Albertha Vreugdenhil

Albertha Ella Vreugdenhil passed away on August 31, 2025 at home under the care of her family. She was born on March 7, 1931 to John and Barbara Beltman on a farm southwest of New Holland. She was the fifth of seven children in the family.

Albertha completed eight years of elementary education at the Helland Country School in Clark township. By boarding with her Aunt Jenny Westerhuis in Platte during the school year, so she could attend Platte High School. Although she returned home on the weekends, she found time during the school week to play the clarinet, sing in the glee club, and work on the high school newspaper staff.

After graduating in the Platte class of 1949, she immediately enrolled in two summer sessions at the Southern State Teachers College in Springfield, SD. The fall of 1949 in a country school south of New Holland, she became the teacher of the three pupils in attendance. The summers of 1950 and 1951 she returned to Springfield for summer sessions, and completed the two-year teaching program. For the following three years she taught in the Schanke Country School southwest of New Holland.

On Thursday, November 3, 1955, Albertha was united in marriage to William John Vreugdenhil, a long-time farm neighbor and elementary schoolmate, at the home of her sister Henrietta Veurink. Her sister told her, “If you help me clean the house before and after the ceremony, you can get married here.” After the Thursday wedding festivities and Friday night reception for young people, on Saturday morning she cleaned her sister’s house before leaving on her honeymoon in the Black Hills.

The following week, the newlyweds moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan where some of her husband’s uncles lived. While William worked a construction job, Albertha took her first city bus ride downtown to interview at Peoples National Bank. She secured a job as a bookkeeper, and worked for one and a half years until the birth of their first child, Max, in April 1957.

Preferring country life to city life, in February 1960, her family moved back to South Dakota to a rented farm north of New Holland. Despite a fierce snowstorm the next month, her husband and helpful folk shoveled a path to bring her to Platte hospital where her second child, Barbara, was born. In February 1962, she and William bought the farm 15 miles east of Platte. Her son Bradley and daughter Nancy came along a few years later. This farm would be her home for the remainder of her life.

In 1973 Albertha resumed her education career by teaching kindergarten at New Holland Christian School for 14 years. When state teacher requirements changed, she worked as a teaching aide for the first and second grades for many years. She finished her career as a substitute teacher and retired in 2005 at age 74.

As a member of the New Holland Christian Reformed Church, she was active in Ladies Aid, serving as secretary, vice president and president. She was a Women’s Missionary League member and Calvinette (now GEMS) girls’ club counselor. As a member of the Dakota Christian High School Auxiliary, she used her baking and cooking talents by donating many “pigs-in-a-blanket” and pies for fundraisers. She was ready to serve humbly wherever her Savior Jesus called her to work.

Albertha enjoyed music by singing, playing the clarinet and piano, and attending musical programs. She loved reading, gardening, and canning her produce-- even this summer’s cucumbers into delicious chunk pickles. With her sharp memory of “who lived where and when and what happened around here,” she was usually the archival resource during story telling with family and friends. She was a devoted wife and nurturing mother and grandmother who read the family a Bible devotion after every morning and evening meal.

Albertha is survived by her children: Max (Marilyn) Vreugdenhil of Bradenton, FL, Barbara (Ray) Van Essendelft of Pantego, NC, Bradley Vreugdenhil of Corsica, SD, and Nancy (Bruce) Spoolstra of Grand Rapids, MI. She treasured seven grandchildren-- Wendy, Kyle and Greg in North Carolina and Eric, Renee, Brandon and Ryan in Michigan-- and nine great grandchildren. She is survived by one brother Albert (Dolly) Beltman; sisters-in-law Geneva Beltman, Lorena Vreugdenhil, Dorothy Vreugdenhil, and Bertha (Bob) Groeneweg; brother-in-law Garry (Linda) Vreugdenhil; and many nieces and nephews.

Albertha was preceded in death by William, her beloved husband of 69 years; her parents John and Barbara (Van Zee) Beltman and stepmother Hilda Beltman; siblings Henrietta (and Hank) Veurink,