Henrietta G. (Schuur) Kluis

Henrietta G. Kluis was born Christmas Day in 1916 to Hemert and Bertha (Vande Voort) Schuur on the family farm near Chandler, MN.  She was baptized and professed her faith in the Chandler Reformed Church.  The second of eight children, Henrietta attended country school and then worked as a “hired-girl” for several neighbors, helping out with housework, cooking and chores.  She later worked at Krosschell Produce in Edgerton, MN as an egg candler.

On February 15, 1940 Henrietta married Felix Kluis in Chandler, MN.  They made their home on a farm southeast of Chandler in Fenton Township until their retirement, when they built a new home in Chandler.  They lost that home to the tornado twelve years later, and then built a new home in Slayton, MN, where they remained for many years and made many new friends.  Henrietta moved back to Chandler several years after her husband’s death in 2001.

She was a life-long member of the Chandler Reformed Church, where she taught Sunday School for many years and was active in the Ladies Aid and other women’s groups.  She was also active in both the Chandler and Slayton Senior Citizens, where she enjoyed playing cards.  For many years Henrietta and her husband enjoyed bowling in mixed doubles league and she also bowled in the ladies league.  She was a very congenial and sociable person that had many friends.  She would join the ladies at the Lutheran Church quilting for missions and in 2011; she was honored to be the Grand Marshall at the 125 ^th Chandler Anniversary parade.  Her family fondly remembers her as a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great-great grandmother, and mother-in-law.

In June of 2011 Henrietta entered the care of Hospice House of Murray County in Slayton, MN.  In August of 2011 she graduated from Hospice and moved to Edgebrook Care Center in Edgerton, MN, where she very much enjoyed all the activities and special care she received.  Henrietta died on Wednesday, March 28, 2012, surrounded by her loving family, at the age of 95.

Henrietta is survived by her two daughters, Twyla (fiancé, Don Armstrong) Weiland of Minneapolis, MN and Donnella (Dan) Griffin of Spring Grove, MN; three sons, Jim (Joan) Kluis of Slayton, MN, Farryl (Pat) Kluis of Faribault, MN, and Alan Kluis of Wayzata, MN; eighteen grandchildren; twenty great grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren; two sisters-in-law, Abelene Schuur of Chandler, MN and Julie Schuur of Luverne, MN; one brother-in-law, Arie Olivier of Slayton, MN;  nieces, nephews and friends.

Her husband, Felix, daughter, Audrey, son-in-law, Dean Weiland, her parents, Henry and Bertha, three brothers, Henry, Gilbert and John Schuur, three sisters, Nellie Olivier, Alice Groen and Jennie Grimmius and one infant sister, Margaret, preceded her in death.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be given to the Murray County Hospice or the Chandler Reformed Church Building Fund.