Beulah Daniel ’65 Derks

Beulah (Bea) Derks, age 81, of Holland, Michigan, passed away peacefully on December 21, 2022.

Bea was born to Chester and Venna Daniel on March 6, 1941, in Kenvir, Kentucky. She graduated from Battle Creek Central High School in 1958.

She attended Bronson School of Nursing in Kalamazoo, Michigan, graduating in 1961, achieving licensure as a registered nurse, and remaining there for a year to work in the operating room. She earned a BA degree from Hope College in 1965. After her graduation, she and Jack were married and lived in Ypsilanti, Michigan, while he finished medical school at the University of Michigan. While there, she worked at the University of Michigan Hospital as an operating room instructor for the School of Nursing. In 1968, she worked in the operating room at Denver General Hospital while Jack was an intern. They then spent two years at the U.S. Army Hospital in Dugway, Utah. In 1971, they settled in Holland, Michigan.

At Holland Hospital she was active in the Rena Boven Guild and was a devoted and longtime volunteer in the medical library assisting many in literature searches.

Bible Study Fellowship was one of her passions where she was a group leader. As an avid tennis player, she was vicious at the net.

She is survived by her husband Dr. Jack Derks ’64, son Timothy (Annetta) Derks, and daughter Melinda (Matthew) Brady, as well as 6 grandchildren (Kelley, Sean, Micah, Nathan, Brianna, and Isabella). She is also survived by her sister Wilma Sue McKinnon, brothers-in-law Harry Derks and Kenneth (Nancy) Derks, and sister-in-law Marjorie Koeman, as well as several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents and brother-in-law Donald McKinnon.