Albert J. Verbrugh

Albert J. Verbrugh, 66, of Sioux City passed away peacefully at his home on October 12, 2013. On Wednesday, October 16, visitation with friends and family will begin at 9 a.m. at Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel, 3220 Stone Park Blvd. followed by services at 10 with burial at the Liberty Perry Township Cemetery, Granite Avenue, Plymouth County. Albert was born September 18, 1947, on the island of Bali, Indonesia, the first son of Albert Joseph Verbrugh and Johanna Henritte Ording. He married Kathryn Elaine Kroll on January 24, 1988. He truly was a world citizen, having lived and worked in the Netherlands, Canada, Lesotho (South Africa), Israel, and finally Sioux City, Iowa. He started his vocational training as a journeyman carpenter in the province of Alberta, Canada, and in 1981 he received his Canadian Accreditation Carpentry Certificate by the province of British Columbia. After his training he went to the Yukon to help build the Yukon Baha'i Institute in 1983. Subsequently, he worked for the Yukon Territorial Government Services from 1986 to 1993, lastly as a carpentry foreman. During this period he married Kathryn. Importantly, he had become a follower of the Bahai faith in 1967, which stayed his primary beacon in life. Kathryn, likewise, is a member of the Bahai community and together they volunteered to serve at the Baha'i World Center in Haifa, Israel. Albert served there as the property manager and Kathryn in the secretarial department. When their term of service at the Baha'i World Center ended in 1996, they decided to settle in Sioux City, where Kathryn's family live. Albert had several positions in Sioux City, but the one most satisfying to him was the one he held from 2005 until his retirement in 2012 as a mentor to the residents at Pinnacle Apartments of Mid-Step Services. This position allowed him to employ his very special skills, not so much used before, to interact personally with individuals living there. He loved to be of service to them, counsel them, and enjoyed seeing them progress. In return, they loved him and many became his friend. He is survived by his wife, Kathryn, of Sioux City, his sister Marianne and her husband Cees de Winter, brother Henri and his wife Annemiek, brother Willem and his wife Thyra, sister Sandra and her husband Bert Angel, and his sisters' and brothers' nine children and two grandchildren, all from the Netherlands. In his memory please consider performing an act of service to a neighbor or a friend, in his name, as that is how he lived his life.