May 3 Today in OPC History

Born on May 3, 1910, Winifred Holkeboer served the Lord for much of her seventy-five years. After attending Christian day schools in Grand Rapids, Michigan, she graduated from Wheaton College and taught in several high schools. On July 25, 1933, she married Oscar Holkeboer, a 1932 graduate of Westminster Seminary. Seven years her senior, Oscar had been pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Oostburg, Wisconsin, for a year. In 1936, the Modernist views of the Milwaukee Presbytery of the PCUSA prompted them to depose Oscar for his efforts to preserve true Presbyterian doctrines. The Oostburg church refused to accept his resignation. After the Presbytery excommunicated him in early September, Bethel Presbyterian Church was formed with 212 members on September 11, with Oscar as their pastor. On December 10, 1936, Winifred hosted in their home of the second meeting of the newly formed Presbytery of Wisconsin. Under Oscar’s ministry, the congregation voted to affiliate with the OPC on January 26, 1943 and was welcomed by the Presbytery of Wisconsin on April 13, 1943. Oscar remained their pastor until 1944, when he became the Bible and Reformed doctrine teacher at Eastern Academy in Paterson, New Jersey. During these years Winifred raised Cecilia, Lois, David, Jean, and Robert.

In 1947, Oscar became the pastor of First OPC in Waterloo, Iowa, and Winifred helped to establish women’s presbyterial. When he suddenly died in 1956, Winifred supported her five children as an English teacher at Calvin College in Grand Rapids from 1957 through 1976. Since there were no OP churches in Grand Rapids at the time, she invited OPC students on campus to fellowship in her home. In 1963, she brought a group of the students to Evergreen Park, Illinois, to help OPC pastor Bruce Coie promote pre-Easter services. Her earthly service to God became a heavenly reality on February 18, 1986.

Read more about Winifred Holkeboer in a chapter, written by Susan Felch, in the newly published book, Choosing the Good Portion: Women of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, which is available on OPC.ORG here.

Picture: Winifred Holkeboer teaching at Calvin College.