James Vereyken

James Henry "Jim" Vereyken, 1956 graduate of St. John's Catholic School in Essexville, passed away June 20th, 2023, at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma following a short battle with cancer. His roots hailed back to the Vereyken homestead in Hampton Township, where he returned often to visit family and remember the old days of hay wagons and horse teams. He delighted in recounting the thrill of using the horses to pull various "newfangled" tractors out of the mud. His adult life took him far from home, to an electronics degree and a career in the pioneering days of the computer industry. After various travels and job progressions, he landed at Memorex-Telex in Tulsa, OK, where he raised a family and eventually retired. Having never lost his love of horses, tractors, and the land, he enjoyed retirement life on his small ranch in Catoosa, Oklahoma and was always happiest in his cowboy hat and jeans, tending to horses or driving his antique tractor, Cream Puff. He was preceded in death by his father Henry Vereyken, mother Margaret (Doyen) Vereyken, sister Henrietta Hensler, and brother Francis Vereyken. He was greatly loved and will be dearly missed by his family, friends, and community members. In memorial, please donate to the American Cancer Society.