Tryntje V. D. Stephen
7/11/2015
Tryntje Van Duzer Martin Stephen passed away peacefully on July 11, 2015 at HillHouse Assisting Living in Bath, Maine with two of her children, Hope and Ham, by her side. She was 92.
Her funeral will be on Tuesday, July 28 at 3 o’clock at the Old School Baptist Meeting House in Warwick, New York, followed by burial in the Warwick Cemetery beside her husband, Isham. Friends are invited to a reception at the A.W. Buckbee Center following the burial.
Tryntje was born in Middletown, New York on October 4, 1922 to Wilson Cline and Gladys Wisner Van Duzer. Her dad owned the Demarest Department Store in Middletown and for decades served Orange County in the New York State Assembly. Tryntje was a graduate of Middletown High School and Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida. She met her husband, Isham Lavender Martin, the father of her children, while he was in the Air Force in Orlando, Florida, and she was given away in marriage by Hamilton Holt, the President of Rollins, at that College’s chapel on October 8, 1943. Isham would leave to serve in China during World War II where he was aide-de-camp to General Claire Chennault of the Flying Tigers.
When Isham came home at the conclusion of the War, they began a life in which they were given five children. They lived all over the United States in more than fifteen homes. Tryntje would set up house keeping, make new friends, find schools, and join churches and usually a year or two later repeat the pattern. In 1961, she settled in her family’s ancestral home, Graceland, in Warwick, New York. She moved into the sweet old home that belonged to her beloved Aunt Marg (Van Duzer) Gibson, already chockablock with family things. The old house and the prospect of relationships with living old cousins and aunts and uncles, and a lively Warwick society—she must have thought she was in heaven. Those years in Warwick were rich with great friends, most especially Lee and Susie Emmerich, and with parties and music and fun—and with finishing raising five kids, seeing them off to college, and to their adult lives. That era ended with Isham’s death at age 59 in 1978.
In May of 1980, Tryntje married David Stephen. They were quiet and loving companions who enjoyed wonderful trips to Europe. Tryntje’s children have been grateful for the love and stability David provided their mother for 17 years.
In 2004, Tryntje moved to mid-coast Maine to reside near her daughter Hope’s family.
Tryntje is survived by her children, Martha Everman and her husband, Leon, of Bloomington, Illinois; Isham (Ham) Martin Jr. and his wife, Mary, of Round Pond, Maine; Mary Bruckner and her husband, Joe, of Fairview, North Carolina; Hope Mahoney and her husband, Dan, of Brunswick, Maine; and Jeff Martin and his wife, Liz, of Lake Oswego, Oregon; 15 grandchildren (Stephen, Grace, Isham, Wilson, Quinn, John, Joseph, Mahalia, Blaise, Martin, Daniel, Peter, Samuel, Connor and Lucy) and 14 great-grandchildren (Emma, Gibson, Julian, Asa, Talia, Georgia, Lillian, Charles, Isham, Anastasia, Willow, Isla, Marie and August). She was predeceased by her parents, her brother, Wilson Welling Van Duzer, who landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, and by her beautiful and funny sister, Margaret (Peg) Van Duzer Jelstrom.
For the last four years of her life, Tryntje enjoyed the tender and extraordinary love and hospitality of HillHouse Assisted Living in Bath, Maine, and the companionship of Carolyn Drummey.
Tryntje worked for several years as a resource teacher for visually impaired children in the Warwick schools. Always frugal and handy, she was a skilled lifelong sewer and made draperies and slipcovers for many Warwick families. Her great career was in volunteer service and devoted friendship. She was a pillar of her churches, the Warwick Reformed Church and the Amity Presbyterian Church. She believed in God and his son, Jesus, and read straight through the Holy Bible at least seven times and was much comforted by her faith during her rich and complicated lifetime. She was ahead of her time as an organic gardener, loved foraging for mushrooms, and would fry a Queen Ann’s lace bloom or a giant puffball. She could put both feet behind her head and sit that way in black tights in a pup tent as an attraction at a child’s backyard fundraising fair. She was a great writer of poetry and annually offered it up at a cherished New Year’s Eve celebration. She loved life, she was fun, and all sorts of people wished to be in her circle—right to the end.
Tryntje was tireless in the care of older friends and family members and cared for them until the end of their lives. She was also a member of the Minisink Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution for 40 years and was its Regent from 1995 to 1998. She was a long time member of the Warwick Historical Society and began its Wine and Cheese Party in 1981. She loved the Old School Baptist Meeting House in Warwick where her own funeral will take place later this month and facilitated many weddings there.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Warwick (New York) Historical Society, P.O. Box 353, Warwick, New York 10990 or the charity of one’s choice.
Calendar of Care
At the time of funeral service we commemorate and reflect on the life
of Tryntje V. D. Stephen. In the days, weeks and months ahead it will be a
comfort to family of Tryntje V. D. Stephen to continue to remember a life well lived.
Please select a date on the Calendar of Care to be reminded via email to reach out and continue the caring for family of Tryntje V. D. .
Please wait...
Please wait...