Funeral service for Henrietta LeFebre, 95, of rural Lodgepole, SD will be on Saturday, December 19, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. at the Holland Center Christian Reformed Church, rural Lodgepole, SD. Rev. Brad Burkhalter will officiate and burial will follow at the Holland Center Cemetery. Visitation will be Friday, Dec. 18 from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. followed by a gathering of family and friends at the Centennial Chapel of Evanson Jensen Funeral Homes in Hettinger, ND and one hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday morning.

Genevieve Henrietta LeFebre, known as Henrietta or "Hum", was born on July 9, 1920 at the family farm near Lodgepole to Gerrit and Jennie (Beld) Vliem. She was the fourth of eight children born to the family. She attended Beeler School through 8th grade and often joked that if she didn't know something it was because she never went to high school.


When her mother passed away at a young age, Hum and her sister Gert were in charge of the meals and many of the household tasks. She talked fondly of the memories of her youth with her siblings despite the difficult times. She went to Michigan during the war where she worked in an ammunitions factory. Before leaving home she began writing letters with her future husband and love of her life, Arnold LeFebre. After she returned, they married in 1946.

They were side by side their entire married life. They worked together at the Lodgepole Store, which Arnold and his brother Harold had bought in 1937. In November of 1951, their treasured daughter Norma was born. Hum continued to help run a successful business at the store while raising Norma. She enjoyed gardening and lawn care, as well as reading and canning fruits and vegetables.

Hum and Arnold sold the store in 1981 to nephew Dick Vliem and his wife, Mary. At this time she and Arnold began traveling extensively all across the country, while spending lots of time with their 3 grandchildren. She was the strict disciplinarian who tried to counteract the spoiling Arnold did. Hum always spoke up for what she felt was right and wrong, unconcerned about who it may offend. In her retirement, Hum continued to enjoy her lifetime hobbies of gardening, quilting and baking. She also helped fix hair at the nursing home in town every Thursday, which she did for over 50 years, right up to the time of her passing. She was nominated in 2014 for Hettinger Volunteer of the year for this, of which she was very proud.

She was a devoted, lifelong member of Holland Center Church, serving as part of the Ladies Aid and teaching Sunday and Bible school classes for many years. Her faith in Jesus was the only thing more important to her than her family. Hum was proud of her family and remained very close to her siblings, nephews and nieces, keeping close contact with many of them to her final days. She was known as "Auntie Hum" to roughly half of the Lodgepole community. Arnold, her husband of 60 years, passed away in 2007. Fiercely independent, Hum continued to live in their home in Lodgepole until her death. She exercised every day so she could maintain her active lifestyle. She devoted her later years to her family: helping Norma and her family on the ranch, fixing fence, running errands, baking cookies and doing whatever needed doing. She doted on and helped babysit her beloved great-grandchildren whenever she got the opportunity, giving them whatever they wanted in exchange for a hug or a kiss. She made her famous sour cream raisin pies for weekly visits with her siblings and sisters-in-law. Hum was strong, self-reliant and capable to the very end, and she will be greatly missed.

Hum passed away December 14, 2015 from injuries sustained in a car accident. She is survived by her daughter Norma, 3 grandchildren, Rick(Stephanie), Scott(Kalli) and Heather Zimmermann, all of Hettinger, 3 great-grandchildren, Jake and Linzy Zimmermann and Kendra Zimmermann, sister Gert Kooiman, and sisters-in-law Dort, Gladys and Betty Vliem as well as many nieces and nephews whom she held dear.
She was preceded in death by her husband Arnold, her son-in-law Lauren and her brothers Art, Frank, Harold, Jim, Alf and Al.

In lieu of flowers, a Memorial has been established to the Holland Center Cemetery project.