Arie Warner Ver Dught, age 92, was born on May 31, 1922, to Cornelius and Hattie Bogaards Ver Dught in the Sandridge neighborhood northeast of Pella. He had one older sister. He attended the Sandridge and Flintridge country schools.

A major event in Arie's life was undergoing brain tumor surgery at the Iowa City Hospital in 1936 when he was a young teenager. This was a medical miracle at that time, which he survived with few after effects.

Arie was farming southwest of Prairie City, Iowa, when he married Alice Pauline Buwalda on June 14, 1945, at Pella, Iowa. They were blessed with four daughters: Donna Gayle, Beverly Kay, Arla Jean, and Patty Jo.

For 11 years, Arie farmed the land where the elk and the buffalo would later roam, now the Neal Smith National Wiildlife Refuge.

In 1956, the family moved to their farm two miles south of Monroe, Iowa, where they lived for 53 years.

Besides farming, Arie worked at the Maytag Company for 30 years, retiring in 1984. The family left the farm and moved to Pella in 2008. When his health failed three years later, he was cared for at the Jefferson Place Nursing Home.

For many years, Arie had maintained a vacation place at Lake Ponderosa near Montezuma, where family and friends enjoyed water sports, picnics, and boat rides. He also enjoyed his motorcycle. He and Alice belonged to the Red Rock Riders Motorcycle Club. For outdoor sports he also enjoyed hunting and especially fishing in local farm ponds.

Arie was a member of the Otley Reformed Church at the time of his passing.

Those left to honor his memory are his wife of 69 years, Alice, and three daughters and two sons-in-law: Donna Hamm of Iowa City, Beverly and Don Thompson of Des Moines, Arla Doddrige of Middletown, Ohio, and Kendall Wessel of Aledo, Texas. Nine grandchildren who will miss their grandfather are: Jennifer (Hayes) Redmond of Colorado, Ryan (Nancy) Slebos of Kansas, Jodi Thompson of Des Moines, Chad Thompson of South Carolina, John Thompson of Washingon, Tamara (Keith) Fenrick of Ohio, Niccole (Troy) Brege of Ohio, Kyle (Alyssa) Wessel of New York, Aaron (Kelsey) Wessel of Texas, and 10 great-grandchildren. Arie also leaves behind a beloved nephew and wife, Cordell and Linda Van Rees and family of Loomis, California.

Arie was preceded in death by his parents, sister Pauline (Bert) Van Rees, daughter Patty Jo Wessel in 2008, and son-in-law Herb Doddridge in 2012.

Arie will be greatly missed by his family and many friends.

FUNERAL SERVICES

10:30 A.M., Monday, December 8, 2014
Otley Reformed Church
Otley, Iowa

VISITATION

Visitation will begin at 11:00, Sunday, December 7, 2014
with family present 2:00 - 4:00 P.M.
Garden Chapel Funeral Home
Pella, Iowa

MEMORIALS

Otley Reformed Church
Wesley Life Hospice

FAMILY

Wife: Alice Ver Dught - Pella
Donna Hamm - Coralville, Iowa
Beverly (Don) Thompson - Des Moines, Iowa
Arla (The late Herb) Doddridge - Middleton, Ohio
The late Patty Jo Wessel

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