Cornelia "Kee" Buitenwerf

Cornelia “Kee” Marie Buitenwerf was born October 22, 1928, to Jacob and Julia (Stursma) Van Wyngarden, at home in Pella.  She passed away at Jefferson Place on March 13, 2019, at the age of ninety.

               Kee attended Pella Christian Grade School and was a graduate of Pella Christian High School in 1946. She enjoyed playing basketball as a guard in high school and helped out at the family’s green house. She was employed by Pella Rolscreen following high school. On August 17, 1949, she was united in marriage to Howard Wayne Buitenwerf, at the Second Christian Reformed Church in Pella. 

               Kee and Howard moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Howard served in the Air Force and Kee worked at the Sandia Army Base for four years. While in Albuquerque they welcomed their first son, Alan Wayne in 1954. The following year they returned to Pella and in 1958, they welcomed their second son, Craig Steven to the family.

               Kee was blessed to be a full-time mother until after the passing of Howard in November 1961. Kee had many part-time employment opportunities including teaching preschool, church secretary, working at Pella Glass, De Jong Floral and the Red Ribbon Antique Mall.

               Kee moved from her house and called the Pella Manor home from 1992 until moving to Jefferson Place in the fall of 2018. She was a member of the Second Christian Reformed Church in Pella where she was involved in her earlier years with the Ladies Aide.

               Family was very important and she cherished times with them.  Those left to cherish her memory are:

Alan and Teri (Steward) Buitenwerf, Pella

               Jeffrey and Loretta Buitenwerf, Garner, Iowa

                               Bronson and Blake

               Jaci (Buitenwerf) and Neil Johnke, Hastings, Minnesota

                               Colin and Ali

Craig and Judy (De Zwarte) Buitenwerf, Pella

               Scott and Jenny (Meyers) Buitenwerf, Pella

               Chrissy (Buitenwerf) and Matt Clawson, Urbandale

                               Annabel

               Sisters: Billie (Van Wyngarden) and husband Doyle Vande Lune, Pella, and Bernice (Van Wyngarden) and her husband Gerald Kole, Ocala, Florida.

               Kee was preceded in death by her husband Howard, her parents, Jacob and Julia Van Wyngarden, brother Henry Van Wyngarden and Angie (Klyn), sister Tresa Bandstra and her husband Bert, her parents-in-law, Albert and Susie Buitenwerf, and sister-in-law Grace Bandstra and husband Ray, and sister-in-law Treva Dieleman and husband Marion.

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