PELLA — Funeral services for Gilbert Van Donselaar of Pella will be held Saturday, July 7, 2012, at the Covenant Reformed Church in Pella.  Visitation will begin at noon Friday at the Garden Chapel Funeral Home with family present 5-7 p.m.  Burial will take place at the Black Oak Cemetery near Pella.

Gilbert Van Donselaar was born on Oct. 30, 1915, to John and Nellie (Wanders) Van Donselaar near Prairie City, Iowa.  He attended country school near Leighton, Iowa, graduating from the eighth grade.  He made profession of faith at the Leighton Christian Reformed Church.

On Feb. 27, 1941, Gilbert was united in marriage with Cornelia Groenenboom at her parents’ home near Oskaloosa, Iowa.  To this union four children were born: Marge, Shirley, Robert, and Peggy.  They moved to a farm southeast of Pella where he lived and farmed for sixty-eight years.  Cornelia died on March 1, 2001 shortly after celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary.

Gilbert continued living and helping on the farm for another eight years.  He was living at the Oskaloosa Care Center when he went to be with his Lord on July 4, 2012, at the age of ninety-six.

Gilbert and Cornelia spent many years traveling across the country and spent nineteen winters in Cary, Mississippi, volunteering with the Luke Society.  He was also active in the Gideons, served as an elder in the First Christian Reformed Church in Pella, and was a charter member of the Covenant Reformed Church in Pella.

Those left to cherish his memory are: his four children and their spouses: Marge and Marvin Van Haaften of Pella, Shirley and Ronald De Bruin of Pella, Robert and Kathleen Van Donselaar of Pella, and Peggy and Dale Bergman of Lamont, Michigan; thirteen grandchildren; and twenty-five great-grandchildren. Of his original family Gilbert leaves one brother, Carl Van Donselaar of Pella; one sister Mildred Van Maanen of Pella; and one sister-in-law Rena Van Donselaar of Oskaloosa.

He was preceded in death by his parents; three brothers: Louis in infancy, Albert Van Donselaar of Oskaloosa, Lewis (Jennie) Van Donselaar of Oskaloosa; and a grandson Daniel De Bruin of Pella.

Gilbert will be remembered as a loving father, grandfather, and great grandfather.  He had a deep love for the Lord and a great enthusiasm for life.