Roger Edwin Mulder

Roger Edwin Mulder, 83, born on October 2, 1934, in Pipestone, Minnesota, passed away July 19, 2018. He resided in Ontario, California at the time of his passing. Arrangements are under the direction of Forest Lawn, Cypress, California. Preceded in death by his parents Theodore and Julia Mulder and one sister Ruth Ann Dahl. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Mary (Hoogland) Mulder, three daughters Darla & Larry Himple of Twin Falls, Idaho, Brenda & Tim Slegers of Fountain Valley, CA and Charlene Mulder of Portland, OR. Four grandchildren-Andrew & Savannah Himple currently in Germany, Amanda Himple of Boise, ID and Emily and Adam Slegers of Fountain Valley, CA. Two siblings, Adrian Mulder of Ontario, CA and Beva & Marv De Jong of Montevideo, MN. Plus a plethora of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Roger started life in the country. Working on farms in Minnesota and Iowa. After tiring of working in the extreme cold, at 18 years old he headed off to California! After a short lived job in a factory, he started working as a house painter for his Uncle Sam Mulder. In the evenings, he enjoyed playing softball in the park with the guys. While living with his Uncle Sam and Aunt Coba, a favorite Saturday evening activity was having dinner on a TV tray while watching The Lawrence Welk Show. In 1957 he joined the Army and got to see Germany and travel Europe for a couple years. After returning home to California, in the Fall of 1961, while in the bowling alley, he met Mary Hoogland. I guess the rest is history.
Mary's father (Case Hoogland) was in the dairy business. So that is how Roger made the switch from painter to dairyman. Roger and Mary were married in September of 1961. By the Fall of 1970, with 3 girls in tow, the Mulder family moved to Buhl, Idaho. And eventually on to Wendell, Jerome and Twin Falls. Great times were had in Idaho. From building new dairy's, extensive camping trips (which actually became so epic that church was cancelled 1 Sunday and held up near Redfish Lake because over half the congregation and Pastor Don and Ann Nienhuis were also camping!), to taking the family on summer vacations that included the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, TN, NYC & Boston, Disney World in Florida, and Hawaii to name a few. Roger worked hard and played hard.
By 1987, after the girls had all graduated High School, Roger and Mary moved back to Southern California where Roger once again turned to painting. This time it was his cousin Gary Mulder (Uncle Sam's son) that helped get him into the business. He continued to enjoy traveling too. Almost yearly taking trips to Iowa and Minnesota to visit his mother and family. But also Rog and Mary were lucky enough to travel with his sister Ruth to New Zealand and Australia to visit Ruth's son Bill who lived just north of Sydney.
No matter where Roger was, he kept his faith in the Lord. One of his favorite verses was "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" Proverbs 22:6. His parents trained him, and in turn he trained his girls. Rog and Mary made many wonderful friends together starting at the First Christian Reformed Church of Artesia. Continuing through the First Nazarene Church of Buhl, the Reformed Church group that met in the Wendell Grange, becoming Charter Members of the Twin Falls Reformed Church ( starting with around 20 families and now have over 800 members ) and ending at The Bridge Reformed Church in Ontario, CA.
Roger, as cantankerous as he was, will continue to be remembered by those who knew and loved him!