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Elsie Mae (Ryken) De Vaan, age 87, of El Centro, CA passed away Saturday, June 16, 2012, at Woods Health Center, La Verne, CA.
Funeral services and Catholic mass were held on Wednesday, June 20, at the Richardson-Peterson Funeral Home in Ontario, CA.
Burial with graveside prayer service was in the Evergreen Cemetery in El Centro, CA next to Elsie’s beloved late husband Walt.
Elsie Mae (Ryken) De Vaan was born in Yankton, SD on November 27, 1925 to Pearl Ethyl (Van Osdel) and Lawrence John Ryken. She grew up on the Ryken Farm with her brothers Marvin, Peter and Lawrence (Bill). Brother James died in infancy.
Elsie attended public schools in Gayville, SD and then went to South Dakota’s Southern State College and received an AA degree in business after which she was a certified bookkeeper and stenographer. This led her to Minneapolis, MN for her first job and while there she met Walt De Vaan shortly after WWII. Elsie and Walt De Vaan were married at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Yankton, on November 27, 1947, and they moved to Southern California in the mid 1950s.
In the early sixties, Elsie and Walt sold everything except their home in Monrovia, CA and said goodbye to family and signed up for a three-year commitment as Lay Mission Helpers in Africa, building missionary churches and schools in what later became the nation of Zambia. After returning to the United States the couple settled back in Monrovia, CA and eventually purchased property in El Centro, CA where they established their A-Z Rental business.
Walt died in 1979. Elsie continued to be involved in the church. She taught CCD (catechism). She became president of the Soroptimist organization in 1981. She became a third order Carmelite. She headed an annual retreat each year for the women of the Imperial Valley.
Elsie had no children but is survived by many loving friends and family, including her sisters-in-law, Gladys, Helen and Judy and nieces and nephews of her late brothers, Marvin (Gladys), Pete (Helen) and Bill (Judy).
Yankton Press & Dakotan
July 6, 2012 (bron: Find a Grave)
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1925 - 2012 (86 jaar)