Rodney DeBoer

Rodney DeBoer, age 73, of Prinsburg, died Tuesday morning, December 17, at Carris Health Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.  

A celebration of life service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, December 20 at First Christian Reformed Church in Prinsburg. Interment will be prior to the service at Holland Township Cemetery in Prinsburg. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, December 19 at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Central Minnesota Christian School. Arrangements are with Tri-County Funeral Home, www.tricountyfuneral.com.  

Rodney was born April 12, 1946 in LeMars, Iowa, the son of Nicholas and Anna Marie (Remmerde) DeBoer. He grew up on the family farm near Rock Valley and graduated from Western Christian High School in Hull in 1963. He attended Dordt College in Sioux Center, where he met Evelyn Louise Nieuwsma. They were married on March 10, 1966. After Rod’s graduation from Dordt in 1967, they moved to Escondido, CA where he taught math at Calvin Christian School and later became principal after earning his master’s degree in administration at Pepperdine University. In 1978 the family moved to Oostburg, WI where Rod served as principal at Oostburg Christian School. In 1982, they moved to Prinsburg where Rod was the superintendent at Central Minnesota Christian School. He retired in 2008 after 26 years of service.   In retirement Rod was busier than ever. He chaired the CMCS bus committee and drove, maintained and washed buses with dedication because he just loved the kids. He was licensed to exhort and preached the Gospel in many area churches. Rod led men’s and women’s Bible studies, served on the Consistory and pastor search committee and enjoyed the food and fellowship at Couple’s Club for these past 37 years. He loved to ride his bicycle, read books, dig dirt in his garden, watch CMCS building projects and sporting events, and craft items for the New to You thrift store. He hated mosquitoes. Rod loved to play games with his grandchildren, Scrabble with his daughters and Dorothy and cards with anyone. Most of all he loved Toots, the cause of Christian education and his faithful Savior Jesus Christ.  

He was loved and will be missed by his wife Evelyn of Prinsburg; four children: Gregory (and Kathleen) DeBoer of Rocky Mount, VA, Pamela (and Tim) Schmidt of Chanhassen, Rebecca DeBoer of Columbia, SC and Jonathan (and Jaime) DeBoer of Chaska; ten grandchildren: Cameron, Jackson, Camille and Jessica DeBoer, Theo, Grace, Michael and Madeline Schmidt, Macy Louise Wages and Logan DeBoer; and his two brothers and sister: Vernon (and Carol) DeBoer, Bernard (and Betty) DeBoer and Linda (and Paul) VanRoekel and many other friends and relatives.  

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