With great sadness we announce the death of Nola Opperwall Galluch at her home in Grand Rapids on May 10 at the age of 76 from pancreatic cancer. Nola leaves behind her beloved husband of 37 years, Vince, daughter Mary Helen, step-daughter Jennifer, and two grandchildren, along with six siblings, ten nieces and nephews, and innumerable loving friends especially within her community at Church of the Servant in Grand Rapids.

Nola's life was marked by deep faith, intellectual curiosity, and an adventurous and pioneering spirit. Born in Grand Rapids in 1949 to the Rev Raymond and Helen (Brondsema) Opperwall, Nola grew up primarily in Wisconsin and New Jersey. There she formed a lifelong passion for classical music, becoming an accomplished pianist and devotee of the work of Leonard Bernstein. She returned to Michigan to attend Calvin College, graduating with a degree in history in 1971. During this time she began her involvement with missionary work, starting with a college trip to Mexico. She also became a founding member of Church of the Servant in 1973, contributing her passion for the Gospel to a community that would continue to grow and thrive throughout her lifetime. After briefly studying cultural anthropology at the University of Chicago, Nola became the first woman enrolled at Calvin Seminary, completing her MDiv there in 1979.

Nola spent the following years focused on missionary travels, teaching, and languages. She taught Greek and Hebrew at seminaries in the Philippines and Nigeria, worked for a year on an archaeological dig in Jordan, and picked up Latin, French, Spanish, German, and local Nigerian and Filipino languages along the way. Nola then returned home to work for several years with Eerdman's Publishing, and contributed articles and editorial expertise to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.

After touring the world in service to God, Nola settled down in 1987 when she married her husband, Vince. In 1989 they welcomed their daughter, and Nola began a focus on life as an adoring mother while serving the people in and around Grand Rapids. She completed a Master's in Social Work at Western Michigan University in 1990 and worked as a clinical social worker throughout the decade.

In 2003 Nola realized her lifelong dream of formal ordination in the Christian Reformed Church. She began serving as a pastoral counselor at Church of the Servant, a calling to which she devoted her love and talent throughout the rest of her life. She focused especially in the final years of her career on welcoming newcomers and immigrants to her church community, devoting special attention to the basic English services at COS and inviting countless new families from around the world into her home and community. Just days before her death, Nola was pleased to become ordained in the Reformed Church in America.

Throughout it all, Nola built a legacy of faith, hope and love among everyone who knew her. Nola called "friend" nearly everyone she met, and for her a friend once met was a friend forever loved. She was an anchor to her large family as daughter, mother, step-mother, grandmother, sister, and cherished aunt. Her love of music, books, travel, study, and especially the other people around her will forever remain a light to every one of us. Yet as we mourn her passing, we take comfort to already hear the words that have with certainty been spoken to her by the Savior she served in so many ways: "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the Joy of the Lord." (Matt 25.21)

A traditional funeral will be held on Friday, May 16 at 12 noon at Church of the Servant, 3835 Burton Street, SE, Grand Rapids, MI. Visitation will be Thursday, May 15, from 5 to 7pm at Zaagman Memorial Chapel, 2800 Burton Street, SE, Grand Rapids. Additional visitation will be at 11 am immediately before the service at Church of the Servant.

*In lieu of flowers, the family invites contributions to Faith Hospice, or Refugee Ministries of Church of the Servant.*

Such a depth of beauty struck you

in us—the works of the Creator's hands—

that we could not but have it reflected back

when we saw you seeing it in everything.

You greeted death with peace upon peace;

life, for you, was simply the stronger—

love its definition, and you (perhaps unknowing) a wellspring

of that liquid Light.

Well-trod traveler, mother, lover, sister, friend,

scholar, pastor, teacher, child—

we live now not without you, for what you received you have given,

and in the pouring out, you ever return as a memory, eternal,

into the Glory of Him you served.

~Daniel G Opperwall, May, 2025 (nephew of Nola)