Donald Dean Bouma
Donald Dean Bouma
Donald Dean Bouma
June 26, 1932 – February 7, 2021
Denver, Colorado | Age 88
Served With Honor ~ United States Military Veteran
Donald Dean Bouma passed away peacefully on February 7, 2021 at his Denver home surrounded by his loving family: wife Marilyn Bouma, daughters Lori Lugg, Julie Bell, Bonnie Schlieker, and son Dirk Bouma. He is also survived by 6 grandchildren, a nephew, and two nieces. Don is predeceased by his sister Barbara Val Halm.
Don was born in a farm house 7 miles south of Oskaloosa, Iowa on Sunday June 26, 1932. This was in the middle of the great depression. Don walked one and a quarter mile, uphill both ways in the snow with no shoes in the summer, to the country school through 4th grade, with the older children from adjoining farms. Don was impressed with the big bulldozers building the country roads, so much so that he decided at an early age that he wanted to go to engineering school so that he could work on roads and bridges.
From the age of 11, Don spent his summers helping his Uncle Bass VanderWilt on his farm near New Sharon and Peoria, IA. In 1941, while in grade school in Cedar Rapids, Don remembers President Roosevelt’s “Day in Infamy” speech about the Pearl Harbor bombing. In 1947, Don’s father obtained a government job delivering the mail, which caused the family to move from Cedar Rapids, to Counsel Bluffs, and finally to Oskaloosa, Iowa.
The Korean War began June of 1950 just 3 weeks after his high school graduation. Don was drafted to the Army and had 4 months of artillery basic training and then shipped out to Pusan, Korea. After the Korean war, Don attended Calvin College, where he met and married Marilyn Ruth Posthumus from Grand Rapids, Michigan on August 2, 1957 and later received his BSME mechanical engineering Degree from Valparaiso University in Indiana.
With his degree in hand, he worked 1.5 years with General Motors engineering department in Grand Rapids, MI. Wanting a bigger challenge, he accepted a job with Boeing and moved to Seattle to work with our nations defensive Minuteman Missile project while the Russian “Sputnik” was circling the earth. He then moved to Martin Marietta in Denver, working with explosives to do welding and metal testing on energy absorbing ablative tiles for spacecrafts. The ablative tiles were to prevent the spacecrafts from burning up upon re-entry from space. Don also worked for an Idaho nuclear research group in Idaho Falls, ID, and in the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay Alaska. Don felt secure in nuclear work and knowing that he worked in a field that was on the cutting edge for new types of nuclear power plants and their safety concerns.
Don loved to repair broken things, and take apart things that were not broken, relying on his education as a mechanical engineer. He was a giving person, devout Christian, and honorably served in the US Army – one can say that he devoted his life to what is called in Hebrew “tikkun olam”, repair of the world.
Finally, he came across one thing that he could not fix…
A graveside service and burial will be held Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. in The Highland Cemetery in Eddyville, Iowa, a procession will form at the Bates Funeral Chapel at 12:30 Saturday afternoon for those wishing to attend the service.
Graveside Military Rites will be given by the Oskaloosa Honor Guard.
A Memorial service will be held in the Bates Funeral Chapel at 2:00 p.m. Saturday May 15, 2021 with Reverend Michael Kuhn officiating.
To honor Don’s service in the US Army, instead of sending flowers, please make donations to any veteran charity.
To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Donald Dean Bouma please visit the Bates Funeral Chapel Sympathy Store.
