Thelma Mae Hiemstra's Obituary
Thelma Mae Ferrier Hiemstra, 91, died on Tuesday, August 23, at Beebe Hospital after a brief illness. She was born in Wilmington on April 7, 1920 to Leonard Staton Ferrier and Bertha Mae Reed Ferrier and was descended from early Scots Presbyterian and English settlers of Delmarva. She was salutatorian of the first graduating class at P.S. DuPont High School in Wilmington, January 1938. In 1942 she married William L. Hiemstra and together they lived in Milton, Florida, Water Valley, Mississippi, Paterson and Hawthorne, New Jersey, and Grand Rapids, Michigan before moving to Lewes in 1980.
A gifted teacher, editor, and leader in Reformed and Presbyterian churches, she was the national chair of a study group on the “Role of Women in the Church” for the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America and was instrumental in bringing about the ordination of women in that denomination. She was active in the Lewes Presbyterian Church as teacher, elder, and newsletter editor. She was a member of the committee that organized the Lewes Rehoboth Association of Churches (LRAC) and served as its first president. She was a member of the Lewes Historical Society and an avid student of the history of tea.
Preceeded in death by her husband of 62 years, the Reverend Dr. William Louis Hiemstra, she is survived by her three children, Lois Ann Hiemstra McKim and David of Charlottesville, VA, Paul Hiemstra and Lawrence Earle of Annapolis, MD, and Marc and Stella terHart Hiemstra of Bobcaygeon, Ontario, her six grandchildren, Rachel Hiemstra Dierolf and Frederick of Ottawa, Ontario, Jessica Hiemstra VanderHorst and Greg of Sierra Leone, Ann McKim Fievet and Charles of Cambridge, MA, Joshua and Teema Hiemstra of Hamilton, Ontario, Sarah McKim of Kabul, Afghanistan, Jason McKim of New York City, and two greatgrandchildren, Yannick and Hedda Dierolf.
A Memorial Service will be held at 3 pm, Saturday, September 3, 2011 at the Lewes Presbyterian Church, 133 Kings Highway, Lewes. A private service of interment was held at the church. Arrangements by Parsell Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Lewes.
Contributions in her memory may be made to the Lewes Rehoboth Association of Churches (LRAC), 34686 Jiffy Way, Lewes, DE 19958.
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