Whitinsville – Gertrude (Baker) Kooistra, 93, died January 3 at St. Camillus Healthcare Center. She was the wife Ernest Kooistra who died in 1988.
Mrs. Kooistra was born Aug. 24, 1916 in Uxbridge, the daughter of the late Arnold and Silda (Krull) Baker. She was a member of the first graduating class of the Whitinsville Christian School and a graduate of Uxbridge High School. She lived much of her life at the Clover Hill Farm on the Williams Hill area of Uxbridge, later moving to Sutton and then to the Whitinsville Retirement Home.
Mrs. Kooistra was a charter member of the Fairlawn Christian Reformed Church and was active in the Blackstone Valley Christian Women’s Club for many years. She enjoyed cooking as well as handwork and was well known for making doll’s clothes.
Gertrude is survived by four children; Judith Ericksen of Littleton, CO, Calvin Kooistra and his wife Cheryl Toomey of Douglas, Faye Postma and her husband Raymond Postma of Uxbridge, and Ernest Kooistra and his wife Lynn Kooistra of Sutton, three grandchildren, Michelle Ericksen Windemuller, Charles Ericksen, Michael Toomey, and three great grandchildren, Matthew, Meghan and Mitchell Windemuller. She is also survived by two sisters; Mabel Baker of Uxbridge and Arline Vogel of New Providence, NJ and one brother Richard “Bud” Baker of Los Angeles, CA. She was predeceased by a brother Stuart Baker of Uxbridge and a sister Cornelia Beuving of California .
Funeral services will be held Weds. Jan. 6, 2010 at 12:30 PM in the Fairlawn Christian Reformed Church, 305 Goldthwaite Rd., Whitinsville, MA 01588 .
Memorial donations may be made to the Whitinsville Retirement Society Inc., 10 Chestnut St., Whitinsville, MA 01588.
Arrangements under the direction of the BUMA FUNERAL HOME, Whitinsville, MA (www.bumafuneralhome.com)