Pearl Van Dellen

Pearl Van Dellen, age 92, of Grosse Pointe Park, went home to be with the Lord on Friday, November 21, 2025. She will be lovingly remembered by her husband of 65 years, Ken Van Dellen; daughters: Lisa and Greg Bremer, Kara and John Doyle; grandchildren: Ally Bremer, Austin (Julia) Bremer, Drew Bremer, Anna Bremer, Ian Doyle; brother, Donald Kiel; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Richard Van Dellen, Sandra Wright; many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Lambert and Elizabeth Kiel; and sister, Lois (Nykamp) Hulst.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, November 26, at Ellsworth Christian Reformed Church, 9323 Main St., Ellsworth, MI 49729, with Pastor Josiah Youngquist officiating. The burial will take place at Ellsworth Cemetery. Relatives and friends may visit with the family on Monday, November 24, from 1-3 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. at Matthysse Kuiper DeGraaf Funeral Home, 4145 Chicago Dr. SW, Grandville. A visitation will also be held on Wednesday from 10-11 a.m. at the church prior to the service. 

Pearl Kiel was born at home at the family farm on 147^th Avenue just west of 40^th Street in Ottawa County, Michigan, about a mile south of the community of Drenthe, on August 21, 1933, the daughter of Lambert and Elizabeth (Brummel) Kiel. Sister Dorothy, born five years before her had died after about a year. Pearl joined her brother, Don, who was two years older. Sister Lois, was born five years after her.

Pearl attended Hawthorne School, a two-room country school not far from their home, through 7^th grade. There, she played on the boys’ softball team and she rode to away games in the teacher’s car, while some of the boys had to ride in the trunk with the lid up. When the family sold the farm and moved to Vriesland, a tiny community north of Drenthe, she attended school there for eighth grade.

After four years of high school at Holland Christian, she enrolled at Calvin College in 1951 but had to leave after a year because she ran out money. However, Hudsonville Christian School hired her to teach elementary students. After six years there, which included the Hudsonville tornado of spring 1957, she decided to move to Kalamazoo, live with her brother’s family, and take a position at North Christian School.

That summer, she enrolled in summer school at Western Michigan University. Unbeknownst to her, Ken had noticed her in class and at church, and when she approached him one noon at his table for two in a crowded lunchroom at the Western cafeteria and asked if she may sit there, he said, “YES!” That led to several games of miniature golf and evenings in the film series.

During the following year, Ken, teaching in Minnesota, carried on a courtship by correspondence with daily letters (that now fill a shoebox) when they were apart, and hosted her at his parents’ home during holiday vacations from school when he was home. At Easter break, when they were driving to his parents from southern Michigan, Ken presented her with a diamond at the US-31 rest area just north of the Muskegon River and she accepted. They were married on August 21, 1959 - the day Hawaii became a state.

That fall, Ken started work on a master’s degree in invertebrate zoology at Michigan State University (geology came later) while Pearl taught at Lansing Christian School. They lived in their first home, an apartment in Spartan Village, and went to football games on Saturdays. The following fall they were back in Grand Rapids, living with Ken’s Aunt Flo and Uncle Pete while Ken did student teaching and took a class needed to get his teaching certificate. Then it was back to MSU to wrap up that master’s degree. Meanwhile, Pearl had gotten into the banking business as a teller.

After banking for another year or two, Pearl began teaching, her true career love, at Grosse Pointe Christian Day School and then began subbing in public schools while continuing her education at Wayne State University. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in education in 1966 and finally obtained a full-time position in 1970.

She spent the next forty-two years in the classroom, retiring in 2012, three years after our fiftieth wedding anniversary (and Hawaii’s). Along the way, she earned a Master of Education (1977), and an Education Specialist certification (1980). At her retirement, she received a Teacher of the Year award signed by numerous Michigan legislators.

Meanwhile, after being unsuccessful with having a baby in the old-fashioned way, we decided to adopt, and Pearl said that was just fine with her. Lisa had been born the day after Pearl’s 1966 graduation. Roughly two and a half years later Kara was born, so now Lisa had a real-life baby to care for, which she did well.

The next twenty or so years were quite a trip, with academic and athletic events galore through high school and college. On many occasions, Mom and Dad rose early in the morning to trek off to Pennsylvania or some other distant venue to cheer the girls on in a field hockey tournament.

Then, just when we said, “Whew! Now we can take it easy”, there was a new round of activity when grandchildren began appearing. They all made us proud, especially Drew Bremer, who starred on the U.S. Paralympic Soccer Team at the games in Rio in 2016, proving he wasn’t really handicapped, even with CP.

We enjoyed trips of various lengths as a family, progressively ranging farther. The girls relished spending Christmas break on Anna Maria Island, Florida. Later, we took each grandchild on a “10-year-old” U.S. trip of his or her choice, we took trips for two all over the U.S. and a bit overseas.

After retirement Pearl’s love for children continued to drive her, and she spent leisure time knitting numerous hats for homeless school kids.