great Falls, MT,
summer 1984.
Parents of teenagers, age
is just a number. Lynelle,
Shawn and Lisa.
90 THE VAN DEEL
SIBLINGS AT ART’S
Jack, Sandy, Sharon, 90TH BIRTHDAY
and Roger Van Deel, CELEBRATION,
February 1, 2022. 2004
Geraldine “Babe”,
Arend “Art”, and
Gerarda “Louise.”
John Junior and
Henry “Red.”
Cousins Ginny, Cynthia and
Sue nee Wieringa and Sandy,
September 2021.
91
Christmas with 3 generations,
almost 50 years of the
Regnerus Van Deel Clan.
Cabin at Elbow Lake,
July 2022.
Sandy paddling
on the kayak at
Elbow Lake,
July 2022.
92
Nick, 7; Connor, 9; Dylan, 11.
The now official cousins,
Jasper and Connor, Nick,
August, with Dylan
holding tired 2 yo Isaak.
The wedding ceremony
at the shore of Hyalite
Reservoir.
93
The J rigs await us
for another day of
whitewater excitement
on the Colorado River.
Lou takes it easy on the “Prince’s Relaxing on the shore
Pad” on board our pontoon raft. while dinner is prepared.
Time for bed after a
full day, rafting, hiking,
visiting and dining.
94
Regnerus Ault
Family Card,
with addition of
Angus, 2010.
Dylan and
Desiree Ault,
May 16, 2020.
The new family of Shawn and Megan Regnerus with
Dylan, Connor and Nicholas Ault, August 26, 2007.
Christmas
Card of
2015.
95
Sandra Gail
Van Deel Regnerus
80th Birthday Celebration.
August, 2022.