12/31/2012
Mary Loreen (Harvey) Damhof, 90, of Willmar, passed away Monday, December 31, surrounded by her family at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.
Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, January 5 at Roseland Reformed Church. The interment will be in the church cemetery.
Visitation will be 5-7 p.m. Friday, January 4, at Tri-County Funeral Home in Prinsburg and one hour prior to the service at the church.
Loreen was born October 30, 1922, in Harvey, Iowa, the daughter of Ward and Della (Beaver) Harvey. She was baptized and made a confession of faith at the First Methodist Church in Harvey. She attended country school through 8th grade, graduated from Knoxville High School, and attended Central College in Pella, Iowa.
She married Gerhard Damhof at the Park Street Congregational Church in Boston, Massachusetts on July 19, 1944, while Gerhard was on active duty in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
She traveled where Gerhard was stationed in the Navy and taught elementary school in Fontanille, Iowa, Boston, Massachusetts, and Long Beach, California.
Following the war, they moved to Blomkest and became members of the Roseland Reformed Church.
Loreen taught Sunday School for 47 years, was a Bible study leader, and did many workshops, programs, and slide presentations. She was an honorary member of the Reformed Church Womens Ministries, serving as Synodical President and the denominational Secretary of Spiritual Life and Education.
She served her denomination on the Council for Christian Unity and attended the World Council of Churches in Zimbabwe, Africa. She was also an honorary member of the Lords Day Alliance representing the Reformed Church in America. She also served as a Bible instructor for the Crossroads Prison Ministry and as a 4-H leader.
Gerhard and Loreen moved to Independence Place in February 2003. Gerhard died on May 16, 2007. In May 2012, Loreen moved to Sunrise Village in Willmar.
Grandma will always be remembered for a full freezer ready to feed anyone, her caramel rolls at family reunions, Dominoes, and Rummikub games, and her handwritten notes to loved ones.
She is survived by her five children: Caroline (and Peter) Larsen of Newcastle, WY, Phillip (and Jan) Damhof of Blomkest, MN, Marie (and Arlin) VandeZande of New Holland, SD, David (and Darlene) Damhof of Willmar, MN, and Virgil (and Kathy) Damhof of Willmar, MN and her 14 grandchildren and 34 great-grandchildren to whom she gave unconditional love.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Gerhard, and two brothers Robert and Irvin.