Harmina B VanLeuven

Harmina B. VanLeuven, or Harmke, was born to Marinus and Hermina Brijs on April 11, 1944 in Rotterdam, South Holland, The Netherlands. The Netherlands was in its fourth year of war with the German army, and on that day, the German army was bombing Rotterdam. It was a frightful time to have a baby. Nevertheless, Mom grew-up healthy and strong. Because of Mom's roots, her life was defined by her grit, determination, and love for her family.
Mom had many happy childhood memories of riding on the back of her mom's bicycle, going to the beach, and attending school in The Netherlands. Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints converted her parents when Mom was about four. Soon after, the Brijs family decided to move to America for a fresh start. In July of 1949, my mom and her parents boarded a shipping freighter to travel to New York City. From there, they took a long bus ride to Provo where they lived with their American sponsor until her parents could find jobs and earn some money to rent their own apartment.
Mom attended school and struggled to learn English. She finally got some help from a wonderful teacher in third grade. Once Mom learned English, she began to excel in school. When she graduated from high school, she was offered a full-tuition scholarship from the PTA to the University of Utah to become an elementary school teacher. After graduating with her bachelor's degree, Mom also earned a master's degree in education.
Mom met Dad in the singles ward in Salt Lake City. She was the ward organist, and Dad thought she had cute knees, so he asked her out. They dated for a year and a half before they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on May 26, 1972. They were the parents of five children: Kathy, Mitzi, Merrill, Julie, and Adrienne.
Mom was able to quit teaching for a while to raise her children. She put her teaching skills to work and taught us all to read, write, and solve math problems using little plastic bears before we went to school. She had weekly family home evenings where she would teach us the gospel with flannel board stories. Mom sewed us new Easter clothes and crafted fun little things for us to play with. For Christmas, Mom would make all kinds of candies and cookies for us to nibble on.
Mom loved music and learned to play piano, organ, guitar, and the string bass. She served as the ward organist in many different wards for decades. She also played for weddings, funerals, and many of her children's musical performances.
Mom was a passionate teacher, teaching mainly first and second grades for over 33 years. She specialized in teaching reading, especially to English language learners. A superintendent of a school district that she worked for commented that "Mrs. V could teach a table to read." She took a special interest in each student that entered her classroom and worked hard to help them learn throughout their time with her. We spent many summer evenings watching musicals and helping Mom cut out laminated games for her incoming class.
Having her family close was the most important thing to Mom. Mom loved talking on the phone with us. She would spend hours on the phone every week chatting with each of her kids. She worked hard to keep us all connected, even when we lived out of state. Mom had uncommon common sense and could boil a problem down to essence very quickly. Many of the world's problems were solved in those conversations.
Sadly, Mom developed Lewy body dementia soon after she retired. She struggled for years to make peace with slowly having her memories and abilities taken from her. It was a painful process for all of us.
Mom passed away peacefully with family by her side on November 28, 2024. She will always be loved and greatly missed by her children and grandchildren.
No viewing will be held. The funeral will be Thursday, December 5th at 11:00 AM at Wing Mortuary, 118 East Main in Lehi. Interment will be at the Lehi Cemetery.
The VanLeuven Family would like to thank the staff at Covington's memory care center in Orem and Renew Hospice for their kind and patient care of our mother. They often went above and beyond the call of duty to help our mom during the hardest part of her life. We would also like to thank the friends and neighbors who have helped Ron and Harmke over the past few years. Your service to our parents will always be remembered and greatly appreciated.
A broadcast of the service can be found on Wing Mortuary's Facebook page.