Office Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Calls outside of office hours? No worries! Our team will respond within 10–15 minutes.
July 25, 2013
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Monday, July 29, 2013 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM. Funeral services will be held at 10 AM on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 at the Ebenezer Netherland Reformed Church, 875 Ewing Ave., Franklin Lakes, NJ followed by burial at the Fair Lawn Cemetery, Fair Lawn, NJ.
Elias DeBel, age 93 of Wyckoff, died peacefully on Thursday, July 25, 2013. He had lived in Wayne and Clifton since moving to America in 1951. He was currently residing at the Christian Healthcare Center where his family had all gathered at his bedside in the hours before his passing.
Elias grew up in the Netherlands and during those years leading up to World War II, life was quite difficult. He worked in farming and supplied carrots to the military, often by the truckload. After the war ended in Europe, he couldn’t ignore the call to move to America and the land of opportunity he had been hearing about. The Van Peenen family kindly sponsored him and he moved to America in 1951 with his wife, three children, and no more than $400 in his pocket.
Soon after his arrival in America, Elias purchased a dairy route and thus began DeBel’s Dairy, offering home delivery of milk, eggs, and juices in northern New Jersey. His Dutch lineage instilled in him a deep sense of responsibility to his many clients. So much so that he didn’t take a day off for more than twelve years, and no vacations for over thirty years of running his business. He retired from his route at sixty three years old, but didn’t sit still for long. He began his second career as a janitor at the Netherlands Reformed Christian School in Pompton Plains. He retired from the school at about seventy one years old.
Sadly, Elias lost his wife Wilhelmina in 1987 after forty five years of marriage. In 1988 he married his second wife Alice (nee Dob). They enjoyed twenty three years together before her passing in 2010.
Elias was a member of the Ebenezer Netherland Reformed Congregation in Franklin Lakes for many years and was also a member of the Netherland Reformed Congregation in Clifton with his wife Alice in more recent years.
Elias is survived by his six children; Abe DeBel and his wife Lois, Martina Newton, Jackie Mol and her husband Bill, John and Carol DeBel, Jake and Nancie DeBel, all of Wayne, and Rick and Ellen DeBel of Lincoln Park, four step-children; Allan and Carol Dob of Clifton, Ken and Marlene Dob of Hamburg, Janet Dob of Charlottesville, VA, and Carolyn and Paul Van Grouw of Shanksville, PA, thirty three grandchildren and forty two great-grandchildren, his sisters; Lien Lavooy and her husband Gerry of Florida, Trien de Waal and her husband Jon of the Netherlands, Fina Neels of the Netherlands, and Nel Van Stee and her husband John of the Netherlands. He was predeceased by all of his brothers.
In lieu of flowers, donations to Netherlands Reformed Christian School, 164 Jacksonville Rd., Pequannock, NJ 07444 or the Christian Health Care Center Foundation, 301 Sicomac Ave., Wyckoff, NJ. 07481 would be greatly appreciated.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Monday, July 29, 2013 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM. Funeral services will be held at 10 AM on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 at the Ebenezer Netherland Reformed Church, 875 Ewing Ave., Franklin Lakes, NJ followed by burial at the Fair Lawn Cemetery, Fair Lawn, NJ.
July 25, 2013
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Monday, July 29, 2013 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM. Funeral services will be held at 10 AM on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 at the Ebenezer Netherland Reformed Church, 875 Ewing Ave., Franklin Lakes, NJ followed by burial at the Fair Lawn Cemetery, Fair Lawn, NJ.
Elias DeBel, age 93 of Wyckoff, died peacefully on Thursday, July 25, 2013. He had lived in Wayne and Clifton since moving to America in 1951. He was currently residing at the Christian Healthcare Center where his family had all gathered at his bedside in the hours before his passing.
Elias grew up in the Netherlands and during those years leading up to World War II, life was quite difficult. He worked in farming and supplied carrots to the military, often by the truckload. After the war ended in Europe, he couldn’t ignore the call to move to America and the land of opportunity he had been hearing about. The Van Peenen family kindly sponsored him and he moved to America in 1951 with his wife, three children, and no more than $400 in his pocket.
Soon after his arrival in America, Elias purchased a dairy route and thus began DeBel’s Dairy, offering home delivery of milk, eggs, and juices in northern New Jersey. His Dutch lineage instilled in him a deep sense of responsibility to his many clients. So much so that he didn’t take a day off for more than twelve years, and no vacations for over thirty years of running his business. He retired from his route at sixty three years old, but didn’t sit still for long. He began his second career as a janitor at the Netherlands Reformed Christian School in Pompton Plains. He retired from the school at about seventy one years old.
Sadly, Elias lost his wife Wilhelmina in 1987 after forty five years of marriage. In 1988 he married his second wife Alice (nee Dob). They enjoyed twenty three years together before her passing in 2010.
Elias was a member of the Ebenezer Netherland Reformed Congregation in Franklin Lakes for many years and was also a member of the Netherland Reformed Congregation in Clifton with his wife Alice in more recent years.
Elias is survived by his six children; Abe DeBel and his wife Lois, Martina Newton, Jackie Mol and her husband Bill, John and Carol DeBel, Jake and Nancie DeBel, all of Wayne, and Rick and Ellen DeBel of Lincoln Park, four step-children; Allan and Carol Dob of Clifton, Ken and Marlene Dob of Hamburg, Janet Dob of Charlottesville, VA, and Carolyn and Paul Van Grouw of Shanksville, PA, thirty three grandchildren and forty two great-grandchildren, his sisters; Lien Lavooy and her husband Gerry of Florida, Trien de Waal and her husband Jon of the Netherlands, Fina Neels of the Netherlands, and Nel Van Stee and her husband John of the Netherlands. He was predeceased by all of his brothers.
In lieu of flowers, donations to Netherlands Reformed Christian School, 164 Jacksonville Rd., Pequannock, NJ 07444 or the Christian Health Care Center Foundation, 301 Sicomac Ave., Wyckoff, NJ. 07481 would be greatly appreciated.
Guestbook