Obituary of Fern Crystal Groeneveld

Fern went home to be with her Savior on Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Newton, at the home of her daughter Barb.

Visitation with the family will be held 10:00 a.m., Saturday, May 4, 2024, at the Pence ~ Reese Funeral Home in Newton. Funeral services for Fern will follow at 11:00 a.m. at the funeral home. Pastor Bob Simon, of Immanuel Baptist in Newton, will conduct the services. In lieu of flowers, and as an expression of sympathy, memorials may be designated to Fern's family, in her name.

Fern Crystal Groeneveld, 102, went home to be with her Savior on Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Newton, at the home of her daughter Barb.

   Fern, the daughter of the late Lafe Wesley and Idella Larue (Graves) Sutherland, she was born April 17, 1922, near Pleasantville.  A lifelong resident of the Grundy and Hardin Counties areas, she was a graduate of the Albion Senior High School, Class of 1940.  

   On December 16, 1942, Fern, “Oma” to her grandchildren, was united in marriage with Leslie H.J. “Bud” Groeneveld, “Opa” to his grandchildren, in Grundy County.  To this union was born three children: Barbara, Gene and Jon.  Fern was employed for many years by Trojan Seed Corn/Pfizer Genetics Research Company in Eldora.  She was an assistant Girl Scout leader in the sixties. In Newton she enjoyed Willowbrook Adult Center and swimming at the YMCA. Fern was a loving wife, mother and grandmother, and will be greatly missed by those who knew and loved her.  She was a member of the Eldora First Baptist Church, and later attended Immanuel Baptist Church in Newton.  She devoted her life to her family, was an excellent cook, enjoyed Bible studies, feeding her birds and squirrels and loved to read.  She and Opa were great prayer warriors for their family, and she was a woman who served God through many years of hosting church funeral luncheons, Sunday School teacher, Mary Martha’s, AWANA helper, serving at VBS, and supporting missionaries. 

   Those left to honor Fern’s memory include her daughter Barbara (Levi) Pence, of Newton, their children: Jeffrey (Debby) Pence, Christina (Allan) Walz, and Daniel (Angela) Pence; her son Gene (Marilyn) Groeneveld of Newton, their children: Kari (Eric) Farmer, John (Tabitha) Groeneveld, Jeana (Vino) Cherian and Luke (Beth) Groeneveld, and her son Jon (Rebecca Morrow) Groeneveld of Woodward, and his daughter Jadie (Ryan) Tostenson; twenty-six great-grandchildren: Leslie (Marshall) Pickering, Braden, Isaac, Sadie and Zachariah Pence, Blake (Kylie) Walz, Brooke Walz, Brianna (Trent) Patterson, Bailey, Blair, Brynlee and Brockton Walz, Isabella, Gabriella, Alyssa and Christopher Pence; Emma, Adeline & Ian Farmer, Eliza, Olivia, Aiden, Ansley, Ella Groeneveld; Evelyn Groeneveld; and one great-great granddaughter Lincoln Walz; her many nieces and nephews; and her many good neighbors and friends. 

   Fern was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of seventy-two years, Bud; her thirteen brothers and sisters: Ruth Kephart, Lafe Sutherland in infancy, Florence Wheelock, Maxine Sutherland in infancy, Lucille Hutt, Jessie Dawson, Irma Pricket, Donald John Sutherland in infancy, John Dale Sutherland, Irene Jordan, Geraldine “Jerry” Brown, Richard Sutherland and Robert “Bob” Sutherland.