Ann Leunk

Ann Leunk lived to be 100, which is one indication of her vigor and the strength of her will.

She had been a middle child in a large and relatively poor family, and she remembered the Depression well. She had made a career for herself as a department store buyer and had not married until her late 30s. Then she had become a strong and supportive wife and the loving and long-suffering mother of three sons.

Ann lived three decades as a widow, and she was 90 before she finally stopped mowing the lawn herself. She was an outgoing, independent person, and her frailty during the last few years of her life was a great frustration to her. Rather than watch the staff do cleaning chores at the Christian Rest Home--where she had been a volunteer long before becoming a resident--she would have preferred to do the cleaning herself.

Ann Leunk was born Anna Dalebout on Oct. 3, 1914, on her family’s farm in Highland Township, Osceola County. Her parents, Henry (Hendrik) Dalebout and Clara (Klaska) Renzema Beimers Dalebout, were Dutch immigrants who had married in Grand Rapids in 1907. Clara brought two young daughters to that marriage because she had been widowed at 21 when her first husband died of typhoid after the Grand Rapids flood of 1904.

Ann was the seventh of nine children, including a brother who died in childhood. Her siblings: Wilma Beimers Jansen; Jessie Beimers Fredricks; Henry Dalebout, who died in 1910 before his second birthday; Henrietta Dalebout; Cornelia Dalebout DeBruyn; Jacoba Dalebout; Richard Dalebout and Clara Dalebout DeLeeuw. Only sister Clara, the youngest, now survives.

Ann spent most of her childhood on the farm, and she remembered it as a spartan and difficult life--digging potatoes from the cold ground without gloves, for example, and picking stone from the fields. She also remembered being required to learn her catechism lessons in Dutch at Highland Christian Reformed Church, a congregation organized the year she was born.

The family moved to Grand Rapids in 1925, and her father worked in the furniture industry. For the next nine decades, Ann was a Grand Rapids resident, living on the west side for nearly all of those years. She attended Oakleigh School and Union High School and then worked for Herpolsheimer’s department store from 1936 to 1952, initially as a change runner during the Christmas season but eventually rising to the position of buyer. She attended Richmond Reformed Church, founded in 1927, and at her death she was its last remaining charter member. The combination of her outgoing personality and her many years in the same community gave her a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

It was at work that Ann met Marvin J. Leunk, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and sales representative for George Worthington Co., wholesaler of hardware and related merchandise. They married on May 30, 1952, and Ann left her career in retailing to become a wife and mother. Within five years, sons Jim, Bob and Ron were born. Her life was focused on raising them, and she often said that caring for young boys in her 40s had kept her unusually active and made her seem younger than her years.

In 1966 the family bought a cottage on Silver Lake in Cannon Township, and every summer was spent there. Even after her sons grew up and moved away, even after husband Marv died in 1985, Ann continued to spend her summers there. She loved to sit in a shady spot on the deck, watch the lake, visit with the neighbors and enjoy the breeze--something she last got a brief chance to do in 2014. Over the years, a favorite way for her to spend a summer evening was playing canasta and other card games, and she did not like to lose, even to her grandchildren.

Ann Leunk died June 3, 2015, at the Christian Rest Home--the same nursing home where her mother had died in 1967. She is survived by her children, James Leunk and wife Mary Steensma of Rochester, N.Y.; Robert Leunk and wife Thea of Grand Rapids; and Ronald Leunk and wife Barbara of Bradenton, Fla. She also is survived by eight grandchildren, Juliana Emily Gonzales, Hannah (Aaron) Pascucci, Abigail (Tony) Cajiga, Elissa (Tim) Malefyt, Anneke Leunk, Jarrett (Kelsey) Leunk, Heather (Billy) Davis, and Ryan Leunk; four great-grandchildren, Caden Pascucci, Asher Cajiga, Grace Malefyt, and Juliana Pascucci; her sister Clara; and many nieces and nephews. A service to celebrate Ann’s life will be held on Friday June 26, at 11:00 AM at Richmond Reformed Church, 1814 Walker Ave. NW. Family visitation will be held at the church of Friday from 10:00 AM until the service begins at 11:00. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to the Christian Rest Home Foundation. To leave your own memory of Ann and to sign her guest book, visit her web page at www.lifestorynet.com