Thelma Drenth

Thelma Drenth, 94, of Ellsworth, went Home to the Savior she loved on Thursday, February 22, 2024. 

She was born on May 2, 1929, in Rudyard, Michigan, to Dutch immigrant parents Anna (Folkersma) and Andrew Ploegstra.

As a child, she was a shy, athletic tomboy who loved playing baseball, helping her dad on the farm, climbing anything and everything, running across the barn beams, and exploring the countryside with her favorite cousin.

She graduated at the top of her class from Rudyard High School. After attending Calvin College for one year, Thelma was asked to teach at Ebenezer Christian School. So, at 19 years old, she moved to Ellsworth, taught a class of 40 students in four grades, and met the handsome, young bus driver, John Drenth. On November 24, 1950, she and John married and built their home in Ellsworth. She lived in that home for the next 74 years, until the day she upgraded to heaven.

Thelma taught at Ebenezer for five years. After starting a family, she was primarily a homemaker, but she also cleaned houses and managed cottage rentals, taught art classes and helped fundraise for Ebenezer, taught Sunday school and served in countlessways at Ellsworth Christian Reformed Church, where she and John were members. Thelma filled her home with delicious homemade breads, sweets, and meals and generously shared with anyone who stopped by the house – relatives, neighbors, and strangers alike. 

She loved to be outside and enjoyed gardening, tending her flowers, and keeping her windows sparkly clean. She also enjoyed reading, sewing, playing Scrabble, doing crosswords, attending her children’s and grandchildren’s activities, and volunteering at the Good Samaritan shop.

Thelma exuded the “unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight” (1 Peter 3:4). Like the woman described in Proverbs 31, she was clothed with strength and dignity, she spoke with wisdom and faithful instruction, she watched over the affairs of her own household, she was never idle, and her children arise and call her blessed.

Surviving are her children, Jake (Becky) Drenth of Walloon Lake, Joy (Wes) Kuipers of Gaylord, Steve (Brenda) Drenth of Del Rio, TN, Dan (Theresa) Drenth of Ellsworth, Phil (Laurie) Drenth of Ellsworth, Dori Drenth of Ellsworth, and Kristi (George) Graham of Petoskey; 18 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; sister-in-law Wilma (Ploegstra) Decker of Bradenton, FL; nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, John; infant daughter, Vicki Jo; siblings, Margaret (Jim) Kamper, Gertrude (Elmer) Besteman, Herman Ploegstra, Esther Ploegstra, Ellen (Arie) VanEek, and Shirley (Howard) Hesselink.

Visitation will be at the Ellsworth Christian Reformed Church from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 1, and 10:00-11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 2.

The funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, March 2, at the Ellsworth Christian Reformed Church with the Rev. Carl Leep officiating. Burial will be in the Ellsworth Cemetery at a later date. 

Memorial contributions may be made to Ebenezer Christian School.

Arrangements are in the care of the Ellsworth Chapel of Mortensen Funeral Homes.  Please sign her online guestbook www.mortensenfuneralhomes.com.