Emily Joy Meekhof, age 26, passed away on March 21, 2026. Emily grew up in East Grand Rapids and attended East Grand Rapids High School. She was active in lacrosse and field hockey while in school and enjoyed being a part of student activities, piano lessons, fine arts competitions and photography. Ultimately graduating from Corvallis High School in Corvallis, OR, Emily lived for several years in the Pacific Northwest and made many friends. She loved horses and was able to ride often. Her favorite horse, Mikey, could be seen with her in many photos, each of them sharing the same big ear to ear grin. Emily returned to Michigan in 2020

In October 2022, Emily started work with LaFontaine Automotive Group. Fate played a part when she landed this job. Not only did she discover her talent for sales and customer service; she found a second family. Her friends at La Fontaine quickly become the center of all her stories and she had such joy about the success she was having. Emily was always a hard worker, but now she was seeing that work ethic pay off, had a team of people to encourage and develop her and was rewarded for her efforts. Customers and team members alike gave high praise for her work and 'Super Star' become her nickname. The La Fontaine family will greatly miss Emily.

It was also during her time at La Fontaine that Emily met Tyler. They equally described each other as 'their person' and shared hopes and dreams of building a life together one day. Enjoying baseball games and golf together, Emily also got to know Tyler's family, and they too grew to love Emily, much like everyone who crossed paths with her. Emily had a great sense of empathy and compassion and knew just how to make people feel special.

Emily is survived by her devoted soulmate Tyler Basch, her mother, Julia (Van Loozenoord) Sargeant (Gregg Sargeant); her father, Josh Meekhof (Leslie Liuzzo) her siblings, Gibson Sargeant (20) Grady Sargeant (18) Garrison Sargeant (16) and Meredith Meekhof (12); her grandparents Robert and Barbara Van Loozenoord, Jerry and LaVonne Meekhof, and many loving aunts, uncles and cousins.

Two services will be held on Saturday, March 28, 2026.

To grieve and celebrate Emily with the Sargeant family, services will be held on Saturday, March 28, 2026, at Grand Rapids First in the Life Center, 2222 44th St SW., Wyoming, MI, 49519. Visitation will be from 10 am-12 pm with the service to follow directly after at 12 pm. Reception to follow at the same location. To honor Emily in her special way, the Sargeant family requests that attendees wear pink if they are comfortable doing so, as pink was Emily's favorite color.

To grieve and celebrate Emily with the Meekhof family, services will be held on Saturday, March 28, 2026 at Fountain Street Church, 24 Fountain St NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503.

Visitation will be from 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM with services to follow at 4:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Humane Society of West Michigan. Emily loved animals and adopted several cats and a dog.