Lettie (Bossenbroek) Plantinga

Lettie G. (Bossenbroek) Plantinga, an accomplished and generous Christian woman, died August 17, in her room at Raybrook Manor. She was 99. Her brother, sisters-in-law, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends unite in thanking God for her. She loved life. She nourished others. She trusted Jesus Christ, her Savior. She clothed herself in the virtues of Colossians 3: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, gratitude, and love. Born on her family's farm in Alto, WI, Lettie worked and saved to move at age 21, alone, to Grand Rapids in order to complete high school at Grand Rapids Christian High, and to begin Calvin College. At Calvin she met Cornelius A. Plantinga (1908-1994), married him, and interrupted her college education to start her family. She accompanied Case to Ann Arbor, MI; Princeton, NJ; Durham, NC; Huron, SD; Jamestown, ND; and, in 1950, back to Grand Rapids, where Case served Calvin College as Professor of Psychology till his retirement in 1974. The accompanying photo of Lettie was taken in Jamestown in 1947. Lettie lived her life vigorously. Samples: in the 1950s, she nursed her ailing husband, cared for her four children, kept a lively household that sometimes included live-in Calvin College students, cooked the meals (some of them inventive; all of them delicious), completed her degree at Calvin College (in 1957-the same year as her son Leon completed his), and taught fulltime at Baxter Christian School. She also faithfully attended Neland Avenue Christian Reformed Church twice every Sunday, where she doled out one peppermint each to her small sons and taught them how to ease down the theater seats so that they wouldn't squeak. She kept her family on budget while also making charitable contributions generous enough to have twice excited IRS audits of them. She did all these things with great persistence and goodwill. She didn't complain; she blessed. For truly objectionable behavior, she reserved her ultimate judgment: "I'm a little disappointed." She was proud of her four sons, and, perhaps too readily, accepted invitations to tell about them. She carried on decades of correspondence with her grandchildren, and prayed for each of them every day. She was interested in everything. When macular degeneration took most of her eyesight in 1999, she began to absorb whole novels on audiotape, sometimes asking visitors to discuss them with her. Lettie will be missed by her brother, and sisters-in-law, Leonard and Sally Bossenbroek, Mathilda Jacobs; by her sons and daughters-in-law, Alvin and Kathleen of South Bend, IN, Leon and Ellen of Woodbridge, CT, Terry and Jane of Stellenbosch, South Africa, and Cornelius, Jr. and Kathleen of Grand Rapids. She will be missed by her grandchildren, Carl Plantinga, Jane Plantinga Pauw, Harry Plantinga, and Ann Kapteyn, Amy Plantinga Pauw, Victor Plantinga, and Andrew Plantinga, Dirk Plantinga and Adam Plantinga, Nathan Plantinga and Adam Plantinga; also by the spouses of her grandchildren; by her nineteen great-grandchildren; by nephews and nieces; by dear friends; and by fellow members of Seymour Christian Reformed Church. Lettie's family thanks the staff of Raybrook Manor, who consistently treated Lettie with dignity and kindness. A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, August 25, in the chapel of Calvin Theological Seminary, 3233 Burton Street SE, with the Reverend Carl Kammeraad officiating. Lettie's family will receive friends and relatives there from 2 till 3 p.m., and at a reception following the service. Memorial contributions may be made to Calvin College or to the Holland Home. Envelopes will be available on the day of the memorial service. Zaagman Memorial Chapel