Virginia Arlene Kuipers

Virginia Arlene Kuipers, 89, of Platte, SD passed away Thursday, June 23, 2022 at Avera Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls, SD. Visitation will be held from 6:00 – 7:00 PM Monday, June 27, 2022 at the Platte Christian Reformed Church. A Committal Service will take place at 12:00 PM Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at the Platte City Cemetery. Visitation will continue from 1:30 – 2:30 PM at the church on Tuesday with a 2:30 PM Memorial Service. Mount Funeral Home of Platte is assisting with arrangements. Expressions of sympathy may be extended to the family through mountfuneralhome.com. The service will be live-streamed under "Photos and Videos" on the funeral home website (Webcasting), through “Mount Funeral Homes” Facebook page and at www.plattecrc.org.   

Virginia Arlene (Shelbourn) Kuipers was born on June 3, 1933 to Adelbert and Adelia (Hobson) Shelbourn in Cherry County, west of Valentine, NE. Virginia lived a life of quiet perseverance and walked through life with all its joys and trials with a positive and non-complaining attitude and enjoyed keeping up and staying in contact with family and friends. Her life of perseverance included many things that would either make you bitter or better - such as being born during the depression, contracting polio at age 18 resulting in deafness in one ear and having to relearn how to walk. As you can see from the way she lived her life, she obviously chose to make it better. She was also a four-time cancer survivor (46-year breast cancer survivor).

She graduated high school in Todd County in 1950 and went on to attend Springfield Teachers College, becoming a teacher at age 17 teaching students almost her age. She taught in rural Todd County for six years, then at the urging of a good friend from Corsica, she accepted a position at the Corsica Christian Grade School. It was during that time she met the “love of her life”, Lloyd Kuipers on a blind date. Lloyd and Virginia were married on June 12, 1957 at the Lakeview Reformed Church and recently celebrated 65 years of marriage with a gathering of immediate family members.

Virginia was a faithful member of the Platte Christian Reformed Church for 65 years. She wasn’t one for verbal sermons, but devotions at the table and a life of modeling Christ’s unconditional love for us was the norm. She loved cooking and was VERY good at it. She would always “tweak” the recipes to perfect them and “experiment” on immediate family members to see if it would meet the accepted standards. Sunday family dinners were a tradition up until a couple weeks ago. She baked and decorated cakes, including some wedding cakes for family and each of the kids remember special cakes for their birthdays. Ceramics at Virginia’s was a fond memory of many in the community, she was known for her ability to “make the eyes look good”.

She loved to travel, having visited over 36 states. Virginia would plan family vacations doing research and in later years if family members were away, she appreciated being informed so she could follow along on her atlas the routes taken and sights seen.

Her love for plants, gardening and flowers came through in the flower arrangements she created for their home and at church. Lloyd and Virginia took pride in growing some of the best sweet corn around the country; they loved giving the corn to family and others, not wanting any to go to waste.

Virginia also was a willing volunteer for Platte Christian and Dakota Christian School, the hospital auxiliary and a Gems Counselor at church.

Grateful for having shared in Virginia’s life are: her husband, Lloyd Kuipers of Platte, SD; three children: Lee Ray (Donna) Kuipers of Rapid City, SD, Karla (Ken) Overweg of Platte, SD and Gary Kuipers of Platte, SD; nine grandchildren: Chris Kuipers, Jeremy (Sarah) Kuipers, Kelsey Kuipers, Jenna Kuipers, Kara (Ryan) Groen, Trevor Overweg, Lexy Overweg, Austin Severson and Natalie Severson; nine great-grandchildren: Owen Kuipers, Remi Kuipers, Piper Kuipers, Charlie Kuipers, Elliot Kuipers, Natalie Kuipers, Carter Kuipers, Beckham Groen and Quinn Groen; a brother, Robert (Sandra) Shelbourn of Lincoln, NE; two sisters-in-law: Marilyn and Shirley Shelbourn; in-laws: Gerald (Vonnie) Kuipers, Joann and Marie Kuipers; along with many nieces and nephews.

Virginia was preceded in death by: her parents, Adelbert and Adelia Shelbourn; two brothers: Leslie Shelbourn and Dennis Shelbourn; a sister, Delores Taylor; parents-in-law, Albert (Dena) Kuipers; in-laws: Henry A. (Betty) Kuipers, Nina Kuipers, Adeline Kuipers, Harm (Bertha) Kuipers, Marion (Allis ) Hansum, George Kuipers, infant Bertha Kuipers and Marion Kuipers.

Memorials in Virginia’s memory may be directed to: Dougherty Hospice House Foundation, Platte Health Center Avera - Go Pink Fund, Platte Christian Reformed Church, or Dakota Christian School.