Grace Marette Vanden Heuvel, 87
September 5, 1937 - August 2, 2025
Grace Marette Vanden Heuvel, age 87, of Brandon and formerly of Sioux Falls, passed away Saturday, August 2, 2025, at the Bethany Home of Brandon. Her Funeral Service will be held 11:00 AM, Friday, August 8, 2025, at the Community Reformed Church, Sioux Falls. Visitation will be one hour prior to the funeral service at the church. A Graveside Service will be held 2:00 PM, Friday, August 8, 2025, in the Riverview Cemetery, Rock Rapids, Iowa.
Grace Marette Bouma was born in Martin, SD, to John and Grace (Zwaan) Bouma on September 5, 1937. When she was very young, the family moved to a farm near Steen, MN. As a young girl, she worked very hard on the farm helping her father with chores and helping her mother with the babies. She took a lot of pride in how hard she worked on the farm and was a valued member of the family. I am sure you have all heard that she liked to run and she ran into town all the time. She loved running as a child and riding her horse.
Grace married Gerald Vanden Heuvel (Gooch) on August 7th, 1956, and together they raised 5 children. Grace worked alongside Gooch in the Family Shoe Store in Rock Rapids early in their marriage and was his back up if he needed to leave the store for any reason. Grace completed her GED through Northwest Community College along with earning her associates degree in Marketing. She worked for Mr. B’s in Sheldon and Michaels and Burkes in Sioux Falls using that degree. Later she worked for Bank of America (Spokane) and First Premiere Bank (Sioux Falls) in their collections departments. Some of her fondest memories were working for Bank of America in Spokane WA and how it was the best job she ever had. She also raised show dogs of which many were Grand Champion that traveled all over the world which gave her a lot of pride. Out of raising the show dogs she obtained another career and that was dog grooming in Rock Rapids. She loved her animals, there was always a dog in the house and against Gooch’s wishes even a cat. She loved any and all animals, her most recent companion was Ginger, they were attached at the hip. She also enjoyed playing bridge with her friends in Rock Rapids and dedicated a special evening each week for playing bridge. Grace sang in Sweet Adeline’s and thoroughly enjoyed singing with that group. Another favorite past time was dancing with Gooch. They traveled to southern Texas each winter following retirement and spent many hours volunteering in Mexico building a girls school and feeding the children. They also met many treasured friends in Texas.
Grace was a member of the Community Reformed Church and enjoyed listening to Clyde’s sermons. She often had bible study with her good friends and out of one of the bible study groups she met her best friend towards the end of her life, Nomi. They spent hours and hours reading the bible, talking about the bible and praying for everyone. They were quite a pair.
Grateful for having shared her life are her children, Cheryl Kolbrek, Randy Vanden Heuvel (Darlene), Michael Vanden Heuvel (Holly), Steven Vanden Heuvel (Monique) and Jared Vanden Heuvel (Lacey); 9 grandchildren; 25 Great grandchildren; 1 brother, John Bouma (Judy); sisters, Gerdena Dirksen, Brenda Eichman (Larry), and Betty Groeneweg (Harlan); sisters-in-law, Trudy Bouma, Elizabeth Vanden Heuvel, Maryann Sipma, and Bernice Van Eldik; and a host of nieces and nephews.
Grace is proceeded in death by her husband, Gerald Vanden Heuvel; son, Jason; her parents; 2 brothers; 1 sister; and many sisters and brothers-in-laws.
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