Obituary of Bernard Ralph Oldenkamp

Bernard Ralph Oldenkamp was born on August 7, 1943, to John and Annie Oldenkamp on a small farm in rural Rockford, Michigan. He was the second youngest child, and worked on the small family farm with his siblings Tracy White, Al Oldenkamp, J.B. Oldenkamp, Bill Oldenkamp , and Rich Oldenkamp. He participated in drama, FFA, FTA, choir, student council, National Honor Society, and baseball. He graduated from Rockford Senior High School in 1961. As a teen he was a Sunday School teacher, a Jr. Leader in 4-H, tutor, and helped with Bible Schools during the summer. A dusty feed store was his first place of employment while he was still in high school. In 1965 Bernie graduated from Calvin College with a BA in Speech. Activities included drama, choir, cheerleading, and playing the organ. During college he worked part time as a salesman and landscape designer in a garden store and was a summer counselor at Camp Rogers for three summers. He also tutored at a boys home for troubled teens, taught Sunday School, and participated in YMCA recreational programs in inner city schools of Grand Rapids, Michigan. After college he was accepted into the Peace Corps training at Arizona State University and was assigned to work in Brazil, South America, as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a Rural Development Youth Program. He worked primarily with rural youth in the mountains of Minas Gerais Planting gardens and doing other rural development projects. During these three years Bernie learned to speak fluent Portuguese. In December of 1968 he married Shirley Noyes from Hinckley, Minnesota, whom he met in the Peace Corps. Bernie worked for one semester teaching Bible and Music at Dakota Christian High School in New Holland, South Dakota. During the summer of 1969 he was back in Michigan working at a new camp just starting for inner-city youth from Detroit and Chicago. From 1970 to 1971 Bernie and Shirley worked as Youth Directors at the Second Presbyterian Church in Duluth, Minnesota. They returned to Brazil with their first two children, Marceea and Jeffry, in 1972 to work as lay evangelists in the Presbyterian Church. David was born in 1976 while home for a brief time in Michigan. Back in Brazil in 1977, Shirley passed away while giving birth to premature twins. Bernie returned to the USA as a widower and settled in Hinckley, Minnesota, where he started dairy farming. Bernie married Imogene Irons of Hinckley in 1978. Their daughter, Laura, was born in Minnesota and the family lived on a 160 acre farm near Hinckley. Bernie’s interests included gardening, farming, playing the piano and organ, and auctioneering. He was a licensed auctioneer in Minnesota, having graduated from the World Wide School of Auctioneering in Mason City, lows, in 1984. In 1984 Bernie taught first, second, and third grades at Harvest Christian School, which he helped organize in Pine County, Minnesota. It was during this time that he dedicated his life to the education profession and enjoyed his time to the education profession and enjoyed his time of profession preparation at Northwestern College. He graduated with a BA in Elementary Eduction in 1991. Bernie enjoyed his students and brought his creativity and humour into the classroom. From 1991 to 1993, he taught a combined third and fourth grade class at Community Christian School in Homer, Alaska. His students built a space ship in the classroom and they used it to put on plays and as a quiet reading nook. He coached softball and learned how to fish for Halibut. The kids would bring him a fish instead of an apple! During his summers he made Espresso for tourists on the Homer Spit. The family moved again in 1993 to Tillamook, Oregon, where Bernie enjoyed being around Oldenkamp relatives. He taught third and fourth grade and was the Administrator at Pacific Christian School. He met his first grandchild, Jeremy Oldenkamp, while in Tillamook. Ashley Oldenkamp, his second grandchild, was born in Germany shortly after. Bernie and Imogene returned to Hinckley in 1996 and built a house. He taught at Nay Ah Shing in Onamia and drove bus for the school. In 1997 Bernie initiated the elementary Spanish program at Milaca Public School where each first through sixth grader rotated through his festive classroom every week. They visited New York City shortly after the birth of their third grandchild, Joshua McCue, and enjoyed having Joshua at the house. On this way to work in October 2001, Bernie suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed. His recovery was slow, and he was unable to continue working. He then threw himself into inventions, big ideas, and writing a memoir of his stroke recovery titled, Another Bethesda Miracle. He loved to socialise and made phone calls to friends all around the country. Bernie had lots of time to pray, listen to worship music, and enjoy his flower garden. He lived in the little house in the big woods on Sugar Loaf Pond in rural Hinckley, Minnesota, until his death on Sunday, October 5, 2014. Bernie is survived by his wife, Imogene Irons Oldenkamp, children Marceea (Jeffrey) McCue, Jeffery Oldenkamp, David Oldenkamp, Laura (Josh) Soost, grandchildren Jeremy Oldenkamp, Ashley Oldenkamp, Joshua McCue, sibling Tracy White, J.B (Lyn) Oldenkamp, Bill Oldenkamp, Rich (Marilyn) Oldenkamp, and many nieces and nephews.