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Permanent LinkSenator Nicholas Balkema View All Years
NICHOLAS BALKEMA
MR. PRESIDENT: Your committee, appointed to prepare a suitable memorial commemorating the life, character and public service of the late Honorable Nicholas Balkema, begs leave to submit the following report: Nicholas Balkema was born at Gibbsville, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, on April 7, 1865, and died at Sioux Center, Iowa, on January 29, 1954, at the age of 88 years.
Mr. Balkema attended district school at Gibbsville, Wisconsin, and graduated from Sheboygan Falls High School. He removed to Newkirk, Iowa, in 1884. On December 9, 1886, he was united in marriage to Clara Van Rooyen of Newkirk, and to this union were born four daughters and three sons.
After coming to Iowa, Mr. Balkema taught school for a time, then entered the mercantile business at Newkirk and conducted the postoffice in connection therewith. In 1894, he removed to Sioux Center, where he conducted a similar business for many years, also owning a clothing store at Paullina. He became interested in the local bank at Sioux Center and served as its vice president. He also served on the city council and, for ten years, was president of the school board.
Mr. Balkema was elected to, and served in the Senate for six sessions, from 1909 to 1921, as Senator from the forty-ninth Iowa district, composed of the Counties of Sioux, Lyon, O'Brien, and Osceola. He was a Republican and a member of the Central Dutch Reformed Church, of which he was a charter elder.
After being occupied for 54 years by local business affairs and official interests, Mr. Balkema retired in 1941.
Survivors are Mrs. Balkema, Mrs. Fred DenBeste, Mrs. P. B. Mouw, and Clayton Balkema, all of Sioux Center; Dr. Walter Balkema of Sheldon, Iowa; Raymond Balkema of Burlington; and Mrs. Eardly Scheutz of Lincoln, Nebraska. One daughter, Mrs. Wm. B. Van Roekel, and two grandchildren, Alice DenBeste and Dorothy Ellen Balkema, have preceded him in death.
Therefore, Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Fifty-sixth General Assembly of the State of Iowa: That in the passing of the Honorable Nicholas Balkema, the state has lost an able and honored citizen and the Senate tenders, by this resolution, its sincere sympathy to the surviving members of his family, and
Be It Further Resolved: That a copy of this memorial resolution be printed in the Journal of the Senate and that the Secretary be directed to send an enrolled copy to the members of the family of the deceased.
J. T. DYKHOUSE,
L. M. BOOTHBY,
HARRY E. WATSON,
Committee.
The resolution is unanimously adopted.