Orange city tote bag Winner
By Co-Owner: Bonnie Meier

For several weeks Jubon Juweelen encouraged people to “like” us on Facebook and then come in and register for an Orange City Tote Bag that was to be given away on February 28. The lucky winner was Janna Milbradt. Janna is the owner of the Purple Iris Yarn Shop and has stores in Marshall, Minnesota and LeMars, Iowa. At times Janna stops in on Tuesday morning to join the Tuesday morning knitters/crocheters. It was on one of those stops that she signed up for the tote bag. Congratulations, Janna.

Featured personnel: sharon vande steeg

By Sharon Vande Steeg, introduction by Co-Owner: Bonnie Meier

Since the opening of Jubon Juweelen in November 2010 Sharon and her husband, Russ, have been big friends of the store (we’ll feature Russ in a future issue). I asked Sharon to tell us a little about herself. The following is what she wrote:

I was born in Webster City (Iowa) to De Orr and Irene Cose on October 18, 1040. After Dad came home from World War II our family moved to Maurice where I entered school and graduated from Maurice High School in 1957. I then went on to Iowa State University and earned a B.S. in Home Economics in May 1961. I followed my dream and was hired by Trans World Airlines. They trained me in Kansas City and sent me to New York City where I lived until March 16, 1963 when I married Russ Vande Steeg. The same day (50 years ago) we journeyed to Charleston, South Carolina where we set up our first home. Due to Russ’s work requirements, we had to move often to follow a given submarine he was responsible for. Therefore, we lived in many parts of the U.S. Two children were born in Rhode Island and the third in California. We have enjoyed a great deal of traveling with them as well as by ourselves across the world. We now have 10 grandchildren.

I’ve many work experiences – all “people oriented”, where I am happiest. I worked in a floral shop, a bath and kitchen shop, a Pendleton Wool shop where I helped run a mail order business, at the Kirsch window treatment company where I handled customer service problems and then Russ retired from Douglas Aircraft and we moved to Orange City. After working on the renovation of the “Short House” (Short was the last name of Northwestern Bank’s president. He built a show place house the year the Titanic sank over 100 years ago) and spending a good amount of time shopping at Kraai furniture, Dan Kraai invited me to work part time for him. I’ve been there since July 5, 1994.

We became friends with Bonnie and Lee several years ago. When they began planning their store, Russ and I offered our suggestions, abilities and labors and found our time spent was very enjoyable. When Bonnie invited me to be part of her staff – I arranged to do so with Kraai’s blessing. I enjoy being involved with the Dutch imports, including Delft – and the napkins area. May Jubon Juweelen have a long productive life! I love being part of the Jubon team.

Local Authors sign Books

By Co-Owner: Bonnie Meier

From our beginning Jubon Juweelen has featured fine used books. We have fiction and non-fiction books, many on consignment. My Uncle Jon Boone from Rapid City, South Dakota, who worked as a college librarian most of his life contributes many books. He and his wife, Nila, are in charge of a large book auction sponsored by their senior citizen center in Rapid City and often pick some of the best to resell at Jubon. However, I’m not sure if you realize that we also have several brand new books featuring local authors. All are autographed and reasonably priced.

Our first author is Hadley Hoover. Hadley is a former teacher, librarian and editor. She lived in California while writing several of her novels, but has since moved back to Orange City where she graduated from the local high school several years ago. Hadley writes full time and has at least 15 books to her credit. The “Dutchville” series contains five books and is set in a similar community to Orange City. Her “California” series consists of three books and features locations on our west coast. Her “Prairie Rose” series features North Dakota where she also spent several years. Her latest series are the “Milford Mysteries” and each mystery occurs in a town named Milford (Iowa, Utah, Maine and Nebraska). Eventually there will be a mystery centered in Milford, California.

Our second author is a Northwestern College graduate named Mary Van Rheenen. Mary and her husband, currently serve as resource coordinators for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s team to the Romany (Gypsies) of Europe. They have lived with their two daughters in the Netherlands since 1996. Mary’s book The Treasure Team is dedicated tot the Ebarb/Zwolle community and a portion of each copy sold will go to the Scholarship Fund of the Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb, Louisiana.

Our third local author just finished her first book a few weeks ago. Renae Vander Schaaf is a columnist and writer for agricultural papers. She and her husband Dave farm in Sioux County. They have six children. Renae’s book takes place in the year 1869 and is the story of a family who lives on a farm near Pella, Iowa but is looking at becoming one of the first families to settle in northwest Iowa around the community that will eventually become Orange City, Iowa.

Come and enjoy all our books from very old to recently published. We have a whole bookcase featuring books about Holland, many even written in Dutch. We will also feature some very good books on eBay in the future. If you are looking for certain books, we will do our best to find them for you.

Spring give-away

By Co-Owner, Bonnie Meier

On March 21 we drew a name for our spring give-away, which was a lilac scented French Milled bar of Mistral soap made in France. If you want your whole house to smell like spring flowers, check out our many fragrances of soap. Our lucky winner was Kathy Alons from Orange City. Kathy is one of our faithful Tuesday morning knitters/crocheters. Congratulations, Kathy!