Helen Margaret Van Wyngarden was born May 20, 1930, to Ben and Anna Smidt Assink in Columbus, Montana. At the age of three, she and her family moved to Kanawha, Iowa. Helen took a teacher's course at Central College, taught for one year, and then married. On June 9, 1949, she was united in marriage with Donald Van Wyngarden in Kanawha, Iowa. They were blessed with four children: Jaci, Dean, Julie, and Darwin. Helen and Don farmed in and around the Pella area. She enjoyed being a homemaker and helping her husband on the farm.

Helen was an active member of the Second Christian Reformed Church in Pella and the Pella Christian High School Ladies Auxiliary. She drove a school bus for seventeen years. She enjoyed cleaning and keeping her house tidy, going to garage sales, helping children, working on remodeling projects, and loved to travel, especially to visit family. Helen also taught her family to know and love God, and lived her faith as an example to her children.

Helen went to her heavenly home on Tuesday, September 9, 2014, at the Crystal Heights Care Center in Oskaloosa, Iowa, at the age of eighty-four.

Those left to cherish her memory are her four children and their spouses, thirteen grandchildren, and twenty-seven great-grandchildren. She is also survived by: her brother, Alvin Assink of Lake Elsinore, California; her in-laws: Genelle Assink of Kanawha, Cornie (Erma) Van Wyngarden of Pella, Jim (Betty) Bandstra of Peoria, Minnie Van Wyngarden of Pella, Jerry (Betty) Van Wyngarden of Holland, Michigan, and Alda (Nundi) Dyal Chand of California.

Helen was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Don, in 2004; brothers: Henry (Margaret) Assink, George (Rosemary) Assink, Alfred Assink, Harlan Assink; siblings-in-law: Cornelia (Gerrit) Bandstra, Tena Mae Bandstra, and Henry Van Wyngarden.

Family:

Jaci and Bernard Van Ee of Anchorage, AK
Heidi and Joel Verbrugge
Joshua and Heidi Van Ee
Rebecca and Matt Hoksbergen
Ten great-grandchildren

Dean and Diane Van Wyngarden of Oskaloosa, IA
Cameron and Cheri Van Wyngarden
Douglas and Kim Van Wyngarden
Adam and Kate Van Wyngarden
Lynnette Van Wyngarden
Seven great-grandchildren

Julie and Dale Van Wyk of Grinnell, IA
Erin and Brad Rolffs
Carey and Joshua Knight
Bret and Kristi Van Wyk
Jared and Amanda Van Wyk
Ten great-grandchildren

Darwin and Mary Pat Van Wyngarden of Ripon, CA
Patrick Thiele
Palmer Thiele
Tyler Thiele
Alyssa Thiele
Elle Van Wyngarden
Leah Van Wyngarden

FUNERAL SERVICES

10:00 A.M., Monday, September 15, 2014
Second Christian Reformed Church
Pella, Iowa

VISITATION

After 11:00 A.M. Sunday, September 14, 2014
Family will be present from 1:00 to 3:00 P.M.
Garden Chapel Funeral Home
Pella, Iowa

MEMORIALS

Pella Christian High School
Crossroads Bible Institute

FAMILY

Husband: The late Don Van Wyngarden
Children: Jaci and Bernard Van Ee - Anchorage, AK
Dean and Diane Van Wyngarden - Oskaloosa, IA
Julie and Dale Van Wyk - Grinnell, IA
Darwin and Mary Pat Van Wyngarden - Ripon, CA

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