Let us help you plan a Celebration of Life service for you or a loved one. Char Carpenter’s celebration had her distinct and loving fingerprints all over it.
A Race Well Run
Tom Kunst was known to all as a friend, but to a treasured few; beloved husband, father and Papa. Tom died tragically while doing something he loved, training on his bicycle. Over the years, Tom became an avid competitor. Competition soon became a family affair, often including his wife and sons. Tom loved being with his family, pushing himself physically and being out in God’s creation.
Lately we find ourselves in spaces that feel upended and abnormal. Nothing feels routine or familiar. We have adapted, adjusted and let go of things that seem an impossibility. But where does that leave grief? Where does that leave this family who tragically loses its patriarch?
A Family Affair
Motorcycles, Paydays and Peppino's for 'Papa Joe'
'The Youngest 96 Year Old'
A Donut on Fridays
For the last 35 years, Sveri went to Sandy's Donuts, Monday through Friday, to have coffee with friends. And just to be clear, she only ate a donut on Fridays or if it was someone's birthday.
The Final Lesson Plan
Dozens of family and friends gathered at the church to remember and celebrate Eileen, a longtime special education teacher for Grand Rapids Public Schools, a world traveler, a teddy bear collector (she had at least one or a dozen bears in every room of her house) and an avid reader (she read all the way through her library's selection of books up through the letter "M").
An Open Bar at a Funeral...Say What?
'Fake Grandma' was the 'Real Deal'
A Legacy of Faith
Worth the Wait
If there was ever a backup in the checkout lane, Shirley Despres was almost always to blame.
“Everyone wanted to go to Shirley’s lane,” one of her former Family Fare co-workers shared at the 84-year-old’s visitation on Thursday. “Shoppers would wait in line for twenty minutes even if other lanes were open just to talk to Shirley. That’s just how great she was.”
Peppermints in the Pews
Every time Henry Tjoelker walked through the doors of Third Reformed Church his pockets were full of peppermints. And not just any peppermints—skip the Altoids and Certs—Henry was a proud Dutchman and therefore, a peppermint purist. His go-to brands—Wilhelmina and King—hailed from his native country of the Netherlands. It was no surprise, then, to the family and friends gathered for Henry's memorial service on Monday, that there were bags of the mint candies waiting for them in every pew.
'Look At All of His Stuff'
What's with all the clocks, the model boats and the recumbent bike in the room? Did Heritage Life Story Funeral Home open its own hobby shop? Nope. Those items belonged to Tom Mathews—tinkerer extraordinaire.
"This is great," exclaimed Chad Russ while gathering with friends and family before his grandfather Tom's memorial service on Saturday. "Look at all of his stuff here."
Making It Personal
Richard Hoonhorst loved to tell jokes. If you didn't catch the punchline the first time around (or even if you did), he'd enthusiastically tell it again...and again...and again. Just ask his friends at Sandy's Donuts on Grand Rapids' West Side—the place where Richard spent countless mornings drinking his coffee, enjoying a donut and cracking jokes. Most of them will groan, laugh and share their favorite of his one-liners by memory. That's what happens when you hear something for the second, fifth, tenth, hundredth time.
This Bud's for You
Ice Cream, ‘Man Coffee’ and a Coleman Cooler
10,000 Breakfasts
One More Shovel
“Only wood handles. Never composite. You need the right tools to get the job done right.”
Picking the right kind of shovel wasn't the only lesson that Everhardt "Ev" Katerberg’s children and grandchildren remembered learning from their hardworking dad and grandpa who started Katerberg Lawn Sprinkling in 1957. When Ev’s boys were growing up, each of them learned how to use a shovel, digging ditches by hand for the company. But it wasn't just about digging -- they also learned other valuable lessons in their time with their dad.
The foundation for a joy-filled life comes from faith in the Lord.
There’s nothing more important in the world than your family.
Support, love, and serve others.
Take pride in honest, hard work.
His family honored this legacy at his funeral service at West Leonard Christian Reformed Church. But it was the graveside service at Rosedale Memorial Park, with snow on the ground and a chill in the air, where his family honored Ev one final time
After the burial vault was lowered into the ground, the Katerberg family, starting with the "ditch-digging" sons, each grabbed hold of a shovel and one last time did what came so naturally to them: they started digging.
Each person, in turn, grabbed a shovel and gently poured dirt into the grave of their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.
They even brought small shovels for the youngest children.
Dirt, memories, and tears mingled together in this sacred space as they worked; a most fitting and appropriate tribute to honor the life of the man who taught them so much from holding a shovel.