A testament to big family and big blessings Part 1

The family of Klaas and Alice (Schuur) Groen has left a stamp on southwest Minnesota. Over 20 years, from January 1937 to February 1957, the couple welcomed 15 children into the world. Of those, 13 siblings remain – along with a profusion of offspring – 63 grandchildren, 174 great-grandchildren, and 55 great-great-grandchildren – and another due soon!

Klaas and Alice raised their children on a farm near Leota with a dairy herd, steers that they fattened, pigs, chickens, and even a pony.  Klaas served as a deacon and elder at the Ebenezer Christian Reformed Church.  He served on the Leota Christian Elementary School board where all their children graduated from eighth grade.  Alice served as secretary of her Ladies Aid group for many years. Alice ministered to her family, friends, and neighbors with birthday, anniversary, get-well, and sympathy cards.

They retired to a new home in Leota, built by Alice’s brother, John.  From their early sixties until into their eighties, they worked with the Man to Man (M-2) Prison Program in Sioux Falls, S.D. 

“Their unwavering faith in their Lord was the bedrock foundation for the family,” said their daughter Linda.  “Through grief and loss, God’s timing was unquestioned.”

Klaas and Alice were married for 66 years. In 2002, Alice suffered a stroke the day after Thanksgiving and passed away Christmas Eve.  Klaas passed away September 27, 2005. 

Their first child, Bertha Henrietta, (named after her grandmothers) was born January 31, 1937, in Bellflower, Calif.  The family moved back to Minnesota in 1938.  After one year of high school, Bertha worked for Frank Schaap who was widowed with four children. In 1958 she married Marvin Van’t Hof and they were blessed with four children.  Bertha was a stay-at-home mom.  Bertha taught 5th and 6th grade catechism at Leota Reformed Church, and she organized the Prayer Calendar for many years.  Bertha was a member of the Southwest Minnesota Pro-Life Board for 16 years and remains active in the Pro-Life mission.  They enjoyed traveling to Uganda, Africa, where daughter Barb and her husband, Rod De Boer, were serving as missionaries.

JoAnn Beverly joined the family April 8, 1938.  After her 8th grade graduation JoAnn opted to stay home to help her parents.  She married William J. De Kruif December 11, 1958, and they had seven children.  Bill joined the United States Army in January 1958 and was stationed at Fort Sam Houston.  They lived in San Antonio, Texas, until December 1959 when they moved back home and farmed near Chandler.  They traveled to Japan to visit daughter Lisa, who was part of Mission to the World.  In 2004, they sold the farm and moved to Chandler.  Bill and JoAnn volunteered at Bibles for Missions Thrift Store in Worthington.  Bill passed away in 2014.  JoAnn is a member and chaplain of the Lake Wilson American Legion Auxiliary.  She continues volunteering at Bibles for Missions and visits friends every Monday afternoon at Edgebrook Care Center. 

Bertha and JoAnn, as the two eldest children, recall sharing a lot of the workload. JoAnn did a lot of cooking and Bertha liked doing fieldwork. But they both learned to milk cows by hand when they were 7 and 8 years old!