Notes for: Dirkje (Dirkie) Van Zante
Here is Dirkie's obituary from the Pella Chronicle of February 2, 1928:
Mrs. Dirkje Vander Waal, wife of Antonie Vander Waal and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dieles Van Zante, died at her home in Pella Friday, January 27, 1928, aged 65 years, 9 months and 25 days.
She was born on a farm about four miles south of Pella, on the 3rd of April, 1862. As one of a family of ten children, she grew up under the stern conditions and rugged conditions that prevailed on those days. Of this family, but two children survive. Herman of Pella, and Jennie, of Ottumwa, Iowa.
On the 22nd day of October, 1884, she was married to Antonie Vander Waal, and for forty-two years lived with him on their farm in Mahaska County, a few miles southeast of this city. To this union eight children were born of whom two preceded her in death, Minnte, who died June 5, 1899, aged 12, and William, who passed away May 15, 1826, aged 36.
The surviving children are Dieles, Nellie, James, Arie, Kay, and Marvin. Besides these there remain to mourn her loss, eleven grand children. To the husband and surviving children the death of this faithful wife and devoted mother comes as an irreparable loss that only those who have lost dear ones can comprehend. The sympathy of the entire community goes out to them in their time of sorrow.
From early childhood Mrs. Vander Waal was a firm and devout believer in the truth and inspiration of God's Word and a faithful church attendant. She became a member of the First Reformed church by confession of faith, in September, 1928.
She belonged to that modest and unassuming type of women who find their life work in the service of home and family. To her there were no ties so near and dear as the ties of the home and family circle. She had none of the modern ambition for a career beyond the realm of her hearth and home, and she was ever happiest when surrounded by her family. To her the highest and holiest destiny of a wife and mother was in the daily toil of service for those she loved more than self. She sought no other reward than the joy of ministering to her loved ones. For forty-three years she lived this life of faithful and unselfish duty to her husband and children, asking only that her boys and girls might grow up to clean and honorable Christian manhood and womanhood. It was of such devoted mothers that the poet write the following lines...
The obituary continues on for a couple more paragraphs but there is no more genealogical information. Antonie Vander Waal adds a couple notes of appreciation and even thanks the fire department who put out a fire that had started on the roof of their home without using water when Dirkje was sick and dying.