Edna Mae Duthler, age 91, died Saturday, Aug. 12.
She was born on Dec. 12, 1931, in Grand Rapids, the Rev. William and Mary Masselink. When she was 10 years old the family moved to Chicago, where she finished high school. She then came back to Grand Rapids and graduated from Calvin College and began teaching. She taught at Seymour Christian school and West Side Christian school.
She first met her future husband when she was 6 and he was 12 when her cousin married his brother, and her father performed the ceremony in the backyard of the parsonage on Alpine Avenue. Nearly 20 years later, that cousin set them up on a blind date. They would marry two years later in 1959.
They adopted their two children from Bethany Christian Services. The family spent summers at their cottage on Gun Lake and created memories there as well as many other trips to Florida, and other places.
She and Harvey continued to travel all over the world. They were married for 55 years before he died in 2014.
Edna is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Mary and John Leese, and her son and daughter-in-law, Robert and Vicki Duthler; grandchildren, Jonathon and Leslie Leese, Aubrey and Michael Vazquez, Jordan Leese, Robert Duthler, Garrett Duthler, Lindsey and Brett Kraal, and Rachel Walski; great grandchild, Aiden, Lee Hoffman; sister-in-law, Glenda Masselink; and several nieces, nephews and cousins. She was preceded in death by her husband, Harvey Duthler; her parents, and by her brothers, William Masselink, Jr., and Paul Masselink.
Edna’s family will celebrate her life with visitation on Wednesday, Aug. 23, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Shawnee Park Christian Reformed Church. A funeral will be held at 11:30 a.m. with Rev. Darrin Compagner officiating. A private family interment will take place at Woodlawn Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Kuiper College – Masselink Family Scholarship (www.kuyper.edu), or to Elim Christian school (www.elimcs.org).
