Johannes Willem Vande Merwe

Surrounded by his loving family, our dearly loved husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend passed away on Dec.18, 2010. Dad was born September 17, 1930 in the lovely town of Dordrecht, Netherlands to Jan van de Merwe and Cornelia Lucia Wetter. He was born the third son of nine children. They all learned the value of hard work. The family and the country suffered through World War II. They were dedicated to the LDS Church and immigrated to Utah after the war. Dad and two of his brothers came across first. At age 16 he was listed on the ships manifest as occupation: carpenter. The family settled in Glendale and got to work. Dad was a tall handsome Dutch boy with a flat top haircut and a cute accent. He served his church in the Eastern States Mission. He went to work for Weyher Construction, starting at the bottom and working his way up to Vice-President. He was drafted before he was even a citizen and served in the US Army. He was very good at his job and built many of the freeway bridges that we drive over to this day. He commanded respect from the workers; they called him Uncle Joe. He was working on a bank building and noticed a cute secretary named Donna Moore. He courted her and made her his eternal companion on April 18, 1958 in the Salt Lake Temple. If work took him out of town he was miserable without his "bunkie." He built a home for his future family when he was 29. Dad was very generous and the home was always open to foster children, exchange students, visitors, guests and people he was helping. The children worked hard by maintaining the yard and other properties he acquired. He was grateful to be an American and loved to fly the flag. When traveling outside the country he would keep his passport next to his heart; he didn't want any trouble getting back in. He served in City Government. He encouraged and supported all his children in their education. They were richly rewarded for their work on his investment properties as they were sold to pay for their educations. All of his boys earned graduate degrees. To make sure they went back to school in the fall he would put them on such hard jobs at Weyher that they couldn't wait to get back to school. Even after Dad retired he kept working hard. Mom and Dad served as senior missionaries in South Africa, Mission President in Nigeria and Bishop. His faith, family and hard work were the themes of his life. He bought a large historic building in Kanosh because it needed someone to save it before it fell down; plus it gave them another excuse to work hard. He was strong and healthy until he was stricken with cancer at almost age 80. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers Pieter and Adrian, and his sister Lena (Dahl) Goble. He is survived by his wife of 52 years Donna Moore Vande Merwe, his children Adrian (Jamie) V., Joe (Kari) V., Audrey (Greg) Buttars, David (Kim) V., and Robert (Liz) V., brothers and sisters John (Gladys) V., Steve (Klazina) V., Corrie Asmus, Bill (Janice) V., Bea V. and 15 grandchildren. We will always miss his giant spirit. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday Dec. 21 at at 1 p.m. at the North Salt Lake Stake Center, 261 East Center St., North Salt Lake. Friends may call Monday the 20th from 6 to 8 p.m. at Russon Brothers Mortuary, 295 N. Main, Bountiful, or Tuesday from 11:30a.m. to 12:30 p.m at the church. Interment will be at the Bountiful City Cemetery. Donations may be made in his memory to the Perpetual Education Fund at www.LDSPhilanthropies.org.