Randy Vande Water ’52
Randy Vande Water ’52 , age 88, of Holland, passed away Friday, June 22, 2018.
Born March 5, 1930 in Zeeland, MI to William H. and Kathryn ( Kitty Van Ry) Vande Water, Randy and his family moved to Holland in 1937. He graduated from Holland High School in 1948.
A 1952 Hope College alumnus, Vande Water was a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1986. He did graduate work at the University of Michigan and UCLA. He edited the Fort Bliss, TX, News from 1952-1954 during the Korean conflict and announced the Fourth Army Boxing Tournament on the Armed Forces Radio Network.
In 1948, he started announcing The Holland Evening Sentinel local news on WHTC, continuing through his college years. He rejoined The Sentinel as sports editor in 1954 and daily WHTC Sentinel news. Spending four decades at The Sentinel, Vande Water was sports editor, city editor, editorial page editor and managing editor.
Since 1992, when he wrote the first volume of On the Way to Today, he has written 15 books on Holland area history. During those years Vande Water gave numerous illustrated lectures to civic, church and college groups on various subjects relating to the area’s history. He authored a four- volume series of Holland Happenings, Heroes and Hot Shots, Millennium Memories, Holland the Tulip Town, Zeeland, A Walk Through Time, 100 Years of Hope College Basketball, A Century of Heinz Holland, Holland Furnace Co. and the Holland American Band.
In 2015, he coauthored with his wife Mary, HOLLAND, an illustrated book of the community’s last half century. Arcadia Publishing Co. circulates the book nationally. In 2009 Vande Water was honored by Resthaven Care Community which established Encore!, a biennial event to honor seven individuals, or couples, over age 70 who contribute to the betterment of the community in their retirement years. He was a member of the Holland Film Group in 2017 that produced the motion picture “ Wilderness to World Class,’’ an 80- minute documentary illustrating Holland’s 170- year history. Vande Water served on the Trinity Reformed Church consistory and represented Christ Memorial Reformed Church for six years on the Holland Reformed Church Classis. He was past president of the University of Michigan Press Club and on the board of directors of the Michigan Associated Press. He is a Paul Harris Fellow in the Holland Rotary Club.
Active in the community, Vande Water served as president of the Herrick District Library board, Holland Area Historical Society and Good Samaritan and was named A Friend of the Museum while on the Holland Historical Trust board.
He served on the boards of the Holland Community Foundation, Holland Economic Development Cooperation ( HEDCOR), Resthaven Care Community, Joint Archives of Holland, Holland Historical Commission, Holland Police- Community Relations and the Holland Film Group.
Randy was a friendly, talkative man who listened to his father’s advice and never highhatted anyone.
Married for 35 years and surviving him is his wife Mary ( Stam) of Holland. Children are Nancy ( Eric) Sivertson of Tyler, TX, Dr. Kathryn Stam Speeter ( John) of Cutlerville and Kenneth ( Mitzi Diller) Stam of Holland. Vande Water’s first wife, the former Virginia Boeve, died in 1981.
Grandchildren are Jonathan Paul ( Abbie) Sivertson of Edmond, OK, Marissa Padding of Ada, Kristina ( Jeffrey) McMichael of Tyler, TX, Sarah Sivertson of Tyler, TX., Alexandra Stam of Grand Rapids and Nicole Stam of Nashville, TN and four great-grandchildren, several cousins, nieces and nephews.
Memorial services will be 2 p. m. Monday, July 2, at Christ Memorial Church, 595 Graafschap Road, with the Rev. Dr.
Robert Van Voorst officiating. Burial will be in Pilgrim Home Cemetery. Visitation will be 2- 5 p. m. Sunday, July 1, at the Dykstra Funeral Home- Mulder Chapel, 188 West 32nd Street.
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Holland or Resthaven.
For an online registry, visit dykstrafuneral home. com.