Spoelhof, Charles (1897-1989) | Heritage Hall, Hekman Library

Charles Spoelhof graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1921. After spending a year of post-graduate study at Princeton Seminary, he accepted a call to the Oskaloosa, Iowa, CRC. In 1922 Spoelhof married Elizabeth Keegstra. Also around this time, Spoelhof's ordination to the ministry took place September 17, 1922. The Oskaloosa ministry called for preaching in the Dutch language, but carrying on youth work in English. During his fourth year at the church he introduced English at one service a month.

His ministry in Lodi, New Jersey, involved a return to the area of his birth, Paterson, New Jersey. Twenty-one of the twenty-two years in Lodi, Charles served as stated clerk of Classis Hudson. Pastor Spoelhof was a sympathetic and tender shepherd during the years of the Depression and the Second World War.

When Chatham, Ontario, called him to serve as a home missionary in the Ontario area, Charles began a ministry in Canada among the immigrants of the post-war period which extended from 1948 until his retirement in 1962. His home mission activity covered immigrant churches in the Ontario and British Columbia areas.

After forty years of full-time service in the Christian Reformed Church, Charles Spoelhof retired. He continued to minister, however, as assistant to the pastor at Neland Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He served in this capacity until 1980. His wife, Elizabeth, passed away in 1964. He married Theresa Bergsma Keegstra, and she passed in 1987. Charles Spoelhof passed away on March 21, 1989 in Rochester, New York.