Bette A. (DeBruyn) Bosma

Bette DeBruyn Bosma, beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, esteemed professor and mentor, came to the end of her earthly journey on Sunday, May 5, 2024. Born in Ogilvie, Minnesota, the youngest of eight children of Jacob Cornelius and Alice (Bajema) DeBruyn, Bette moved with her pastor father to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and then to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she attended Grand Rapids Christian High School and Calvin College.

She was the second-ever female editor of Chimes, the student newspaper, assisted by business manager, John Bosma, a handsome Army vet just back from Europe. Bette received her BA in Education in 1948. She and John were married in 1949. Bette taught first grade at Oakdale Christian School, then continued as a substitute teacher at Sylvan Christian while raising four children. In 1968, she returned to full-time work, first at Northview Public Schools and then, from 1976 until her retirement in 1992, in the Education Department at Calvin.

Along the way (multitasking was one of her superpowers), she earned an MA in 1975 and a PhD in 1981 from Michigan State University. She wrote several books on reading pedagogy, with special emphasis on incorporating folk literature into the curriculum. In 1976, Bette and her colleague, Kathryn Blok, launched a Young Authors Festival that drew renowned authors and grade-school students to the Calvin campus each year for three decades. Generations of undergraduate and graduate students benefited from her deep commitment to Christian education and her warm support for their work. For example, The Potter’s House Christian School began as a far-fetched scheme hatched by a few of her graduate students during a coffee break. “Bette really stuck her neck out,” wrote Potter’s House founder, John Booy when Bette was awarded the 2003 Faith and Learning Award by the Calvin Alumni Association: “she assured us that we could do it – make a school for low-income families fly – and volunteered hundreds of hours.”

After moving from Grand Rapids to the lakeshore in 1978, Bette and John joined Second Christian Reformed Church in Grand Haven. Bette was a principal organizer of Friendship Club there, a weekly gathering that has brought joy to the lives of developmentally disabled adults for more than forty years. At John and Bette’s home in Grand Haven Township, and also, from the 1990s, in their winter home in Green Valley, Arizona, their door was always open to friends, family members, and complete strangers who soon became friends.

Well into her 90’s, Bette remained an active participant in book clubs, knitting circles, and church projects. She continued to migrate to Arizona each winter until 2022, when she moved to Grand Pines Assisted Living residence.

In her last weeks, she received helpful and compassionate care from the staff of Grand Pines and Faith Hospice, then slipped quietly into the welcoming arms of her Savior.

Bette was preceded in death by her husband, John in 2014, and by seven DeBruyn siblings. Mourning her passing and celebrating her life are four children: Susan (David) Hoekema, Tim (Kim) Bosma, Jane (Brian) VanderPloeg, and Paul (Alice) Bosma; 11 grandchildren: Dulcinea (John) Avouris, Katrina (Michael) Sink, Janna (Barb) Hoekema, Oriana Bosma, Klaas (Krista) Hoekema-Boerman, and Luke (Kate), Lia, Alexandra, Philip, Colin and Kyria Bosma. Also surviving Bette are 10 great-grandchildren, and many beloved nephews and nieces.

The Funeral Service for Bette will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at Second Christian Reformed Church in Grand Haven, with Rev. Tim Blackmon officiating. (The service will be live-streamed on Youtube at @SECONDCRCGH and archived at https://www.secondcrcgrandhaven.org/recent-services/). Visitation will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Monday, May 20, 2024, at Klaassen Family Funeral Home in Grand Haven, and prior to the service on Tuesday, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the church.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages gifts to Potter’s House School or to Second Christian Reformed Church in support of Friendship Club.

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