James DeBoer
July 17, 1931 ~ October 9, 2017
James DeBoer
With his family holding his hand, James [Bud] De Boer peacefully went home to his Lord on Monday October 9, 2017.
James De Boer was born July 17, 1931 to Jelle and Effie [Kooistra] De Boer in Hull, Iowa. He was the youngest of 8 children with 5 sisters and 2 brothers. He was raised on the family farm in Northwest Iowa. He was a tile setter in his late teens, became an electrician in the Coast Guard, and completed his career of 33 years as a computer analyst with Caterpillar Tractor Company in Denver.
James served his country with the Coast Guard from 1951-1954 and was stationed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. During his term of service there he met Wilma De Young, and they were married on April 20, 1953. They moved to Denver in 1954 where they started their family and established a lifelong connection with their Grape Street neighbors.
James and Wilma were devoted to their family, and they enjoyed many camping trips when the girls were young. James built a mountain cabin where many wonderful family memories of fishing on Lake Jefferson and stories by the campfire were created amid the majestic Rockies. He loved developing new friendships with the people he met along the way while pulling the camper to service projects around the country and wintering in Arizona. He had special memories of an extended tour of Alaska and a trip to his ancestral roots in The Netherlands. He enjoyed fishing and golfing with his friends at Heritage Eagle Bend. The last four and one half years he lived at Wind Crest where he played Putt-Putt golf, Wii bowling, water volleyball, and shooting pool with the 2-4 O’clock Sharks.
James is survived by his wife of 64 years, Wilma, his four daughters, Sandy Woudstra, Debbie [Warren] Swier, Linda [Gary] Peters, and Jana [Jan] Prins; 13 grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren, and 2 sisters, Lynn Bousman and Lou De Wit. He was preceded in death by his parents, 2 brothers, George and Martin De Boer, and three sisters, Ann Hoekstra, Eunice De Wit, and Nellie Van Engen; and son-in-law, Wytze Woudstra.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Alzheimer's Association. Donate by phone, check, or online by calling 1-800-272-3900.
A Visitation will be held Thursday, October 12, 2017 from 5:30-7:00 PM at Bullock Colonial Chapel. A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, October 13, 2017 at 2:00 PM at the Horizon Community Church. (2121 E. Dad Clark Drive, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126.) Graveside services will be private.
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Bud and his sense of humor will be missed.
We are sorry there wasn't a big yellow Cat to add to the page.
So sorry for the loss of your wonderful father. We are praying for all of you as walk this path.
Our hearts go out to all of you. We will miss his wonderful sense of humor through all of the difficulties he endured. We do not know how hard it may have been for you, his family, to deal with his loss of memory. But he surely remembered his youth, and was fun to talk with. May God go with you as you strive to carry on without him. You will always be in our prayers. Love, Don and Lou
We are sorry for the death of your husband and your father and grandfather. I read in your father's obituary that he made a trip to the Netherlands where his father Jelle and mother Effie came from. I still live there. And I am busy making a family tree of the de Boer family. I need help to get everything complete. Would you send me an email?
My best regards,
Eelke de Boer.
ecjhmdeboer@gmail.com