Bethany Reformed Church
705 Cajon Street, Redlands CA  92373  (909)793-1966

  Getting to Know… 

Marge and Roger Harmelink

I was up the creek without a paddle when I called the Harmelinks early on Wednesday morning to ask them a big favor.  I didn’t have an interview done and it needed to be in by tomorrow!  They were kind enough to let me impose on them on very short notice and I owe them a very big Thank You!  So let’s not waste anymore time…….

Roger was born to Milford, an accountant, and Edna, a homemaker, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. With five sisters and a brother he never had trouble finding a playmate to help pass the time down by the river.  After graduating from high school he attended Central College in Pella, Iowa and then went into the Peace Corp.  He was sent to Gujarat, India from 1964 to 1966 where he taught the people poultry development. 

Marjorie, an only child, was born in Emporia, Kansas to Florence and Robert Spencer.  Her mom was a homemaker and her dad was a farmer and later a railroad maintainer for Santa Fe.  She truly was raised in a “little house on the prairie” (with no running water) on a farm about 20 miles outside of Emporia where her grandmother, on her mother’s side, lived with them.  She too enjoyed playing outdoors in the fields on the farm, and also enjoyed many craft projects when she had to stay indoors.  Her mom, a former Home Economics teacher, taught her early on how to sew, knit and crochet. 

In 1966 Marjorie migrated to California to join the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ and was on staff there for seven years as an accountant.  She began attending Bethany during this time because CCC said that they should find a local church and attend regularly and also our theology was very similar to the way she had been raised.  A friend, Marty Williams, from CCC drove her to church and when she couldn’t Marge would listen to Bethany’s service on the radio. 

Now in 1967 Roger was involved in the Job Corp and when the office in Wisconsin closed he decided to go and visit brother Wes in Redlands, CA.  Of course, Wes and Nancy had been attending Bethany for quite a while and Roger began attending with them.   He liked it here in California so much that he decided to apply for a job as a Probation Officer and sure enough he got it…..and he didn’t leave it for 33 years! 

Well, both Roger and Marjorie had been blessed with lovely voices and were singing in the choir at Bethany when they happened to notice each other and they’ve been making beautiful music together for the last 33 years.  Two major “notes” of importance appeared on the scene:  Marcy, now 30 years old and working in the accounting field in Santa Anna, and Edwin, now 25 years old, living in Mentone and working as a truck operator.  He was recently married here at Bethany to Morgan on April 2, 2005. 

Both Roger and Marge have hearts for others and give freely of their time and talents to many organizations like Meals on Wheels, PTA, volunteering to help shut-ins with yard work, sewing for Santa Claus, Inc., knitting sweaters for Guidepost children, and not least our own church which has benefited greatly from their volunteering in the kitchen, painting the church steeple numerous times, and all kinds of garden chores, including cutting down trees.  Over the years they have participated in the life of the church as an Elder, Deacon, in the choir, on the praise team, as Sunday School teachers, on various committees, and on the board of the Women’s Guild

Favorite Bible verses for them are Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart….”.  This is what they have learned in their Christian walk.  And even in the times when God doesn’t answer your prayers in the way you think He should He still walks with us.  If we could control God with our prayers He wouldn’t be God. When I asked, “What question would you like to ask God?”  Marge replied that she has learned not to question God, not to dwell on our human inclination to question Him. 

On a closing note, Roger and brother Wes have a very interesting family history.  It seems that in 1847 the Wilterdink family left Holland on a ship named the Phoenix.  It crossed the ocean with over 250 people aboard and then, when in site of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan, the ship caught on fire and sank.  There were only 40 survivors; at least one of the Wilterdinks was in that group.  Roger and Wes are survivors of the Wilterdink family.  And so is at least one other person in our congregation…….but that story is for another day.

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