Klaassen Family Funeral Home

03/09/2026

"Even when it seems that there is no one else, always remember there's one person who never ceased to love you - yourself."
- Sanhita Baruah

Through all of this, don't forget to look out for yourself. Your health, contentment, and well being continue to matter.

03/08/2026

"It had been many months since I'd shed tears for Tomaso, but grief is like that. It's not a continuous process; it comes in waves. You can keep it at bay for a time, like a dam holding back a lake, but then something triggers an explosion inside of you, shattering the wall and letting loose a flood."
- Paul Adam, Paganini's Ghost

Like a flood, the shock of an unexpected onset of grief saturates every part of you. You literally can feel like you are drowning. Just like actual flood waters, however, the grief will recede back again. This flood of emotions is never easy to manage, but will be less frequent as you heal.

03/07/2026

"One of the grubby truths about a loss is that you don't just mourn the dead person, you mourn the person you got to be when the lost one was alive. This loss might even be what affects you the most."
- Meghan O'Rourke, The Long Goodbye

You may resent the fact that you can never go back to being a person who hasn't suffered a great loss. That is normal. Take a moment today to appreciate some of the growth that this loss has cultivated, such as increased compassion, empathy, and sensitivity to others. While you would never hope to have a loss, you can start to see how its impact has led to a degree of personal growth.

03/06/2026

We wish to express our sympathies to the family and friends of Marion Zillins.

03/06/2026

"Grief dares us to love once more."
- Terry Tempest Williams, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place

Your loss created a void in your life, an empty place that feels almost like an open wound. Over time, your desire to fill it will increase, but you will never "replace" your loved one. Rather, that place will fill from unexpected sources: the casual friend who evolves into a trusted confidant, the sibling who used to be "too busy" to talk becomes your most treasured family member. You just need to be open to rebuilding your emotional life into a composition that you did not anticipate.

03/05/2026

"Rejection is one of the worse forms of pain. Loss is the worst. Grief haunts until you allow yourself to move on."
- Angelica Hopes

As unreasonable as it may sound, there are times when you may feel a sense of rejection from your loved one's death. You may even be asking why you have to cope with this great loss at all. No matter the circumstances, you need to see that no part of it was intended to make you feel alone. If it is still hard to accept that the death was not intended to bring this pain, then you may want to consider talking to someone to help you resolve this.

03/04/2026

We would like to extend our sympathies to the family and friends of Richard "Dick" Grimminck.

Celebrate the life of Richard "Dick" Grimminck and join others in sharing memories, stories, and condolences.

03/04/2026

We wish to express our sympathies to the family and friends of Ione Hoekenga.

Celebrate the life of Ione Hoekenga and join others in sharing memories, stories, and condolences.

03/04/2026

The next "Life after Loss Group" meets this upcoming Monday, March 9. This is a grief group open to ANYONE in the community!

Please call or email Justine TerHaar to register: 616-846-2015 ~Justine.TerHaar@trinity-health.org

03/04/2026

"She needed to recover. His father had died in January; it was only the end of May. They needed to stick to the routine they'd established during the intervening months. in that way, their life would return to its original shape, like a spring stretched in bad times but contracting eventually into happiness. That the world could come permanently unsprung had never occurred to him."
- David Wroblewski, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

If you knew what the grief process to this point would entail at the time of your loss would you have believed it? Would you have thought you could make it to today? Well, you did make it, and it is important for you to focus on the fact that you have survived. You are stronger than you think you are.

03/03/2026

"When someone you love dies, you get a big bowl of sadness put down in front of you, steaming hot. You can start eating now, or you can let it cool and eat it bit by bit later one. Either way, you end up eating the whole thing. There's really no way around it."
- Ralph Fletcher, Fig Pudding

There are so many metaphors for how you are feeling. People write them to try to show that grief is a universal experience, so that you don't feel isolated. While everyone's grief is unique, it is the commonality of it that joins together those who have lost someone close to them.

03/03/2026

We would like to extend our sympathies to the family and friends of Garry Purdy, Sr.

Celebrate the life of Garry Purdy, Sr. and join others in sharing memories, stories, and condolences.