Andrew John Vrooman

1954 - 2020

We are saddened to announce that Andrew John Vrooman, born October 20, 1954 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, died suddenly of a heart attack on May 2, 2020 in Les Cayes, Haiti. John grew up in Kitchener and Waterloo, attending Prueter Public School, Empire Public School, Centennial Senior Public School (Amos Ave), and Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School. The Vrooman family were members of Trinity United Church on Frederick Street in Kitchener. John was vigorous, adventurous, and above all, handy. He could make a silk purse from a sow’s ear, with material left over. In his youth, John had a love for trains inherited from his dad, Rans, for his old Dodge, the “deer finder”, and for hats, which in his younger days he sometimes wore to bed. In the mid-1970s John travelled with his church group to Worcester, Massachusetts where he found work at a small church in the community. Here he met and married the love of his life, Diane Beauregard. In 1983 John and Di left for Haiti as lay missionaries for Blue Ridge Christian Homes to build a girls’ school in Leogane, which they directed for eleven years until they turned it over to Haitian operators. Their missionary work continued in South and West Haiti for 37 years until John’s death at their home in Les Cayes last Saturday. John was a loving son, father, and grandfather, kind, generous, and caring, always helpful, and a great planner and negotiator of anything and everything. He had a wonderful sense of humour, with a smile and hearty laugh to match. John leaves behind a large family and a larger group of friends across Haiti, the United States, and Canada. He is survived by his wife, Diane, his father, Rans, predeceased by his mother, Barb nee Schneider. Sorely missed by their kids Lindsay Vilma, Andrew (Kortney), Kyle (Julianna), and Wesley (Rainy), and his siblings Don (Wendy Solway), Maryann Bailey (Bruce), Doug (Susan Chan), and Richard (Corinne Black). Diane and John have six grandchildren, Lydia, Daniel and Jonathan, Luna, Reagan, and Asher. John will also be missed by nieces and nephews Emily, Noah and Thomas Vrooman, Jill Bailey-Braun (Mike, Owen, Luka, Asher, and Nico), Beth Gordon (Trevor, Brooke, Tait, and Pierce), Caleb and Gwyn Bailey, Jason, Brandon and Laura Vrooman, and Liam Vrooman, by sister-in-law, Debbie Bilzerian, as well as uncles and aunts Arlene Vrooman, John C Schneider and Margaret, and cousins Kurt, Bill, Lee and Robert Schneider. John and Di travelled regularly between their three homes in Worcester, Massachusetts, in Les Cayes, Haiti, and in Bonita Springs, Florida. John’s Canadian family will miss him particularly in the summer when he would shepherd a flock of family members up from the south to maintain family ties. A memorial service was held on May 3 in Les Cayes, where John and Diane were surrounded by friends and neighbours. He will be cremated in Port-au-Prince, and will make his final journey back from Haiti with Diane as soon as a flight can be arranged. A FaceBook group “Remembering John Vrooman” is accessible at https://www.facebook.com/groups/547139575986610. A memorial service in Canada will be arranged either by web conference, or at a time and place to be determined when social distancing allows. John, we love you and miss you.