Area Obituaries
She was born August 14, 1937 in New Deal Montana to John and Lucile (Vanden Berg) Van’t Haaff. Shirley graduated from Corsica South Dakota High School in 1955. She attended Southern State Teachers College Springfield SD for one year, she then could teach in a one room school (7 students) in rural Corsica area for 2 years. She married Cecil DeLange on August 14, 1958, in the Corsica Grace Reformed Church where she had been a member. Shirley then taught 1st & 2nd grades in a 2-room school in rural Rapid City SD. After her 3 children were in grade school, Shirley completed her BS Elementary Education degree at the University of Northern Iowa in 1978. She taught 2nd Grade until 1994 at a Waterloo Iowa School. She retired in 1994 and we moved to the Rocky Mountains near Bailey Colorado then on to Green Valley of the Arizona Desert in 2005. She enjoyed her rose garden, other flowers, and native plants in their Arizona patio. Shirley walked over a mile and back to the Green Valley community pool twice a week for water aerobics exercise for many years. Shirley was an active member in the Evangelical Free Church Green Valley.
Shirley especially enjoyed hiking and travel in addition to visiting family. Together we visited all 50 USA states in addition to many other countries. She and CJ celebrated their 60th anniversary with family on August 15, 2018 at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.
She was preceded in death by her parents John and Lucile (Vanden Berg) Van’t Haaff and a brother Donald Van’t Haaff; and her husband’s parents Neal and Beatrice (Hasseler) DeLange, brother-in-law Donald DeLange , brother-in-law William Stegenga. She is survived by her husband Cecil and three children; son Craig DeLange (in Rockwall, TX), daughter Tracy (DeLange) and Ed Johnson (in Leawood, KS), and son Michael and Bonnie (Stewart) DeLange (in Plainfield, IL), plus 9 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren; also, her sister Judith (Van’t Haaff) and Paul Kotsines (in Golden, CO), sister-in-law Mary Lou (Bultje) Van’t Haaff (in Corsica, SD); also brother-in-law Robert and Madalyn DeLange (in Northbridge, MA), and sister-in-law Candace (DeLange) Stegenga (in St John, IN) plus many nieces and nephews.
Services of Celebration of Life remembering Shirley held on June 18, 2022 at the Evangelical Free Church of Green Valley AZ.
Memorials can be made to food pantries (banks) or Gideon bibles in Memory of Shirley.
