Mary J. DeBoer was taken home to her heavenly Father on May 2, 2026. Her earthly life of service ended, but the on-going influence of her years of teaching elementary and middle school students, and working for Habitat for Humanity, and more recently Home Repair Services, is impossible to measure. Her Christian faith infused her teaching and her life with family and friends, and she articulated it in her interactions as a role model for students in sports.

Mary was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on December 8,1949, to Dr. Clarence and Gezena DeBoer, the third of three children. She lived for three years in the city, then moved to Grandville, attended Jenison and Grandville Christian Schools, and Calvin Christian High School. She was active in sports through high school, played softball both for school teams and recreational and church league teams. During that time, she slid into second base often enough to require a hip replacement in her fifties. Ball injuries commonly required emergency room visits. She turned her passion for sports into a teaching degree from Calvin College and a masters degree.. She began and ended her teaching career in the Grand Rapids Christian School system, teaching physical education to students at Seymour, Sylvan, Oakdale, Creston, Evergreen, and Millbrook Christian Schools over the course of 35 years. Since she taught many of the students in each school over the course of their elementary or middle school journey, the numbers of students she taught how to throw a ball, how to meet the Presidential Fitness standards, and how to slide into second base included a large proportion of the school each year. So it was not surprising to walk into a busy store with her in recent years and hear "Hi Miss DeBoer." She was loved by many and worked her way into the hearts of students who learned that they were valuable people even if they were not great at sports.

During her career as a teacher, coach, and mentor, she received awards for many years of service to Christian Education, service as a swimming official in the Grand Rapids Christian Middle School Athletic League, a Super Soccer Team Coach, and years of service in the Middle School Soccer Program.

As a life-long member of First Christian Reformed Church, and now First Church, Mary participated in the choir, the Praise Team, and served on the Church Council. When she retired from teaching, she took a 180-degree turn from teaching to learning and working with her hands. She worked/volunteered for about 15 years with Habitat for Humanity, learned how to pound nails, lay flooring, and hang cupboard doors, among many hands-on tasks of building housing for families who needed a place to live. Recently she took her carpentry skills to Home Repair Services where she spent one day a week building cabinets.

When she was a small child, Mary hated family trips because she was too young to participate in the activities of her older siblings and bored with hundreds of miles of driving. But as an adult she started traveling with a small group of friends and has turned into an international traveler as well as an annual visitor to Gettysburg with a one-week class of students from Sylvan Christian. Domestic travel has taken her to many national parks and scenes throughout the United States with three beloved friends, Marlene Cook, Ruth Schoon, and Karen Foerg. A favorite spring trip for the quartet was birding in Ohio where Mary learned to identify more birds than any of her family can imagine.

Family was a high priority for Mary and she intentionally endeared herself to each succeeding generation, spending time and giving of herself to attend and watch activities of sports, music, and family parties. Her involvement made her a much-loved Aunt. Mary is survived by her sister and brother-in-law, Judith and David Baker, her sister-in-law Jean DeBoer; nieces and nephews Julie (Mike) Kloosterhouse, Randy (Faythe) DeBoer, Marc (Shelly) DeBoer, Laurence (Linda) Baker, Duane (Dawn) Baker, Andrea (Eric) Kort; grand-nieces and nephews Nick (Jennifer) Kloosterhouse, Aubrey (Scott) VanWylen, Alyssa (Charlie) Vrieland, Alex (Lauren) DeBoer, Josh (Monica) DeBoer, Maddie DeBoer, Luke (Anna) DeBoer, Jack, Jaeger DeBoer; Gavin, Claire, Jenna, Marissa, and Alden Baker; Graham, Miriam, Celia, Annabel, and Lydia Kort. She also is survived by many great-grand-nieces and nephews. She was pre-deceased by her brother Clarence (Skip) DeBoer .

A Celebration of Life will be held at First Church, 651 MLK Street SE, at 2:30 PM, Friday, May 15. Visitation with family and friends will be from 4:00-8:00 PM Thursday May 14, 2026 at Zaagman Memorial Chapel, 2800 Burton Street, SE. Grand Rapids, MI.