Charlotte Uken

Charlotte Reitsma Uken, age 81, of Wyoming, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. Charlotte “Sjoukje” Reitsma was born at home on December 13, 1943, in Tzummarum, Friesland, Netherlands (under Nazi occupation at the time). In 1949 her family immigrated to Bejou, Minnesota, where they lived on a small farm in primitive conditions. Seven years later, she and her family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they lived near Southwest Christian School and the Grandville Ave. Christian Reformed Church (both buildings are now Potter’s House.) She attended elementary and junior high school at Southwest Christian School and nurtured her faith in the Grandville Ave. CRC. After she finished high school at Grand Rapids Christian, she attended Calvin College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in education. She always knew she wanted to be a teacher. She credited a teacher who had such compassion and interest in her as an immigrant child for this passion. Her first teaching job was at Southwest Christian School where she had been a student herself! After two years there, she and her fiancé, Robert “Bob” Uken, married. She continued teaching at Oakdale Christian School while her husband finished his final year at Calvin Theological Seminary. Though she really never wanted to marry a minister, she discovered that she, with her outgoing personality and love for people, was good at building caring relationships. She had a “pastoral heart”. Char was a wise partner for Bob in ministry. They lived and served in Wisconsin and Minnesota for eight years. During those years, motherhood became her focus, calling, and passion. She stretched the family budget by sewing clothes for herself and the children and cutting her husband's and children’s hair. She also taught her children and grandchildren how to sew. After moving back to the Grand Rapids area in 1976, she began part-time teaching in various community education offerings and meeting needs in both Christian and public schools, nursing homes and retirement communities. She last served students at Grandville High School as an Inclusion Aide. Char served terms on the boards of Grandville Christian and Calvin Christian Schools. She was an advocate for women in ministry/leadership; served as an elder in the Fellowship CRC, Grandville, and was one of the first women’s advisors to the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church. As a loyal friend, Char worked to stay connected and enjoyed the mutual life-giving nurture of these relationships. She loved learning and reading and was a member of a book club for over thirty years. She volunteered to assist refugees in English language learning programs. Char’s greatest passion, however, was her family. Bob and she were married for 57 years. They were a team in work and play, enjoyed a full life including regular coffee and tea times, endured demanding exercise routines, yielded to the magnetism of Lake Michigan often, and "Zoomed" with family most weeks since COVID. During her final days, all her children and grandchildren were with her after she returned home from the hospital for treatment of severe advanced heart failure and entered hospice care at home. To say good-bye one afternoon, she invited all the grandchildren and their parents individually to spend time alone with her to talk, enjoy, and bless each other. These were holy moments. The next morning this big-hearted woman’s heart stopped beating. “Thank you for the gifts and love you shared so generously.”

Char was preceded in death by her parents, Jan “John” and Jeltje “Jill” Reitsma; and brother and sister-in-law, Tim and Judy (Bronsink) Reitsma. She will be lovingly remembered by her husband, Robert “Bob” Uken; children and grandchildren, Julie Uken-Rasmussen and Dave Rasmussen (Lucya, Eva, Marcos), Don and Mary Uken (Mairedith, Hendrik), John and Rachelle Uken (Kate, Lydia); and brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Chuck and Clarice Uken.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 12, at 11 a.m. at Alger Park Church, 2655 Eastern SE, Grand Rapids, with Rev. Norm Thomasma officiating. The burial will take place at Grandville Cemetery. Relatives and friends may visit with the family on Friday, April 11, from 5-8 p.m. at Matthysse Kuiper DeGraaf Funeral Home (Grandville) 4145 Chicago Dr. SW. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Potter’s House or ICCF Community Homes. 

The service will be live streamed via this link.