Florence Esther Terpstra Vander Meiden was born on June 8, 1932, the third of ten children of Frank and Pearle (Memmelaar) Terpstra, at their home just west of Oskaloosa, Iowa.

Florence grew up on farms and attended schools in Oskaloosa, Lacey, and Lake Keomah. Florence and her siblings remember walking to school at the bottom of Aldrich Hill and near Muchakinock Creek. One of the chores for Florence and her brother Chester was to milk the cows. They would place the Catechism book on the windowsill and memorize their lessons while milking. She even learned to drive the Farm-All F20 tractor. Florence had several jobs when she was young. She was a nanny, she did housework, and would go to different houses and clean their broiler chickens. During junior and senior years of high school she worked as nurse's aide at the Mahaska County Hospital. Florence had a lot of fun in high school with her girlfriends, twirling baton and taking the truck and decorated hay rack to school for the football parade.

After Florence graduated from Oskaloosa High School in 1949, she attended Central College for summer classes, and earned her teaching certificate. The following fall, she went with friends to California and taught school for two years. Florence returned home to help work on the farm and do some threshing and hay baling.

Florence was involved with the church for her entire life. She started at Protestant Reformed (meeting Gerrit at a Young People's Society Mixer), Third Reformed, and most recently Heartland Reformed Church.

On April 24, 1953, she was united in marriage to Gerrit Henry Vander Meiden in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

Some of Florence's hobbies have included gardening, wood working, crafts, collecting stamps and marbles, baking and especially sewing. Almost all of her children and grandchildren have a quilt she made for them, as well as coin collections.  She also had a great love for plants and flowers. Florence was a past President of the Pella Garden Club, a member of the Lily Society and she was a Master Gardener and judged many shows. Florence was honored to be inducted into the Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame.

She and Gerrit enjoyed playing cards, traveling to the Netherlands, Sikma cousins on Vancouver Island, Canada, and to see their children in Venezuela, Burbank, California and Council Bluffs.

Florence was preceded in death by her husband Gerrit of 69 years, her parents and granddaughter Jennifer Steensland. She is survived by her five children: Linda (Greg) Steensland of Council Bluffs, Lyle (Kathy) Vander Meiden of Pella, Mark (Kathy) Vander Meiden of Oskaloosa, Marcia (Guillermo) Aguilar of Pella and Venezuela, and Keith Vander Meiden of Burbank, California. She is also survived by 12 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren.

Family

Linda (Greg) Steensland

Amy (Nick) Rickard

Tristan Steensland

Shelby Rickard

Tyler Steensland

Nikki Rickard

Kennedy Rickard

Charleigh Rickard

Lyle (Kathy) Vander Meiden

Aaron (Jaci) Vander Meiden

Hannah Vander Meiden

Ethan Vander Meiden

Bryan (Kelsi) Vander Meiden

Liam Vander Meiden

Mason Vander Meiden

Henry Vander Meiden

Lisa (Jonathan) Koonce

Ruth Koonce

Harrison Koonce

Mark (Kathy) Vander Meiden

Shauna (Mark) Richardson

Alex Richardson

Lucas Richardson

Elsie Richardson

Nathan Watts

Katelynn Watts

Khloee Watts

AJ (Alisha) Vander Meiden

Paige Vander Meiden

Karter Vander Meiden

Beau Vander Meiden

John Watts

Ashley Vander Meiden

Jaley Krusemark

Cleo Fee

Maxeen Fee

Marcia (Guillermo) Aguilar

Simon Aguilar

Sara Aguilar

David Aguilar

Keith Vander Meiden

Fellowship International Mission

Heartland Reformed Church