Cornelius Staal

STAAL - Cornelius Staal, age 79, passed away from this temporary world to his eternal home in heaven on Sunday, May 31, 2009. He was the third of eight children born to immigrant parents, Adrian and Edna (VanderWaal) Staal, was born the 5th of April 1930 in Grand Rapids. He left school at an early age to work with his uncle and cousins in their meat processing business and returned as an adult to complete his education. After a tour in the military during the Korean War he returned home and worked at various jobs processing meat. His years of experience working the various aspects of the meat industry eventually led him to become a USDA Federal Meat Inspector. He enjoyed 33 years of being an inspector before retiring to a busy life of helping others, especially if a tree was involved. His retirement years also involved serving for 15 years on the Wyoming City Planning Commission. As he put it, God blessed him with 78 years of good health before he experienced any symptoms and was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and amyloidosis which took him down quickly. He spent his last days recognizing and enjoying the blessings God poured out on him, especially grateful for the opportunity to say goodbye to all his family and friends. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Virginia (Remington) Staal; his daughters and sons-in-law, Amanda and Michael Koole, Bonny and Daniel Carrel, Dianna and Drew Fenstermacher, and Pamela and Sydney Sheridan; 21 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren; his brothers, Arie (Mary) Staal, Marinus (Connie) Staal, and Hugo (Thelma) Staal; his sisters, Pauline (Cornelius) Spaans, Anna (Bastian) Blok, and Dena (Milo) DeWald; his brother-in-law, James Remington; his sisters-in-law, Marie Staal, AnnaBelle Pellow, Opal Lewis, Beth Vogel, and June Wodarek; many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother, William. Funeral services will be held Thursday 11:00 a.m. at Grandville Baptist Church, 4325 40th St., Grandville. Interment Rosedale Memorial Park. Those who wish may make memorial contributions to ABWE (Association of Baptist for World Evangelism) in support of David Carrel and Herman Teachout. Relatives and friends may meet the family Wednesday 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Matthysse-Kuiper-DeGraaf Funeral Home (Grandville), 4145 Chicago Dr. Condolences may be sent online at www.mkdfuneralhome.com. Matthysse Kuiper DeGraaf