i

December 11 Today in OPC History

Ruth Grotenhuis

2022

 

A pastor’s wife known for her hospitality and theological interests, Ruth Edie Grotenhuis received her eternal rest on this date in 2006 at the age of 92. Born in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania in 1914, she was introduced to her husband, Lewis Grotenhuis, by Orthodox Presbyterian pastor Oscar Holkekboer. After Lew graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary, they married a few months later on August 23, 1934. Two years later, Ruth and Lew attended the First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of America, later called the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Ruth’s husband served three years as a PCUSA pastor in Harmony, New Jersey, before becoming a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1937. Responding to a request from a group to start a new church in Harmony, Lew became the pastor of that independent work. The church joined the OPC in 1965, becoming Calvary OPC in Harmony, New Jersey. Lew served the church for 36 years until his retirement in 1973. Ruth continued to help the congregation long after Lew’s death in 1987, including playing the organ for a time.

When Lew became a member of the Committee on Christian Education, he acquired a small lithograph machine to print Sunday school materials and founded Harmony Press. Ruth typed and at times corrected the English of many of Dr. Cornelius Van Til’s syllabi as well as missionary letters. She also used special keys to type the children’s catechism and Bible stories for Eritrean OP missionaries, the Duffs and Mahaffys. Lew printed the documents and the family helped to collate and put them together in their living room and dining room. Today their son Steve operates Harmony Press, which continues to print materials for the OPC and Great Commission Publication.

Lew and Ruth were married for fifty-three years. Their progeny numbers seven children, including Joan English, former OP missionary to Korea and Suriname; thirteen grandchildren; twenty-nine great-grandchildren; and four great-great-grandchildren.

 

CONTACT US

+1 215 830 0900

Contact Form

Find a Church