01/12/2019
Naomi Jean (Allen) DeZwarte, 89, of Knoxville, IA passed away Saturday, January 12, 2019, evening at the Hospice of Pella Comfort House in Pella, IA.
Naomi, the wife of the late Carroll D. De Zwarte, was the mother of three children: Martha and her husband, George Rankin of Orange City, IA, Steven De Zwarte and his wife, Kathy of Pella, and the late James De Zwarte; grandmother to four grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren; and sister of Howard Allen and his wife, Jeanette, Eneatha and her husband, Ernest Rankin all of Knoxville.
Memorial contributions are suggested for Hopeful Hearts Ministries in Commerce, GA for Derrick and Katie Allen.
Naomi Jean Allen was born near Attica, Iowa, to John Howry Allen and Irene Bell (Ross) Allen on April 4, 1929, the oldest of three children. Naomi was later joined by brother Howard, and nine years later by sister Eneatha.
She grew up on the century farm south of Attica and attended a rural school where her diary indicates she passed exams to go to high school then boarded with her Aunt Asborene in Knoxville, Iowa to attend Knoxville High School.
She graduated at the age of 17 and worked at People’s Store until she fell in love with a returning WW II veteran, Carroll Dale De Zwarte, whom she married on June 30, 1947, at the Little Brown Church, Nashua, Iowa.
In 1948, Carroll and Naomi welcomed a baby girl, Martha Eileen, while living in University Park, Iowa, to attend Kletzing College. Carroll attended Bible school there until they moved to Minneapolis to attend Northwestern College.
Naomi took classes at both places but mostly kept the home fires burning. While there they had a son, Steven Dale.
After Carroll graduated, his first job took him to Zap, North Dakota, where he taught high school, coached basketball and preached at a local church. Naomi raised two little ones but also supported Carroll in his coaching role by being the cheerleading squad sponsor. She sewed yards of black and gold material into cheerleading outfits and attended many basketball games and church events.
When moving from Minneapolis, toddling Steven got sick. A short time after arriving in Zap, he was diagnosed with polio and was transferred to Bismarck, North Dakota to be in an iron lung for the next six weeks. So to her busy roles, she added train trips to Zap to see her baby son through a window. It about broke her heart when in six weeks he wanted his nurse more than his mommy. After a year there, they moved back to the Knoxville area.
While near Knoxville, another son, James Alan, was added to the family. Carroll and Naomi resided in and around Knoxville (Dallas, Lovilia) for the rest of their 68 years of married life.
Carroll pastored small churches in Melcher, rural areas in Iowa, and Lovilia over the next years while also working at Ford Motor Company. Naomi was his support in every way entertaining and visiting church groups and friends and family, helping those who were hurting, hosting missionaries and pastors, giving object lessons (now known as children’s sermons), doing child evangelism, doing Bible studies and youth groups, chaperoning giggly girl sleepovers and birthday parties, and doing backyard Bible clubs.
She was also employed as an aide at the Knoxville Hospital, in the schools as a lunchroom aid and classroom volunteer, cook for senior citizens, caterer for private groups of up to 50 or more if it was a wedding.
Her children gave her four grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and recently two great-great-grandchildren.
In 1973 Carroll and Naomi lost their son Jim in a car accident. It was a crushing blow. Carroll went to be with Jesus just three years ago, on September 26, 2015, and Naomi missed him terribly.
She is survived by her daughter Martha (George) Rankin of Orange City, Iowa; their son Eric David (Lora) Rankin and their children: Elizabeth, William “Billy”, Kohen, and Abbie (Taylor) Dreise and their children, Beckett, and Emersyn; their daughter Kara (Jeff) Van Der Werff and their children: Jakob, Kathryn “Kate”, Ian, and Elin; her son Steven (Kathy) De Zwarte of Pella, Iowa and their sons Christopher “Chris” (Jana) De Zwarte, and Nathan (Lacey) De Zwarte and their daughters, Harlow and Kemper.
Naomi leaves her brother Howard (Jeanette) Allen of Knoxville, Iowa, and family; her sister Eneatha (Ernest) Rankin of Knoxville and family; sister-in-law, Marilyn (Kenneth) De Zwarte of Knoxville; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, and loved ones.
Naomi was preceded in death by her son James “Jim”, her husband, Carroll; parents, Howry and Irene Allen; Carroll’s parents, Arthur and Nellie Gertrude ” Gertie” (Jones) De Zwarte; his siblings and spouses: Lorene and John Acklin, Kenneth De Zwarte, Burdette, and Evelyn De Zwarte and their daughter Tanya.