Services for Catherine Van Dierendonck will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, at The Church of St. Mary in Larchwood, Iowa, with the Rev. Joseph Dillinger and Deacon Jeff Gallagher officiating. Burial will follow in Larchwood Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, with a 7 p.m. Vigil service at The Church of St. Mary in Larchwood. Catherine Van Dierendonck, 97, Larchwood, formerly of the Hills and Luverne areas, died Saturday, Feb. 7, 2004, at the Good Samaritan Home in Sioux Falls, S.D.Catherine Helen Kerkvliet was born to Peter and Anna (Lens) Kerkvliet on March 21, 1906 in Clontarf. She grew up on the family farm and attended St. Mary’s Catholic School. She married Louis Van Dierendonck on Jan. 27, 1931, in Alvord, Iowa. They lived on farms near Larchwood and Lester, Iowa, and Hills and Luverne before moving to Larchwood in 1973. She did upholstery for 35 years. They owned and operated Van’s Upholstery out of their home in Larchwood. The Sioux City Chamber of Commerce voted her Siouxland Homemaker of the Year for 1963. Mr. Van Dierendonck died in 1992. In July 1998, she moved from Larchwood to The Inn on Westport. Mrs. Van Dierendonck served more than 25 years as a 4-H leader, teaching 76 girls in three different groups. She was elected to the Lyon County Agricultural Extension Council for six years. She was the Cancer chairman of Larchwood Township and served on the Lyon County Fair Board. She was an active member of Larchwood Women’s Club for 25 years, a charter member of St. Mary’s Women’s Catholic Order of Foresters and had more than 50 years of service in St. Mary’s Altar Society. She also found time to volunteer at Children’s Care Hospital and School in Sioux Falls. Survivors include four children, Joe (Virg) Van Dierendonck, DeWitt, Iowa, Mary Ann Bangasser, Sioux Falls, Albert (Marcene) Van Dierendonck, Los Altos, Calif., and John (Mickey) Van Dierendonck, Hampton, Ill.; 11 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; four stepgreat-grandchildren; one sister, Mary (John) Herbst, Larchwood; one sister-in-law, Betty Kerkvliet, Salem, S.D.; and many nieces and nephews. Mrs. Van Dierendonck was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Louis Van Dierendonck, eight brothers and sisters who died at birth, four brothers, John, Gerard, Francis and Charles Kerkvliet, and one sister, Dena Kerkvliet.Memorials are preferred in lieu of flowers.Roste Funeral Home, Larchwood, is in charge of arrangements.
