Lois Strom

Lois Tysse Strom, daughter of the late Reverend Gerrit Tysse and Eva Van Oostenbrugge, passed away on Thursday, July 14, in Holland at 99 years of age. The Tysse’s were longtime residents of Holland, residing on East 13th Street across from Western Theological Seminary from about 1918 into the 1960s. The Tysse and Van Oostenbrugge families had emigrated from Zaandam and Rhenen in the Netherlands and settled in Roseland and South Holland, Illinois, respectively. The Gerrit Tysse family later settled in Holland when Gerrit’s pastoral duties brought him here. Lois, the tenth of eleven children, graduated from Hope College and thereafter moved to Fenton, Michigan, where she taught in the Fenton Public Schools for 31 years. She received her M.A. degree from the University of Michigan. She was an active member of the Fenton Presbyterian Church and later Third Reformed Church. She sang in the choir, served as an elder in the Presbyterian Church, taught Sunday school and was superintendent of the Sunday school for many years. She played the piano and was a passionate supporter of the musical arts. She also was an avid bird watcher and participated in more athletic activities such as swimming and hiking.

Lois was preceded in death by her husband Arthur F. Strom of Fenton, her daughter Kristin, five sisters - Anna Mae Roth, Agnes Tysse, Dr. Eva McGilvray, Cornelia Hartough, and Marian Williams, and five brothers - Henry Tysse, Gerrit Tysse, Clarence Tysse, James Tysse, and Kenneth Tysse. She is survived by her daughters Sigrid Strom of Seattle and Marilyn Strom of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, her grand-daughters Kelsie Leonard and Hillary Leonard of Boston, and many nieces and nephews.