Vera Horman

Vera Darlene Baughman was born on October 3, 1926, at home, at the end of an isolated country lane overlooking the valley of the Des Moines river southwest of Pella.  Her parents were Orval and Jeanette (Schakel) Baughman.  Completing her family were an older sister, Caroline Junella and a younger brother, LeRoy.

Vera was educated first at the West Amsterdam grade school (1931-6) and then at East Amsterdam (1936-9).  The occasion for switching schools was that Vera's family moved from the lonely lane of her birth to a home on what was then the main road from Pella to Knoxville.  Vera felt she had gained a window on the world.  Her abilities allowed Vera to complete kindergarten and first grade in a single year.  She graduated from Pella High School in 1943 at age 16 as the valedictorian of her class. 

Although encouraged to attend Central College and offered a scholarship there, Vera wanted to be on her own.  Soon after graduation she was hired at Rolscreen Company as a welder (!) -- after all, it was wartime -- but soon transferred to the office where she rose to the position of managing the venetian blind order department.

Roller skating was a common pastime when Vera was young, and she noticed a young man, Marion ("Pete") Horman, for his skating ability.  They began to date, and Pete and Vera later married on June 12, 1946, at the Otley Reformed Church.  In 1949, Pete and Vera moved to a small farm outside Pella.  There, two children were born to their marriage:  a daughter, Darla Joy, in 1952 and a son, Lyle Dee, in 1954. The family moved into Pella in 1960, where Vera still resided.

Vera is survived by her daughter, Darla Horman and husband Chris Spurgeon of Columbia, MO; by her son, Lyle Horman of Pella; and by two nieces and their families.

Vera attended Sunday School at the East Amsterdam schoolhouse starting around 1936.  She participated in Third Reformed Church's Sunday and Wednesday evening programs as a teenager, and attended Otley Reformed Church with her husband after their marriage.  Vera was baptized and made profession of Christian faith on her 21st birthday in 1947.  She faithfully attended Otley Reformed Church for over 70 years.  Vera served there in the Sunday School and family night programs as a teacher of young children while her own children were small. 

Vera passed away peacefully of complications of stroke on May 18, 2023.

In the thirteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul writes of the noblest of loves -- the love that sacrifices itself for the well-being of others.  He describes such love as patient, kind, humble, not easily angered, not self-seeking, trusting and persevering.  One need not be Billy Graham or Mother Teresa to love this way.  Whatever hopes or ambitions Vera may have had for herself were set aside as she devoted herself to her husband and children with the qualities of love that St. Paul describes.  Toward the end of her earthly life Vera identified the hope of eternal life as a focus of her faith.  And well she should.  Those who trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord enter into a life that never ends.

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