April 23, 1938 – January 16, 2024

Louisa De Boer, age 85, of Leota, Minn., died Tuesday, January 16, 2024, at the Pleasant Acres Care Center in Hull, Iowa. Funeral services were Friday, January 19, 2024,  at the Bethel Reformed Church in Leota. 

She was born April 23, 1938, at Boyden, Iowa, to John and Johanna Vermeer Kooiker. She graduated from Southwest Christian High in 1955. She attended Dordt College, where she pursued a teaching degree. She taught at Chandler Christian School for two years and married Don De Boer from Leota on July 19, 1957, and enjoyed a long and fruitful marriage with four children: Vicki, Bruce, Janet and Julie.

   Louisa appreciated lifelong learning. This was noted in her service on the Nobles County and Plum Creek Library boards. She passed on this appreciation of reading and learning to her children and grandchildren. This was also seen in her joy of playing SCRABBLE, where she was known as a fierce competitor. She had a deep affection for the Leota community and Ebenezer Christian Reformed Church where she resided and communed for 60 years.  

   In later years, she and Don enjoyed spending the winter months in Mesa, Arizona. Don passed away December 26, 2015, in Arizona. It was also in Mesa that Louisa met Haye Zylstra after Don’s death and married Haye three years later. 

   She is survived by her children: Vicki and Doug De Haan of Byron Center, Mich., Bruce De Boer of Inver Grove Heights, Minn., Janet and Glen Holsather of Sioux Falls, S.D., Julie and Mark Kreun of Hull, Iowa; 12 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren; brother John and Sherry Kooiker, sisters-in-law, Gert Kooiker, Bev Kooiker, Cynthia De Boer, and stepchildren, David and Lisa Zylstra of Laguna Niguel, Calif, and Dean and Sharon Van Kampen of Otley, Iowa. 

She is preceded in death by husband Don De Boer, second husband Haye Zylstra; brothers Herman Kooiker, Willis and Bev Kooiker, Jake and Gert Kooiker; sisters Clara and Bud Rozeboom and Cynthia Lundberg; brother-in-law Nick De Boer; son-in-law Terry Kastein; and three nieces.