Rita Zondag

Zondag, Rita
Kaukauna

Age 81, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, June 7, 2008. She had battled cancer for 30 years. Rita was born in Dreumel, the Netherlands, on June 19, 1926 the daughter of Peter and Berdina (Verbruggen) Vink. She attended a Catholic college in Valkenburg, the Netherlands, studying the French, German, and English languages. She became a buyer for Daalderop, an international pewter and appliance manufacturer. On June 14, 1955 she married Harry Zondag in St. Barbara Catholic Church in Dreumel and together they immigrated to Little Chute.

Rita enjoyed a 20+ year career as a teacher's aide at Park School in Kaukauna. The students knew her as the lady with the foreign accent. She became active in what is now the Kaukauna Community Health Associates. Serving as a treasurer, Tour of Homes organizer and model for Style Shows, she also knit hundreds of baby caps for newborns at Kaukauna Community Hospital, varying the yard color with the seasons.

Rita was a member of Holy Cross Church. She sang in the church choir for many years at 9:15 A.M. Mass, and also on Christmas Eve.

Mid-week Rita loved playing Bridge with her lady friends, then on Fridays after a fish fry she would play with other friends and neighbors. She shared her love of games with her grandchildren.

Rita became an accomplished golfer, winning a few trophies before a shoulder injury forced her to retire from the sport. She loved traveling, especially cruises on the Holland-America Line, the same ships that first brought her to America in 1955. Cruises took her to Hawaii, Alaska, the Panama Canal, Venezuela, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean.

Rita had a green thumb and could make any houseplant grow and thrive. She was an amazing seamstress, sewing many of her daughters' clothes, and also their Barbie dolls' clothes. She was an accomplished artist, especially in oil painting. She also loved entertaining friends at their cottage, the “Dutch Retreat” on Lake Winnebago.

She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Harry: two daughters, Dr. Betty Zondag (Charles de Garmo), Stuart, Florida and Jackie (Bruce) VanDeHey, Appleton; and three grandchildren, Dana and Danny VanDeHey and Chris (Janice) de Garmo, Washington, D.C.

Rita was preceded in death by two brothers and four sisters in the Netherlands, and cousins Jakie (Verbruggen) Ebben and Casey Verbruggen of Little Chute.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at Holy Cross Church, Kaukauna with Father Marty Fox officiating. Friends may call at the church from 9:00 A.M. until the time of Mass. Interment will take place in Holy Cross Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established in Rita's name for the Kaukauna Catholic School Syster (KCSS)

Rita's family wishes to express their most heartfelt thanks for the wonderful care given by the Affinity Visiting Nurses Hospice Care staff. Your kindness and compassion will always be remembered.