Every Senior has a Story - Jeanette VandeKrol,103

Purchased two years ago, when she could see, she knew what she wanted. For all intents and purposes, Jeanette VandeKrol is blind, but she wanted to dress up for our visit, and so she was helped by Kim Spreacker with the sage green suit and flowered blouse with the pearl buttons. (Kim is one of the most compassionate activities people at Pella Regional you can imagine, but that's another story.)

Born six miles north of Sully in 1908 to Gerdie and Tony Vos, Jeanette had but one sibling, an older brother. When Jeanette graduated at the age of 12 from the eighth grade at Union School in Jasper County, she was too young for high school - too young for her parents to board her in town - and so she helped her mother on the farm. She helped particularly with the washing, both with her mother, and in the neighborhood. By the time she was 14 she was doing the spring and fall house cleaning by herself.

Jeanette stayed on the farm until she was twenty-one and married Leslie VandeKrol in 1929. She met him as a child; he was a friend of her brother's from school who would occasionally come to visit on the farm.

Leslie's parents were both gone, and he was living with his sister and her eight children. The couple pooled their resources when Leslie became of age and received his inheritance; Jeanette's father had fat steers to sell, with the money coming to her. Together they bought a farm and much of the equipment that came with it, including a herd, and were married on Christmas Eve.

Childless, they lived and worked the farm together, raising dairy cattle, hogs, various other farm animals, and crops. She had a pet cow that ate the dandelions, and a couple of pet pigs whose bellies she rubbed until when they saw her coming, they'd flip over and wait for her to get there. In what little spare time they had, the couple played board games, or watched baseball on television. Relating the time when she required major surgery (after which she could only eat green beans for ten days), Jeanette said "You'd think you'd be scared, but I wasn't. It was a wonderful experience! On the operating table I heard my aunt singing Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that when I woke up I would see either Jesus or my husband. It was my husband."

She continued "I couldn't lift anything for three months. I could put the eggs in the egg bucket, but not carry the egg buckets. Leslie carried them for me. I never knew he would be such a help to me. My insides were very tired for a long time. I felt so weak those three months. I'd always helped with the milking but I couldn't then. He was very good to watch over me."

Getting electricity on the farm in 1937 was a major milestone, as were paved roads. "Oh those roads were wonderful. Once we had electricity, we bought an iron, refrigerator from Sears and Roebuck in Oskaloosa, and later a deep freeze. We put lights on the Christmas tree and the tree in the window, then ran outdoors to look at it in the window! We had everything people in town had, and thought we were on Wall Street!"

They farmed until they moved to Pella in 1962. Leslie worked on a grinder at Vermeer before working at the Dutch Buffet for ten years. Jeanette cleaned homes for fourteen years. She also did the coffee cart at the hospital for 23 years as part of the auxiliary. They took occasional trips through the Midwest and in the southern states. There were five couples who used to go to the State Fair together every year, and to Riverview Park in Des Moines for picnics; Jeanette is the only one of the group still living.

Leslie had died suddenly at the age of 70 while at work. "He knew the things that irritated me; I knew the things that irritated him. You don't get the cow out of the creek. It was best to just keep busy. But I still ate alone. One plate at the table. One person going to bed. I miss his company very much."

One of her most prized possessions is the birthday card Leslie gave her on her 70th birthday. Of course neither of them knew it would be the last card he ever gave her. The words that comfort her on that card follow.

For My Wonderful Wife

Because you know me as you do
My moods, my thoughts, my feelings, too
I hope you'll know at least a part
Of the love for you within my heart,
And you'll know the wish I send with love,
Is for the joy you're so deserving of.

Happy Birthday with all my love

Jeanette stayed in her home until she moved in West Fair Haven in 1988; in 2003 she moved to the Long Term Care Unit at Pella Regional.

Jeanette likes the old hymns of the faith, but says the new hymns are pretty nice too. She remembers her mother singing the old hymns while she worked in the kitchen. She remembers like it was yesterday the sound of her father's footsteps as he carried the lantern upstairs, leading Jeanette and her brother to bed when they were children. She remembers winning the Biggest Turnip contest at the Pella Chronicle.

"I loved the farm," she said. She enjoyed being a homemaker and gardening. "I canned everything but my husband!"

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