Frances Hoving

They started as scraps of fabric, each unique in their own way, with different patterns, shapes and sizes. Frances Hoving took these pieces and sewed them together into something beautiful, something cherished, and something loved. Frances did the same for so many of us, sewing us into the beautiful fabric of her life, from her many loyal friends, to the loving family who remember her today.

Frances' story began on a cool spring day in 1916, in the rolling farmland of Fillmore Township, Michigan, outside Holland's sandy shores. Those were exciting times in this country, still a year from entering the Great War, times of great change from the airplane to the automobile. On April 3, 1916, Bert and Allie (Schipper) Walters celebrated the birth of their first child, a beautiful baby girl, a daughter they named Frances.

Frances would be joined by two little brothers and two little sisters in the family's Fillmore Township home, where she learned the true importance of family. Being the oldest, she helped care for her younger siblings, instilling a powerful maternal instinct in young Frances.

Frances attended the Pioneer School through the eighth grade, when she left to find work to help support her family, as so many young people did in those days. She took a job at the Fennville Fruit Cannery for a time, but it wouldn't be long before she'd have a family of her own to care for.

One day Frances met a handsome young man named Peter Hoving, and the sparks flew between them. Frances was such a beautiful, vibrant young woman, with a great laugh and easy smile, and it didn't take Peter long to fall in love with her and ask her to be his wife.

Frances of course said yes, and the young couple was married, beginning so many wonderful years together, full of fun, faith, and most of all, family. The couple was blessed with four children in the coming years, Bob, Arla, Woody and Loren, who filled their lives with such great pride and joy.

Peter provided for his growing family by working at Harkema's Greenhouse, and later at Lamar Construction, while Frances cared for the kids and their home. To help make ends meet, she also cleaned cottages, did laundry, and other cleaning in the area for some extra income, ever the tireless worker she was.

The Hovings were a tight-knit family, and went camping together often with their trailer. It was quite common in the summertime for Peter to come home on a Friday, and they'd all pack up the trailer and head up to Northern Michigan for the weekend. They camped all over Northern Michigan, but their favorite spot was always East Lake, where they formed so many wonderful memories together.

Frances was the consummate wife and mother, and the ultimate homemaker, too. She loved to cook, and her special Sunday dinners were the stuff of legend, as all her family would gather around the dinner table, which she had turned into a veritable feast.

In 1977, Frances' beloved Peter died, which was very hard for her, but she got through it by staying as active as ever. Frances was always on the go, and rarely sat down other than to sew or knit, which was her truest passion.

Frances loved to knit, sew, crochet and quilt, and made so many beautiful garments over the years. She made many, many quilts, and especially baby blankets, which she churned out by the hundreds. If she had some free time, she sat down and sewed. If she was watching her favorite game shows on TV, she sat down and sewed. And if she couldn't sleep at night, she got up and sewed! The common thread among everything she did, was the love in which she put into it.

She donated so many of the garments over the years, just as she donated her time to the Holland Rescue Mission, and volunteered to visit the shut-ins as often as she could, too. That's just the way Frances was, a selfless woman of such great love, and faith. She was a loyal member of the Graafschap Christian Reformed Church for many years, where she made so many friends. Her love for the Lord was shown through everything she said and did for her family and friends.

Of course, being the fun-loving, "social butterfly" Frances was, she made friends easily, and often. She loved to get together with her friends for their monthly "Hen Party," where they had fun conversation and played cards - Frances loved to play games, and especially cards.

After her husband died, Frances and her group of friends did much together, and took many different bus tours all over the country. They would also go to the Conference Grounds, stay in a cottage somewhere, or especially, go to concerts, too.

Frances loved music of all kinds, and was a fixture at the American Legion Band Concert at Kollen Park every Tuesday in the summertime. Her favorite music was always the old-time Gospel hymns, however.

Later in life, as her health declined, Frances moved to the Haven Park Christian Nursing Home, where she of course made many new friends.

Sadly, Frances died on Friday, June 1, 2007, at Haven Park, at the age of 91.

Frances was a wonderful woman, who lived a wonderful life, a life so full of friendship, faith, and family. She was famous for her beautiful quilts and blankets, which she made with love, and gave with such grace. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and friend, and the common thread in the many lives she touched in her time with us. She will be so greatly missed.

Frances was preceded in death by her husband and a brother, Norman Walters, in 2006. Surviving are her children-Bob and Lois Hoving of Holland, Arla and Don Carroll of Zeeland, Woody and Marcia Hoving of Zeeland, and Loren and Arla Hoving of Allegan; 9 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren, and 2 great great grandchildren; brother-Eldon and Jacoba Walters of Zeeland; sister-Vivian and Preston Brandsen of Hudsonville; nephews, nieces, and cousins.

Services will be 11 am Monday at the Graafschap Christian Reformed Church with the Revs Stan Scripps and Henry Vanden Heuvel officiating. Burial will be in the Graafschap Cemetery.

Visiting will be 5-8 pm Sunday at the Dykstra Life Story Funeral Homes-Mulder Chapel, 188 West 32nd Street. Memorials may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation-West Michigan Chapter. Please visit her Memory Page at lifestorynet.com to share a memory or photo of her, or to sign the online guestbook.