83

Boyden, Iowa

December 7, 2020

Alvin Van Marel, 83, of Boyden, Iowa, passed away Monday, Dec. 7, 2020, at Sanford Sheldon Medical Center.

Private family graveside services were Friday, Dec. 11, at Sheridan Township Cemetery, rural Boyden. 

Alvin Lee was born Feb. 23, 1937, near Orange City, Iowa, to Arie J. and Anna (Cleveringa) Van Marel. In 1941, the family moved to a farm near Steen, Minnesota, where he attended school through ninth grade. He worked for A.R. Woods and Hanson Silo Company in Luverne, Minnesota. In 1960, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Following his honorable discharge in 1962, he enrolled at State School of Science in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where he was trained in diesel mechanics.

On March 4, 1964, he married Clarella Kooiman. They lived a short time in Pipestone, Minnesota, where he worked as a diesel mechanic. They later moved to Edgerton, Minnesota, where he worked for Roelofs Implement before they moved to Boyden where he worked for Grooters Implement more than 17 years. He later was employed at Town and Country Implement in Rock Valley, Iowa, Anderson Implement in Le Mars, Iowa, and Northwest Implement in Orange City, where he remained 13 years until his retirement.

Survivors include his wife; three children, Dean (Amy) Van Marel of Sheldon, Iowa, Lynn (Lynn) Cuperus of Hull and Beth (Bill) Scott of Phoenix, Arizona; 11 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; a brother, Arnold Van Marel; four sisters, Evelyn (Gerhart) Van Dam, Rose (Arvin) Bleyenberg, Luretta Van Otterloo and Mary (Don) Palmquist; and a brother-in-law, Vernon Bolt. 

In addition to his parents and his wife’s parents, William and Jessie Kooiman, he was preceded in death by a sister, Darlene Bolt; a sister-in-law, Rosetta Van Marel, and three brothers-in-law, Berwyn Van Otterloo, John De Jager and Merle Klosterbuer.