William Valk - Genealogy - Ancestry - Descendancy

William Valk (I06694)

Name:
William Valk

Gender: Male

Birth: 30 October 1912 -- Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan
Death: 10 October 1989 -- Caledonia, Kent, Michigan

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Personal Facts and Details

Notes

Note

VALK - Mr. William Valk, aged 76, of Alto, passed away October 10, 1989. Surviving are his wife; ‎[five]‎ children; 19 grandchildren, one great-granddaughter; brothers Ted Valk of Idaho, Jim ‎(Thelma)‎ Valk of Wyoming ‎[Michigan]‎; Robert ‎(Delores)‎ Valk of Wyoming, Ray Valk of Ocean Springs, MS; ‎[four]‎ sisters, ‎[including]‎ Jennette ‎(Jim)‎ Drew of Wyoming; one step-brother; ‎[four]‎ sisters, ‎[including]‎ Barbara Valk of Florida; a sister-in-law; several nieces and nephews. Mr. Valk was a member of the VFW Creston Post, a Veteran of WWII, and worked for Wolverine Brass for 27½ years. Funeral Services will be held Friday 1:30pm at the funeral home. Interment Rosedale Memorial Park. Visitation 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 Thursday at the Sullivan-Borr Chapel of Cook Funeral Home ‎(1725 S. Division)‎. ‎(from Grand Rapids [Michigan]‎ Press, Thursday, 12 October 1989)

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William "Bill" Valk, was born 30 October 1912 in Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan, the third of eight children born to William James Valk and Agnes "Aggie" Tuinstra. His siblings were: James William "Jim" Valk ‎(1910 - 1997)‎; George William Valk ‎(1911 - 1973)‎; John Chester "Chet" Valk ‎(1914 -1944)‎; Oscar William Valk ‎(1916 - 1984)‎; Theodore William "Ted" Valk ‎(1917 - 2002)‎; and twins Barbara Dorothy Valk ‎(1918 - 2001)‎ and John Valk ‎(1918 - 1918)‎.

He was born at home on 1242 Courtney Street; this house is believed to have been owned at one time by his mother's family. Whether his parents owned or were renting is unclear. By 1920, his parents owned the house at 1006 White Street, where he spent most of his childhood, and where the family lived until at least 1945.

During his very early childhood, the United States was involved in World War I. The pandemic influenza epidemic which followed killed more people than the war itself. Bill's mother Agnes apparently contracted the illness, and although she survived, was never the same afterward. She was committed to several psychiatric institutions, and when the 1920 Federal Census was taken, the family was scattered about. Agnes was in Kalamazoo State Hospital, while her husband William was living at the White Street address alone. Bill's older brother James was living with their paternal grandparents, James and Barbara ‎(DeJong)‎ Valk. Oscar was in a foster home. The other children, George, Chet, Ted and Barbara were living in Blodgett Children's Home in Grand Rapids. And Bill was living in the same home neighborhood with the family of Gerrit and Jennie Jarstra ‎(possible relatives of his mother)‎ at 1149 Pine Avenue.

After his mother passed away in 1921, Bill's father married a widow, Iva Eva Lambrecht Schadler, who brought to the household a child by her first marriage. The family was reunited, and expanded by the addition of eight half-siblings, five of whom survived infancy: Jennette Mildred Valk ‎(Mrs. Robert James Drew)‎ ‎(1926 - 1993)‎; Robert John Valk ‎(1927 - 2003)‎; Kenneth Raymond Valk ‎(1928 - 1928)‎; twin baby boys who were born New Year's Eve 1930 and only survived a few hours; Raymond Edwin "Ray" Valk ‎(1932 - 1990)‎; and two other children who are still living as of 2003.

Bill was still living with his father and step-mother on White Avenue, and was working as a laborer when he married his first wife, Elfriede Lomker on 13 May 1937. She was the daughter of Fred Lomker, Sr. and Anna Kirchdyke. They were married in South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana. In those days, Indiana was where Michiganders went for a quickie wedding. Bill and "Frieda" had a son, James "Jim" Frederick Valk on 25 February 1939. The marriage was not to last, however, and on 7 March 1941, a divorce was granted. The divorce record mentions that Bill was employed at Sheldon's Sandwich Shop in Grand Rapids. Elfriede later married Bill's brother Chet. Jim was developmentally disabled and was later institutionalized until his death on 20 May 1958. ‎(See information at the bottom of this page.)‎

On 6 January 1943, Bill was drafted into the U.S. Army at Camp Grant, Illinois. At the time, he was a welder's helper and lived at 2048 Greenfield Avenue, Grand Rapids. He served in World War II in the European Theater as a cook in an ordinance company. He received the Victory Medal, American Theater Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal and one Overseas Service Bar, and was honorably discharged 29 December 1945 at Fort Sheridan, Illinois.

	Events of close relatives
Birth	30 October 1912 Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan
Marriage	11 September 1943 (Age 30) Ruth Lillian Hoekstra - ‎[View Family ‎(F2756)‎‎] Junction City, Geary, Kansas
Fact 1	23 April 1946 (Age 33) Ruth Lillian Hoekstra - ‎[View Family ‎(F2756)‎‎] Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan
Birth of a child #1
Death	10 October 1989 (Age 76) Caledonia, Kent, Michigan Source: Michigan Deaths, 1971-1996 Source Text: Name: William VALK Birth Date: 30 October 1912 Death Date: 10 October 1989 Gender: Male Residence: Caledonia, Kent, Michigan Note: Michigan Deaths, 1971-1996 Name: William VALK Birth Date: 30 October 1912 Death Date: 10 October 1989 Gender: Male Residence: Caledonia, Kent, Michigan.
Social Security Number	384-10-5742 Source: USA Social Security Death Index Source Text: Name: William Valk SSN: 384-10-5742 Last Residence: 49302 Alto, Kent, Michigan, United States of America Born: 30 Oct 1912 Died: 10 Oct 1989 State ‎(Year)‎ SSN issued: Michigan ‎(Before 1951 )‎ Note: USA Social Security Death Index Name: William Valk SSN: 384-10-5742 Last Residence: 49302 Alto, Kent, Michigan, United States of America Born: 30 Oct 1912 Died: 10 Oct 1989 State ‎(Year)‎ SSN issued: Michigan ‎(Before 1951 )‎.