Obituary of John Postma

John (Jan) Postma was born on Thursday, the 11th day of February 1937 in the City of Leeuwarden, Province of Friesland, in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Throughout his entire life, John held his Frisian heritage, language, and culture in particularly high regard. He was the fourth son and eighth of nine children of Marten and Johanna Postma.

During much of his childhood, the Country of the Netherlands was occupied by German forces. Over the course of these years and following liberation in May of 1945, John was a student at the Rehoboth Christian School in Leeuwarden. As a teenager in July of 1951, he emigrated from the Netherlands to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with his parents and his younger brother, Paul. There, they were reunited with elder sisters Antje and Iekje & their young families, and they also became Canadian citizens.

In Edmonton, John continued with his education for several years and learned the English language. During that time, a new church was being built in the community of Beverly, near the family home. John, his father Marten, his brother Paul, and many others helped in the construction of the church building, which would be named the Maranatha Christian Reformed Church of Edmonton. His mother Johanna also donated the communion table cloth. When the church was completed in 1954, John made public profession of his faith and became a charter member.

John's early jobs included working for a local bakery, delivering telegrams for the Canadian National Railway Company, and delivering freight throughout Edmonton. In 1961, he moved south to the city of Calgary to attend a technical school. He graduated and earned a journeyman painter and interior decorator license from the Province of Alberta. This enabled him to work with a painting contractor in the Edmonton area for several years.

Through the Christan Reformed Church network, he met Wilma (Wilhelmina) Schulenklopper. The couple married in October of 1966 in Newton, Iowa and have lived in Newton ever since. John became a naturalized American citizen on the 20th of November 1987. He was the painter for the Newton Community School system for several years and later built his own painting business.

Wilma and John were blessed with two sons, Martin John in 1970 and Aric Paul in 1972, as well as three grandsons, Andrew Daniel in 2002, Samuel John in 2004, and Cooper Jackson in 2008. John served our Lord in many ways over the years. Sharing daily devotions with his family around the dinner table was always of greatest importance. He served as a deacon, an elder, and a teacher in the Newton Christian Reformed Church, and was also a board member for the Newton Christian School.

John and Wilma both retired in 2000 and enjoyed many years of travel to Europe, Canada, and various parts of the United States. They made many family visits, spent much time with their grandchildren, enjoyed gardening, and volunteer service together. Most noteworthy was the role that John served as a reading tutor for elementary school students in the Newton Community School system, helping many improve their abilities over the course of ten years. He also spent considerable time translating historical meeting minutes of Classis Pella, which, until the early 1930s were recorded in the Dutch language. These documents are now in the archives of Calvin College. In November of 2011, John was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship from the Rotary International Foundation in recognition of his contributions to his community.

John's later years were marked with peace, meaningful friendships, family connections, much reading, and great contentment. He passed gently and graciously into his eternal life on Tuesday, the 25th day of June 2024 at Park Centre in Newton, Iowa, surrounded by his family.