Tom Koopmans - 3/15/25

March 15th, 2025

We gather today to mourn the death of Tom Koopmans, even as we want to celebrate his life. Tom lived a full and active life; a life spent serving others. Though he was hindered in his ability to do that after his stroke, Tom’s heart was always motivated by service and action. As I thought about a passage from the Bible that fit Tom, my mind immediately went to 2 Timothy chapter 4,

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 8 And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7-8, NLT)

Tom wanted to live out his faith in action. He spent lots of time serving others because he understood that by doing so, he was also serving the Lord. Today, he has finished the race and is able to enjoy the fruits of his labor with his Lord.

Will you pray with me?

Our Heavenly Father, today we mourn Tom’s death, but we are so grateful for his life. As we remember him today, we ask for your comfort and strength. Surround this family with the peace that only you can give. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thomas H. Koopmans was born December 20th, 1931 in Momence, Illinois, the son of Simon and Kathrine Zelendrust Koopmans. On August 7th, 1955, he married Eleanor “Elie” Smith in Momence. This year would have marked their 70th anniversary!

He was raised in Kankakee County, Illinois and served in the US Navy during the Korean War. He lived in Oquawka for a time before he and Elie moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he worked for Allied Farm Equipment. After that, he worked for the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania. After several injuries, he retired and moved to La Harpe in 1990. He loved to grow flowers, was active in the Red Cross Blood drives as both a donor and assisting with scheduling donors. He could often be seen helping people in the community by driving them to various appointments, shopping, and local activities. He was a dedicated member of the La Harpe Union Church.

Tom passed away on Friday, February 7th, 2025 at the age of 93.

Valerie Eulogy

Tom Koopmans was a man who did everything full-strength. When Tom put his mind to something, he was going to make it happen. If you had something that needed to be done, having Tom on your side was a huge benefit. But if you were standing in his way, it was not going to be an easy time for you!

Tom was good at most everything. After he got out of the Navy, he became a certified mechanic and had his own business for a time. For a time, he farmed in Oquawka. He had decided to remodel the farmhouse at the farm as he was also clearing many acres of land. Unfortunately, this meant the family couldn’t live in the house. So, they set up a tent in the nearby State Park and all 7 of the family lived there for 3 months! They were able to move into the farmhouse the day before school started for the kids.

He worked several jobs in construction and manufacturing before getting his dream job, working as the head of Farm Maintenance for Hershey Foods. The dairy barns on the property were taken care of by group homes that housed disadvantaged youths. Tom was one of the few people not associated with the group homes who was allowed to work with these kids, and he was great with them! He found ways to get the best out of them, often sponsoring competitions for them, such as competing to see who could have the cleanest barn. Tom knew how to organize a team to get things done.

While he worked for Hershey Farms, he discovered rampant corruption in the way contracts were awarded. He worked hard to eliminate the bribes and corruption that went into much of the way business had been done. Not only did Tom make it clear to the people at Hershey that things would be different moving forward, he spoke to the various vendors to get that message across, on occasion even speaking to the presidents of these companies to let them know corrupt business practices were a thing of the past.

Tom was very much a black and white kind of person. He was convinced there was a right way to do things and a wrong way. He would not tolerate people doing things the wrong way. Often, Tom’s stubbornness about these things rubbed people the wrong way. Tom didn’t care, not because he didn’t care about people, but because he genuinely wanted to do things the right way. If that meant ruffling a few feathers along the way, he was ok with it.

After he retired and moved to La Harpe, he threw himself into many pursuits. He was a dedicated member of the Union Church, and served in many capacities through the years. Probably his most visible contributions were in reaching out to the children of the church and the elderly. You may have noticed the packages of gum on the table when you came in today. Tom was known as the “gum man” at church, because when kids would come in on Sunday morning, he’d greet them with an assortment of gum that they could pick from. I often joked that Tom must have owned stock in Wrigley, because of how much gum he gave out through the years. He wanted the kids to feel welcome, and this was his special connection he could make with them. We invite you to take a stick of gum with you as you leave today in remembrance of Tom.

Just as Tom reached out to children, he did the same with the elderly people of the church. For years, he made sure that several of church members who were at the La Harpe nursing home were able to get to church. He would pick them up and bring them in Naomi Lewis’ lift van. On more than one occasion, when it was nice, he enlisted some of the youth group kids to go down to the nursing home with him, and we’d push the ladies to church in their wheelchairs up Archer Avenue. He and Elie (and Howard and Marilyn Thie) would often take a group of older people (many of them widows) out for lunch after church on Sundays as well. He was diligent in serving these people that are often overlooked in a church.

Tom was also heavily involved in getting things done with the physical properties of the church. He helped to spearhead many projects over the years. The church’s elevator was a prototype, which meant that few elevator repair people knew how to work on it. Tom had figured it out and was the guy who managed to keep the elevator running well for years. It wasn’t until the elevator repair man insisted that it was actually illegal for Tom to work on it that he finally stopped!

For years, Tom maintained the garden in front of the church. It was usually full of many different species of day lilies, and he took great pride when they were in full bloom. It was truly a beautiful sight. He loved day lilies and often had a similarly beautiful garden at his home as well.

Tom also cooked well and was fond of using that to serve others. He had a specially modified gas grill so that he could cook multiple turkey breasts on a rotisserie at the same time. He would then bring the meat to people who were sick or grieving. I know our family benefited from several of those turkey breasts over the years. For several years, Tom would invite all the city employees to come to the church for lunch one day and give them a good, home-cooked meal, complete with homemade desserts. He also organized the Mother-Daughter Banquet at the church for many years. Tom would recruit a bunch of men to do the cooking and serve the women. They all dressed up and saw it as a unique opportunity to cherish the women of the church.

Tom recognized that these things were an outworking of his faith. He was not someone who was going to stand up and preach or teach a Sunday School class, but he recognized that he had other gifts he could use in service of the Lord.

Tom was a doer. When he set his mind to something, there was very little chance of dissuading him from that course of action. This made him great at getting volunteers lined up. He had a list of people he knew he could convince to help him for his various causes. I know Delbert Kreps used to joke that he often dreaded when he’d see Tom come into the store looking for him, because he knew he was eventually going to end up donating to Tom before he left.

One of the causes he was passionate about was serving the Red Cross. He donated gallons of blood over the years and helped to organize regular blood drives at the clubhouse in town.

He was passionate about lots of things, but few things were more important to him than his family. He took great pride in his kids, and worked hard to teach them and lead by example. He loved his wife dearly and you could see his eyes light up when she sang in church. I’m told that he and Elie had a rule for their marriage, which was that Tom was only allowed to flirt with girls under 9 or over 90! That may explain why those were the groups he gravitated toward serving!

Tom even cared a great deal for his extended family. He greatly enjoyed going to family reunions and connecting with all the various parts of the family. His nephew Larry remembered often going with Tom to hunt pheasants or rabbits. He did laugh that Tom was always convinced that his shot was the one that killed the birds! Once Larry had bought a 1957 Chevy, but it ended up throwing a rod. He thought the car was done for, but Tom rebuilt the engine and gave it back to Larry.

Tom was a force to be reckoned with, and had a drive that few could match. He had a heart for people and was willing to do most anything for anyone. That heart made him a beloved member of our church and community.

We will miss Tom. We will miss his spirit, his love, and his drive. But we cling today to the hope we find in the gospel, that the end of this life is not the end of the story. I love the words of C.S. Lewis, as he closed out the series, the Chronicles of Narnia, as it captures the spirit with which we grieve today.

All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

This is the hope we cling to today for Tom and for each of us. Because of that, as we say goodbye, we can grieve with hope.

SONG

I truly believe that Tom’s love for others and his desire to serve them was motivated by his faith. He was not particularly outspoken about his faith in God, but he was committed to the Lord and sought to serve Him by serving others. I think Tom recognized he had skills that others didn’t have, so he should use them in service of his Lord.

I know the stroke was incredibly difficult on him. The man who had always provided for everyone else and was able to do most anything suddenly found himself dependent upon others. But I think his stubbornness may have worked in his favor in this regard. Tom refused to give up, and kept living to the best of his ability, right up until the end.

I believe that today, Tom has been delivered from the body that was frail and broken. I believe He is at home with Jesus and is enjoying life as it was meant to be lived. In 2 Corinthians we read these words from the Apostle Paul,

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. 4 While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. (2 Corinthians 5:1-5, NLT)

I believe this was the hope to which Tom clung. He knew that his body was failing him, and he desperately longed to be delivered from what I’m sure felt like a prison to him. But I think he also trusted that Lord had a plan, and that one day he would live a restored life, free from the restrictions, the pain, and the frustrations to which he had been subject for many years.

Let me be clear. My hope today is not that Tom is in heaven because he was good, but because he trusted in a Lord who was. God’s standard is perfection, and Tom, like all of us, was far from perfect. But I believe Tom had taken Jesus at His word that everyone who trusts in Him will have eternal life. He believed that through faith in Jesus, he could be forgiven.

Tom did not earn his way to heaven through good deeds. None of us can do that. Rather, I believe Tom’s good deeds were motivated by the faith that he held at the core of his being. And because of that faith, we do not grieve without hope today. Instead, we recognize that Tom is where he has always wanted to be—together with his Savior.

It is my hope that you will take a lesson from Tom’s life and decide where you stand with Jesus as well. I hope you will be able to face your own death with the same confidence that he did—not because you think you’ve lived a good life, but because you have trusted in a great Savior.

The reality of life beyond the grave should temper the grief we feel today, though we will still grieve our loss. It is perfectly reasonable to mourn the loss of Tom in our lives, but we must remember that he has not lost anything. In fact, he’s gained everything.

As we close today, I want to draw some concluding lessons from the life of Tom Koopmans.

1. If you’re going to do something, you ought to throw yourself into it fully. There’s no sense in doing things halfway.

2. People often feel overlooked and forgotten. Often it’s simple things, like a turkey breast when you are overwhelmed, an invitation when you feel forgotten, or a stick of gum that helps you feel seen and valued.

3. Service to God can take many forms. God is honored when you use your unique gifts to serve Him.

4. Good things rarely just happen. They usually require hard work and dedication. If you’re willing to put in the work, you can have a front row seat to see the Lord do some great things.

5. Family is a gift from God to be treasured. We should work hard to express our love through words and action both.

6. Faith is not just some ancillary part of our lives. In the end, it is all that matters. So we must make sure we deal with the issues of faith while there is still time.

Will you pray with me?

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the life of Tom Koopmans. We thank you for his spirit, his drive, and his desire to serve others. Though that sometimes rubbed people the wrong way, we know it was always driven by a desire to do what was right and to serve those around him. Lord, help us as we grieve today. Comfort us with memories of Tom, but even more than that, grant us comfort that comes from knowing the end of this life is not the end of the story. Help us as we grieve, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.