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StaffLife Story Funeral Director
tvalk@lifestorynet.com
Life can be like a quarry, out of which we mold and chisel and build character. And no community does it quite like Holland. Tim was born and raised in Holland and attended Holland Christian Schools. He liked sports and played soccer all through high school. In his senior year their soccer team won the State Championship.
When Tim was only 14 years old his dad died of cancer. The whole family was in his dad's room at the hospital when he died. Tim remembers going to Dykstra's Downtown Chapel and seeing his dad in the casket and then sitting in the front row at the funeral with his younger brother and sister.
Tim says he couldn't ask for a better mother to raise three kids without a father-that his mom's the most positive person he's ever met and that she was strong from day one after his father died. The funeral was on a Saturday and they all went to church as usual the next day. Having grandparents close by was great, too, with all the cooking and baking and always coffee together after church on Sundays.
Tim went to Calvin College, spent a semester in Spain, and was pursuing a political science curriculum when he met a gal named Amy Kuiper. Amy was a student at Calvin, too, and they met through a mutual friend. The friend enlisted Tim's help in fixing a flat tire on Amy's car. Amy wanted to thank Tim so she took him out for lunch-and the rest is history.
Amy's father happened to be a funeral director in Grand Rapids. Tim started helping out around the funeral home when he was dating Amy and he says, "The first thing I knew I had a funeral suit!" Tim liked funeral work so much he let political science go by the wayside and decided to go to Mortuary College instead. After he and Amy were married they moved to Atlanta where Tim went to Gupton-Jones Mortuary College while Amy worked as a nurse.
Tim and Amy have three children. Reed, Owen, and Natalie. Tim describes Reed as quiet, serious, and sensitive. Owen, he says, is the happy-go-lucky nothing-is-going-to-stop-me type. And Natalie, the baby, is like a little princess-content to be held and cuddled.
Tim plays soccer on a men's league and is a Red Wings hockey fan; and he likes boating and being with all the family at the cottage on Lake Macatawa. He dreams of learning to fly a plane someday. Most of all though, he loves spending time with his wife and children.
Tim knows the heartbreak of losing a loved one and he also knows the courage it takes to deal with it. He respects life and all that it means in the course of molding and chiseling and building character.
When Tim was only 14 years old his dad died of cancer. The whole family was in his dad's room at the hospital when he died. Tim remembers going to Dykstra's Downtown Chapel and seeing his dad in the casket and then sitting in the front row at the funeral with his younger brother and sister.
Tim says he couldn't ask for a better mother to raise three kids without a father-that his mom's the most positive person he's ever met and that she was strong from day one after his father died. The funeral was on a Saturday and they all went to church as usual the next day. Having grandparents close by was great, too, with all the cooking and baking and always coffee together after church on Sundays.
Tim went to Calvin College, spent a semester in Spain, and was pursuing a political science curriculum when he met a gal named Amy Kuiper. Amy was a student at Calvin, too, and they met through a mutual friend. The friend enlisted Tim's help in fixing a flat tire on Amy's car. Amy wanted to thank Tim so she took him out for lunch-and the rest is history.
Amy's father happened to be a funeral director in Grand Rapids. Tim started helping out around the funeral home when he was dating Amy and he says, "The first thing I knew I had a funeral suit!" Tim liked funeral work so much he let political science go by the wayside and decided to go to Mortuary College instead. After he and Amy were married they moved to Atlanta where Tim went to Gupton-Jones Mortuary College while Amy worked as a nurse.
Tim and Amy have three children. Reed, Owen, and Natalie. Tim describes Reed as quiet, serious, and sensitive. Owen, he says, is the happy-go-lucky nothing-is-going-to-stop-me type. And Natalie, the baby, is like a little princess-content to be held and cuddled.
Tim plays soccer on a men's league and is a Red Wings hockey fan; and he likes boating and being with all the family at the cottage on Lake Macatawa. He dreams of learning to fly a plane someday. Most of all though, he loves spending time with his wife and children.
Tim knows the heartbreak of losing a loved one and he also knows the courage it takes to deal with it. He respects life and all that it means in the course of molding and chiseling and building character.
