Geraldine A. (Van Wyk) Hooyman

Geraldine A. Hooyman age 86 of Mahwah, died peacefully on Thursday, September 16, 2021. Born and raised in Rochelle Park, Gerry had been a resident of Mahwah for the past 45 years.

Gerry was born in 1935 at her family home to Cornelia and Walter VanWyk.  She had four older siblings, Howard, Warren, Ed and Jean and they attended the First Reform Church in Saddle Brook. She was known for her love of the church community and active role in the choir.  

It was while in the choir that Gerry was introduced to her husband, John Hooyman, by the church’s organist. She was drawn to the way he sang, the way he carried himself in God, and (she might argue even more importantly) his bright red convertible. 

The two of them married in March of 1955 and started their family together in Rochelle Park, later moving to Mahwah. With two daughters and two sons, Gerry was the providing matriarch in every sense of the term—filling their lives with love, laughter, adventure, and plenty of good cooking. 

She will be remembered fondly for her kindness, hospitality, strength, love of God and family, good-natured sense of humor, and her occasional tendency to be a card shark by all that knew her. 

Surviving is her beloved husband of 66 years, John Hooyman, Jr., her devoted children, Debra and her husband F. Dwight Long, Diane and her husband William Brede, Glenn, and Gary and his wife Jamie. Gerry was a cherished grandmother of Adam, Ashleigh, Julissa, Becky, Joshua, Heather, Maddison, Mallory, and Mason, and 7 great-grandchildren. Gerry also leaves her brother Howard VanWyk and her sister Jean Wiebe. 

The Hooyman family will receive friends on Sunday, September 19, 3:00 until 6:00 pm at the Vander Plaat Funeral Home, 257 Godwin Avenue, Wyckoff. Funeral services will be Monday, 10:30 AM at the Abundant Life Reformed Church, 475 Lafayette Avenue, Wyckoff. Interment will follow in the Wyckoff Reformed Church Cemetery 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Geraldine A. (Van Wyk) Hooyman, please visit our floral store.