Serving West Michigan Since 1899

Craig Kammeraad

March 19, 1952 - January 28, 2022
Holland, MI

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Celebration of Life

Saturday, August 27, 2022
2:00 PM EDT
Virginia Park Maatman Center
669 Harrington Avenue
Holland, MI 49423

Food and beverages will be provided.

Contributions


At the family's request memorial contributions are to be made to those listed below. Please forward payment directly to the memorial of your choice.

The Holland Hospital - Kammeraad Memorial Fund
602 Michigan Avenue
Holland, MI 49423

Life Story / Obituary


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Craig Walter Kammeraad, age 69, passed away on January 28, 2022, at Holland Hospital.

Craig was born on March 19, 1952, in Holland, Michigan, to parents Herbert and Patricia Kammeraad. Craig was one of six children - with siblings Karen, Kim, Mark, Kelly, Kristy.

The Kammeraad family lived on the south side of Holland near 23rd Street and Graafschap, where Craig, his siblings and countless neighborhood friends would play outside for hours upon hours.

Craig graduated from Holland High School in 1970. During high school, shop class was his favorite and that is where his love of wood working began. Early in his life he made hope chests as gifts, while later enjoyed creating and building his own guitars. He also built tables, entertainment centers, cabinets and even a house!

In his younger years, Craig worked at the Gulf gas station on 8th Street. He also enjoyed doing car restoration paint jobs. He transitioned to using his craftsman skills to become a handyman and then on to maintaining swimming pools. And all the while, using his self-taught guitar and keyboard playing skills in the band Sweetwater.

Craig met his wife, Pam, as children in the neighborhood but it wasn’t until high school, in 1969, that they started dating. Craig and Pam got married in 1973 at Leisure Acres at an outdoor wedding. They both shared the love of northern Michigan and vacationed many, many times in the Upper Peninsula, Mackinaw Island and Bear Lake. Craig and Pam also shared the love of motorcycles. They were involved in a number of family-friendly motorcycle owner groups and with these groups traveled thousands of miles over the years. Craig and Pam started the tradition, in 1996, of going to Bike Week in Daytona, Florida – rain or shine (usually rain until they got further south).

Craig and Pam had two daughters, Rhiannon born in 1978 and Ashley born in 1983. The family continued the tradition of traveling to northern Michigan – camping at Yogi Bear, staying at a lakeside cottage on Bear Lake and the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island. Craig, Pam and the girls also looked forward to the yearly Kammeraad family reunion at Uncle Norm and Aunt Donna's Indian Lake cottage and had lots of fun in the sun with the extended family.

Craig was the chef of the family, while Pam was the baker. Some favorite dishes prepared by Craig were meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, smoked rotisserie chicken, meatballs and his secret recipe macaroni and cheese.

Craig and Pam were married for 31 years when Pam was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer. Craig was her number one caregiver and did not leave her side. Pam passed away in 2004 and we were all devastated.

Craig sold the home the two shared after Pam passed away and he bought a fixer upper. That fixer upper was what kept Craig busy for the coming years. He was able to use his craftsman skills to make it a home. While living in the fixer upper and finalizing that house, he went on to build a house from the ground up on the property next door – where he currently lived.

In 2012, Craig met Sherri. When they weren’t working on the house, gardening or loving on their dogs, they enjoyed camping with friends and sitting fireside making smores. They also traveled down to their favorite campground in Florida during the Michigan winters to meet up with friends.

Most recently, Craig developed a love for making maple syrup. From drilling his own taps to creating a reverse osmosis filter system and boiling down the sap to process the syrup. We knew when it was maple syrup season because he would always ask for empty milk jugs for his taps. It is really, quite the operation.

A Celebration of Life for Craig, will be 2 pm, Saturday (August 27), at the Virginia Park Maatman Center located at 669 Harrington Avenue, Holland, Michigan 49423 - food and beverages will be provided.

Our family would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of the staff at Holland Hospital for their unwavering support.

Craig is survived by his daughters Rhiannon (Derek) Wolff and Ashley (Mark) Zuidema; grandchildren Alan Kiekintveld, Jordan Brooks, Brittany Zuidema, and Axel Wolff; great-grandchildren Quentin and Lucatiel Kiekintveld; siblings Karen TerVree, Kim Kammeraad, Mark (Chris) Kammeraad, and Kelly Kammeraad, siblings-in-law Eileen and Tom Wiersma and Diane and John Ybarra, and his fur babies Mika and Millan. He is also survived by several aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins. Craig leaves behind his companion, Sherri Southwell. He was preceded in death by his wife Pamela Kammeraad, his parents Herbert and Patricia Kammeraad, his parents-in-law Albertus and Donna VanderVeen, sister Kristy Kammeraad, and granddaughter Celina Zuidema.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Holland Hospital - Kammeraad Memorial Fund 602 Michigan Avenue Holland, MI 49423.

Arrangements are by the Dykstra Funeral Home-Mulder Chapel.