Van Dragt and Vander Wal Families

This scholarship was established as a tribute and a thank offering to God and is dedicated to Gordon and Angie Van Dragt, Wilma Van Dragt, and Marv and Ruth Vander Wal by their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Angie graduated from Calvin College and taught third grade in the Lynden, Washington Christian schools for thirty years, practicing her belief that Christianity affects all of life and especially education. Gordon and Angie raised their children in this belief which included sending all four children to Calvin College for a Christian liberal arts education. Aunt Hike (Wilma Van Dragt), a Calvin Nursing graduate, who lived in Zeeland, Michigan, became the “mother away from home” for her nieces and nephews and eventually their spouses while they were at Calvin and beyond.

Marv and Ruth shared similar beliefs and shepherded and encouraged many of their children and grandchildren to continue their Christ–centered learning by attending Calvin College or other Christian colleges. Marv and Ruth both ended their careers while in Calvin’s employ: Marv as a Professor of Civil Engineering and Ruth in the Business and Development offices of the college where she ended her career as Calvin’s first Director of Hospitality.

In recognition of God calling members of both families to change careers later in life the scholarship gives preference to older, non-traditional students. Marv left Calvin after his freshman year when his father died, and he assumed responsibility for his mother and older disabled brother. Marv eventually returned to Calvin on a part-time basis while co-running a home construction business with his brother-in-law John Koster and while putting his four sons through Christian Schools. Marv later transferred from Calvin to the University of Michigan, finishing his Master’s degree the year his eldest son graduated from high school (to attend Calvin). After a career as a structural engineer, Marv left consulting engineering to teach at Geneva Christian College in Beaver Falls, PA. He and Ruth returned to Grand Rapids when Calvin upgraded its engineering from a three-year program to a four-year degree-granting program.

Rev. Lisa (Van Dragt) Vander Wal also returned to college later in life. In her thirties, she left a career as a full time homemaker to enter seminary. Over a three-year period she completed her pre-seminary Greek requirements and was granted a Masters of Divinity degree at Calvin Theological Seminary.

Gloria (Abma) Van Dragt returned to Calvin to complete her Masters of Arts in Teaching Degree, while Mary (Klimp) Vander Wal is currently completing her Masters in Nursing, for certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner, both completing their studies in their forties.

It is the hope and prayer of the Van Dragt and Vander Wal families that this scholarship will assist students in pursuit of a Christ–centered college education. They also hope that the lessons learned at Calvin will help each student not only in a career but also through lifetime service to God.