Betty Vanderlaan
Betty R. Vanderlaan, 92, of Scottville entered into the presence of her Lord and Savior on Thursday, June 25, 2026 with her family by her side. Betty was born on Aug. 15, 1933 in the Reeman community of Newaygo County, the youngest of 13 children born to Jan and Marthalena (VanBruggen) Guikema and graduated with honors from Fremont High School with the class of 1951.
Betty, along with her best friend Lois Nordwall Andersen attended the Hackley Hospital School of Nursing in Muskegon where she graduated as president of her class in 1954 as a registered nurse. Her nursing career spanned over 45 years – serving as a surgical nurse in Muskegon; in doctors’ offices in Muskegon, Fremont, Scottville, and Ionia; as the director of nursing at Oakview Medical Care Facility for over 17 years; and as a home healthcare nurse for Memorial Medical Center, People’s Care Nursing in Grand Rapids, Helping Hands Home Care and Hospice in Ionia. Betty was honored as the Nurse of the Year in Ionia County in 1996. Betty trained and mentored numerous nurses throughout her career, including her good friend Dixie Spore who became her caregiver the last couple of years.
On May 13, 1955, Betty married Howard L. Vanderlaan at the Gospel Chapel in Muskegon, and they have faithfully served the Lord together for 71 years. Their most recent celebration was highlighted by a trip to Ludington State Park where they were able to enjoy the sights, smells, and sounds of the campground complete with roasting of hot dogs and marshmallows around the campfire.
Howard and Betty were life members of Mason County Reformed Church in Scottville where the first meeting of the church took place in the living room of their home. When they wintered in Florida they were members of Cross Bearer Fellowship Church in La Casa Del Sol and volunteered with Give Kids the World in Kissimmee, Fla.
Together Howard and Betty enjoyed traveling to Hawaii, Grenada, Venezuela, the Bahamas’, and especially camping at Pentwater State Park every year serving as Camp Host’s.
Betty’s greatest joy was being loving, supportive wife to Howard, raising her children Brad, Bruce, and Kathy, and spoiling her grandchildren Steven, Kyle, Arvid, Analise, and Lillie, and adoring her great-grandchildren.
Along with her parents Jan and Marthalena, Betty was also preceded in death by her son-in-law Richard Schoenberger; her sisters Jennie Rottman, Gertrude Knuver, Rena Vanderlaan, Sue Guikema, Katherine Ekkel, and Emma Chambers; and her brothers Garrit, Cornelius, Arnold, Nicklass, John, and Henry Guikema.
Betty will be greatly missed by her husband Howard; her children Brad (Renee’) Vanderlaan of Hart, Bruce (Nicole) Vanderlaan of Fort Myers, Fla, and Kathy Schoenberger of Manistee; her grandchildren Steven (Breena) Cutter of Mason, Kyle (Samantha) Vanderlaan of Ludington, Arvid (Angela) Johnson of Grand Haven, Analise (Gabriel) Johnson of Ferndale, and Lillie Anna Vanderlaan of Fort Myers, Fla.; her great-grandchildren Alec, Caylin, Delaney, and Emersyn Cutter; and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and great friends.
Funeral services will be held for Betty at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 1 at the Mason County Reformed Church in Scottville with visitation beginning at 10 a.m. until time of services. Betty will be laid to rest at Brookside Cemetery in Scottville. Those who wish to remember Betty with a memorial donation are asked to please consider Give Kids the World in Kissimmee, Fla. www.gktw.org.
Please visit Betty’s memory page at www.wymanfuneralservice.com to share a memory or tribute of Betty with her family.
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