Nancy Carol (Kamphuis) Kolk, 79, of Fulton, IL, died Tuesday, January 19, 2016, at her home in Fulton.
Nancy was born on June 26, 1936, in Clinton, IA, to Arthur Louis Kamphuis and Ruth Brands Brondyke. She attended Fulton public schools and was a graduate of the class of 1954. She attended Hope College as a freshman and received a BS and MS in Education from Northern Illinois University. She was employed as an educator at the River Bend School District for 13 years and at Clinton Community College for 17 years. She and her husband have owned River Huis Traders Antiques in Fulton since 1993 through the present. She lived in Fulton most of her life, but moved to Stuttgart, Germany, with her husband while he served in the United States Army in 1958. She and her family traveled extensively throughout the United States and in Europe. Following the completion of Fulton’s de Immigrant windmill, she made several trips to The Netherlands and visited with her Dutch friends, most of whom had become like family.
Nancy married Edwin George Kolk in Second Reformed Church in Fulton on May 31, 1957. They had two daughters, Gina Ann Kolk (Thomas Walsh) of Oak Park, IL, and Heidi Lynn Kolk of Oak Park/Fulton, and one AFS daughter from Natal, Brazil, Ana Maria da Camara Silva. Her grandchildren are Jon Thomas Walsh, Liliana Jennie Walsh, and Duke Harrison Walsh, all of Oak Park.
Nancy believed in social justice, equal rights, global citizenship, community involvement, and relationships to her family and friends, both near and far. Her community involvements include member of Second Reformed Church for 65 years, Fulton Junior Woman’s Club, Clinton Art Association, AFS, Dutch Days Committee, Fulton Chamber of Commerce, Fulton Library Board, Local Historian, Fulton Community Fund, Monthly Book Discussion Group, Partnership Way, Women in Theology, Fulton Retail Development, Schmaling Memorial Library River Bend Readers, and the Education Committee of the Windmill Area at Fulton’s Windmill Area.
Survivors include her husband Ed Kolk; daughters, Gina Kolk and Heidi Kolk; sister, Judy Zuidema, Morrison, IL; sister-in-law, Carol Kolk, Fulton; three grandchildren, Jon, Liliana, and Duke Walsh.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Arthur “Chet” and Ruth Kamphuis; brother, Richard Duane Kamphuis; sister, Diane Ruth Kamphuis.
Per Nancy’s wishes, there will be no service or visitation.
Cremation rites will be accorded.
The Fulton Chapel of the Bosma-Renkes Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Memorial donations can be made to FOW Volunteer Educators, P. O. Box 187, Fulton, IL, 61252.