Walter DeBoer

Hawarden, Iowa- Walter Gerrit DeBoer, 87, of Hawarden, died Saturday, February 16, 2013 at the Morningside Care Center in Alcester, South Dakota.
Funeral service will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Hawarden Community Church with Reverend Stan Vandersall officiating. Burial will follow in the Grace Hill Cemetery. Visitation will begin at noon Tuesday, with the family present beginning at 6:00 p.m. and a prayer service at 7:00 p.m. at the church. The Porter Funeral Home is assisting the family.
Walter Gerrit DeBoer was born July 2, 1925 in Milaca, Minnesota, the son of William and Martha (Vander Meer) DeBoer. He spent his childhood in north central Minnesota and came to Iowa to live in 1949. He married Nancy Van Noort April 23, 1947 at Nancy's parent's home near Stickney, South Dakota. Wally worked for farmers and farmed for himself from 1953 until 1961. He then worked feed mills at elevators until beginning as a line worker for Dubuque Packing Company in LeMars. He retired after 20 years in 1989.
Over the years he enjoyed trips back to Minnesota to visit family and fish. He truly enjoyed going to Seattle to see his daughter and her family. In early retirement he enjoyed fishing trips with his grandson Todd and cutting wood with grandson Mitchell. He also enjoyed many years of camping with many friends and family. Wally liked fishing, camping, and playing cards, from ice fishing to boat fishing, to paddle fishing in February and March at Gayville, South Dakota, trout fishing in Washington with his son-in-law, and walleye fishing on the South Dakota reservoirs, or northern fishing in Minnesota. Wally was a member of the Hawarden Community Church.
He is survived by his wife, Nancy; daughter, Judith and her husband Lon Woitte of Lake Forest Park, Washington; son, Ronald and friend Connie Witzel of Hawarden; grandchildren, Todd and wife Nicole of Bismarck, North Dakota, Mitch and wife Buffany of Wayne, Nebraska, Roger Woitte and wife Sharon Berg of Herndon, Virginia, Sara (Woitte) and husband Jason Eisenhauer of Seattle, Washington; 5 great-grandchildren, Tanner, Adam, Trevor, Haley, and Roma; brother, Ernie and wife Arlene DeBoer of Wayzata, Minnesota; sister-in-law, Sophie DeBoer of Monticello, Minnesota.
Wally was preceded in death by his parents; four brothers, Alfred in infancy, Sam and wife Rena, Henry and wife Margaret, and Bill; daughter-in-law, Patricia; and several brothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law.