Eloise Marie VanderBilt passed away on February 25, 2021 at age 90, at Creekside Retirement Community in Chattanooga, TN. Eloise grew up in Blackrock, NM, on the Zuni Pueblo reservation, where her parents Cornelius and Lois Kuipers were missionaries and teachers. At Calvin College, Eloise met Maas VanderBilt and they became missionaries together, spending 25 years in Yokohama and Tokyo, Japan, and then 10 years in the Philippines. After they retired in 1990, Eloise enjoyed years of avid hiking with the Sedona Westerners Hiking Club and became a proficient potter. Her husband Maas died in 2010, her daughter Cori Fordice passed away in 2017, and her brothers Al Kuipers in 2013 and Keith Kuipers in 2019. Eloise is survived by her children Loretta VanderBilt, Monty and Lori VanderBilt, Lois VanderBilt and Ash Marquardt, Deb VanderBilt and Bill Soleim, and Joni VanderBilt and Breen Smith, and son-in-law Tim Fordice; 13 grandchildren, and 23 great-grandchildren; her siblings Carol DeVries and Darlynn and Tom Pettinga, and many nieces and nephews. Eloise lived a life full of love and kindness, finding joy in the moment, wherever she was and whatever she did, including hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim at age 70 and traveling to see Stonehenge at age 89. The family is very grateful for the superb care Eloise received from Amedisys Hospice Care in Chattanooga.
A memorial service will take place on March 20, 2021 at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, online. Please contact [email protected] for the link. Memorial donations in Eloise's name can be made to the First Nations Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund, which includes direct support for Zuni Pueblo: https://www.firstnations.org/covid-19-emergency-response-fund/
Announcement by Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist - Valley View Chapel, 7414 Old Lee Highway, Chattanooga, TN 37421.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18