Patricia Ann Smith Koster

Pat Koster was a woman who cherished the moments and appreciated the people that made life so special. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother; and a friend to so many, teaching all of us about love along the way. You see, Pat understood what so many of us often forget: that what truly matters is not how much time we are given, but what we do with the time we have. It is the times we shared with this beautiful, remarkable woman we remember most today.

The year was 1946. America and the free world joined in celebration of our victory over tyranny in World War II. For so many across the globe, it was a time of renewed peace and newfound hope. Here in this little corner of the country, on the sandy shores of Benton Harbor, Michigan, one young couple had their own cause for celebration, with the birth of a beautiful baby daughter.

Patricia Ann Smith was born August 26, 1946, on a warm, muggy Monday in Benton Harbor, the third of three children to Ron and Dolores (Logan) Smith. Her father was a Detective Lieutenant with the Benton Harbor Police Department, while her mother worked as a sewing instructor in addition to raising the children.

Pat grew up a very bright, vivacious and talented child and attended Benton Harbor Public Schools. She was very musically inclined and played the cello in high school in addition to singing in the church choir at First Presbyterian Church, where the family all attended. She was also very involved in the Junior Achievement program and was even selected to participate in a conference at Indiana University.

One day in 1962, while she was just a sophomore in high school, she and her sister Judy went with their Uncle Jay to a little diner called the Capri Restaurant in Bangor, near where Jay lived. And Pat caught the eye of one of the restaurant's regulars, a handsome young man named Ron Koster, who was a freshman at Hope College. Ron was a Bangor native, and loved to hang out at the Capri with his friends, drinking coffee and talking. How lucky for him that he did. He was immediately taken with the young Pat and he nervously approached her and asked her if he could call her sometime. She of course said yes, beginning a lifelong romance.

Pat and Ron dated the next two years while she was still in high school. Three days after her eighteenth birthday, on August 29, 1964, a warm, sunny Saturday, the two were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Benton Harbor.

The happy, young couple began their life together in a little upstairs apartment on South Shore Drive in Holland, while Ron finished his studies in chemistry at Hope College. Pat took a job with the Parks and Recreation Department, and worked for Joe Moran at the Civic Center downtown.

Soon Ron graduated from Hope, and landed a job with a company that would eventually be called BASF, working as a research assistant. It was a welcome change for the couple, who could now afford to become a family.

Soon Pat and Ron welcomed the birth of their first child, beautiful daughter Lori, born in 1966 at Holland Hospital. Three years later, son David joined the happy family.

While they were young Pat devoted her energy toward her children; she was an exceptionally wonderful mother. Like her mother before her, Pat loved to sew and embroider, and loved to decorate her home beautifully for the holidays, especially Christmastime, taking such pride in her home.

But in 1982, Pat was diagnosed with breast cancer, and had a mastectomy to fight it. Like everything she did, she was determined to beat the disease and was very aggressive about reading and learning everything she could about it. When the disease came back in 1985, she became involved in a clinical study at the National Institute of Health, involving radiation, chemotherapy, and long commutes to Bethesda, Maryland over the next six years, until 1991, when the cancer went into remission.

Then in good health, Pat made the most of her time with renewed vigor, taking various jobs outside thehome, including selling Tupperware, working at Meijer, Charley's Market and as a clerk at Ottawa Savings & Loan. She and Ron also began to travel after the children had grown, going to California, Arizona, and even Europe.

She also enjoyed many hobbies, including genealogy, and studied both hers and Ron's families extensively. Together she and Ron joined the Fellowship Reformed Church in Holland. She and Ron also loved to entertain, decorating the house for the occasion, and Pat enjoyed a nice glass of wine from time to time. She had such an infectious, outgoing personality, with a great laugh that always showed her dimples. Pat was simply a fun-loving lady.

But what Pat loved the most, of course, was her family and friends, who were always so important to her. She loved them all so much and always made sure she gave them the right gifts, always seemed to know what they wanted or needed most. She cherished every special moment in her children's lives, especially their weddings and the births of her grandchildren. Her daughter Lori married Mark DeLand on September 2, 1989, with three children: Adam, born February 7, 1992, Evan, born March 12, 1996, and Nathan, born July 13, 1999. Pat's son David married Paula Gerard on June 25, 1994, with son Sean born April 25, 1997 and Pat's only granddaughter Regan born June 10, 2000. Her grandchildren could light up Pat's eyes like no other, and their births were some of the most cherished days of Pat's life, in a life full of cherished moments.

Pat's cancer returned in 2004 and after another long battle, she was received into God's eternal peace Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2006 at Holland Hospital. She leaves behind an amazing legacy of a life lived to the fullest and love given wholeheartedly. She was an amazing wife, mother, and grandmother, and a woman who taught us all so much. Today her lessons and her love live on in the hearts of all who knew her. She will be greatly missed.

Patricia Ann (Smith) Koster, age 59, of Holland, passed away on Wednesday February 1, 2006 at Holland Hospital after a long struggle with breast cancer.

She is survived by her husband of 41 years, Ronald Koster of Holland; her children, Lori and Mark DeLand of Holland, David and Paula Koster of West Olive; her five grandchildren, Adam, Evan, Nathan DeLand, all of Holland, Sean and Regan Koster of West Olive; her parents Ron and Dolores Smith of Benton Harbor; her mother-in-law and step father-in-law, Jennie Koster and Nelson Stegeman of Holland, her brother Jim and Mary Sue Smith of Richmond, VA, her sister, Judy and Ted Zindler of Benton Harbor; her brother-in-law, Rich and Marty Koster of Portage, sister-in-law, Roxanne and Bill Helder of Holland; and sister-in law, Louise Koster of Holland; numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral Services will be held on Monday, February 6, 2006 at 11 a.m. at Fellowship Reformed Church, 300 N. 168th Avenue with Rev. James Baar officiating.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, February 5, 2006 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at the Dykstra Life Story Funeral Homes, Northwood Chapel, 295 Douglas Avenue.

Burial will take place at Lakewood Cemetery. Memorial Contributions may be given to American Cancer Society.

Arrangements by Dykstra Life Story Funeral Homes, Inc., Northwood Chapel, www.lifestorynet.com