Donor Spotlight: Bill & Wilma DeLeeuw

One week after Wilma Tjoekler graduated from Lynden Christian High School, she married Bill DeLeeuw on June 4, 1954, at the Christian Reformed Church in Lynden, WA. Wilma and Bill grew up on the west side of the Cascades--Wilma was a Dutch girl from Lynden, and Bill was a farm boy on a dairy in Sultan and eventually Mount Vernon.

Once married, the DeLeeuws started living in Mount Vernon on a rented farm where they milked about 30 registered Holstein cows and grew a few acres of peas and other crops. On a trip to Yellowstone, they drove through the Columbia Basin, and Bill felt like it was the place to farm. So, after some more research and visits, they left the rain and headed east with their family to Quincy in January of 1963. Eventually, they purchased an undeveloped, 80-acre unit on Adams Road where they established some roots and grew their family farm while raising their six children. The industrious couple spent decades buying ground and working together. Wilma wasn't afraid to roll up her sleeves and give Bill a hand outdoors baling the alfalfa hay, driving a tractor, or milking their one cow and selling the milk. Today, their more than 650-acre farm operation has been taken over by their son, Rob DeLeeuw, and son-in-law, Jeremy Hawes.

In 2021, the DeLeeuws established the Bill and Wilma DeLeeuw Scholarship. It was created to reward students pursuing a medical degree. Even though Bill left high school in 10th grade to start working in agriculture, he appreciated what modern medicine had done for his family over the years. Sherrie, their oldest daughter is alive today because of a bone marrow transplant 30 years ago. She was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia during her fifth pregnancy. At the time, treatment using bone marrow transplants was relatively new, and the DeLeeuws will be forever grateful.

Over the years, the DeLeeuws spent time away from the farm, traveling, square dancing, fishing, and spending winters in Arizona. There isn't a day that goes by that Wilma isn't quilting and Bill loved woodworking for years. They have lived rich lives full of hard work, faith, and family. They raised six children in Quincy and have been blessed with 21 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-grandchildren. This June they celebrated their 70th Wedding Anniversary. Amazing! They should be proud of the life they have created together, and CBF is full of gratitude for their generosity through their scholarship fund.

Happy 70th Anniversary, Bill and Wilma! Congratulations! We appreciate you and thank you for believing in CBF.