Visitation
Monday, December 11, 2006
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM EST
Dykstra Funeral Homes
Northwood Chapel
295 Douglas Avenue
Holland, MI 49424
(616) 392-2348
Driving Directions
Visitation
Monday, December 11, 2006
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM EST
Dykstra Funeral Homes
Northwood Chapel
295 Douglas Avenue
Holland, MI 49424
(616) 392-2348
Driving Directions
Service
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
11:00 AM EST
Dykstra Funeral Homes
Downtown Holland Chapel
29 East Ninth Street
Holland, MI 49423
(616) 392-2348
Driving Directions
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.
Hospice House of Holland
Life Story / Obituary
Max Bakker was a very intelligent man, a problem-solver and an inventor as well as a great athlete. He loved reading about history, playing golf, hunting deer and eating cookies. Endlessly curious about the way the world worked, Max jumped from project to project; he was blessed, however, to be constantly surrounded by a loving circle of family and friends.
Max was the second of Henry and Harriet (Douma) Bakker's four children. He grew up in the North Holland-Harlem area, where Mr. Bakker worked in a brass foundry, also doing some pattern work. At that time, the area was quite rural, and Max attended the one-room Robart School. In his free time, Max loved hunting, working on cars, and wrestling with his cousin Lloyd.
After Robart School, Max went on to attend Holland High School. In between studying and playing softball, Max found a girlfriend too: Barbara Walker. They first met at a roller skating rink, and Max remembers Barbara as "the prettiest girl he ever met." Max graduated in 1951, and the following year Max and Barbara invited friends and family to celebrate their marriage. Their first home was in an apartment on the South side of Holland, in Virginia Park. In 1953, Max and Barbara were blessed with the birth of a beautiful daughter, Cindy, soon followed by two brothers and a sister: Curt, Melanie, and Shawn. Since Max and his new family had stayed in the Holland area, they were lucky enough to maintain close ties with Max's parents. In fact, Max and his dad were infamous for always having a car half-way torn apart in the garage. Max and Barbara's first home (in Scotts Wood) was built by Max himself with help from family - some of the lumber was harvested from his father's land. The Bakkers were religious, and attended first the Harlem Reformed Church and later the First United Methodist Church, both of Holland.
Max supported his family by working as a pattern maker in the western Michigan area. His first job was at Holland Pattern, and later at Seaway Pattern and Anderson Pattern. Very mechanically gifted, Max was known as an excellent pattern maker. In 1965, the Bakkers bought a cottage on Lake Macatawa and in 1969 removed the cottage and built their present home. Max loved being outdoors, and the whole family spent a lot of time on the lake. Max built their first boat, which all the kids loved skiing behind. The family also took many camping trips, up North
and even up to Canada. To conserve space (important with six people in the car), each kid was assigned a beer case for clothing - if it didn't fit in the beer case, it didn't go! When he had time, Max also enjoyed traveling out West to hunt. He was interested in archery, and became a member of the Holland archery club. He also enjoyed going on fishing and hunting trips with his father-in-law. In the late 1980's, the Bakkers and Beltmans built a cabin together near Long Lake (Cadillac).
Throughout his life, Max loved tinkering with things - he had the soul (and the mechanical aptitude) of in inventor. In addition to building several homes and cabins, the family boat, and laminated recurve bows, Max was always willing to build or fix things for friends and family members. Everything in the Bakker house worked well, since Max would adjust things to make them work just a little more smoothly. When his daughter Melanie needed a piano for her house Max purchased an old piano and rebuilt it entirely from cherry hardwood. He loved music, and played both the harmonica and Concertina. Max even thought of inline-skates before they were officially invented!
After his retirement in 1996, one of Max's greatest joys was spending time with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren (for whom he built high chairs, of course). Energetic and fun-loving, Max continued to roller blade and ice skate with his grandkids until after he was seventy! When Max was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, his granddaughter Kerry volunteered to help him. For the past three years she has been his care-giver, and is the reason that Max did not have to go to a nursing home.
Max Bakker died Friday December 8, 2006 at Hospice House of Holland, MI. He was preceded in death by his grandson, Michael Klomparens, in 1992. His Family includes his Wife of 54 years, Barbara Bakker; his children, Cindy and Dan Klomparens of Hamilton, MI, Curt and Kathy Bakker of Holland, MI, Melanie and Karl Koppenaal of Holland, MI, and Shawn and Sue Bakker of Bremerton, WA; 12 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; his brother and sister, Norma and Herman Hackstock of Grand haven, MI, and Terry and Beverly Bakker of Grand Haven,
MI; his in-laws, Joanne and Lloyd Bakker of Brimley, MI, Marley and Nancy Walker of Holland, MI, and Diana and Ken Beltman of Holland, MI; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Services will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at North Holland Reformed Church with the Rev. Josh VanLeeuwen officiating. Burial will be in Rest Lawn Memorial Gardens. Visiting will be from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Monday at Northwood Chapel Dykstra Funeral Home, 295 Douglas Ave., Holland, MI. Memorials may be made to Hospice House of Holland. Please visit www.lifestorynet.com for further information and an online registry.