LEAVING A LASTING LEGACY

After 40 years as a Westminster employee and 13 years as a student, Kari DeRuiter ‘74 has retired. Every year, amazing teachers with long legacies retire from Westminster, but Kari is different. She, and thousands of others, are the beneficiaries of the dream her grandfather had more than 60 years ago – to begin a Christian school where his grandchildren and the children of other Christian families could receive an excellent education.

Kari was enrolled in the first grade at Westminster when the school first opened its doors in 1961. She remained a student at the school until graduating in 1974.

She attended Calvin College in Michigan and graduated with a degree in K-12 education, knowing that she wanted to be a physical education teacher. She had always loved sports and had played volleyball, softball, and basketball at Westminster. During her senior year, Kari had been able to shadow the physical education teacher, also a Calvin graduate.

“She taught me to draw up lesson plans and allowed me to be her teacher’s aide in the elementary program. It was a great opportunity to learn about teaching physical education and confirmed my desire to become a teacher.”

After college, Kari taught middle school physical education in Michigan for four years until the warmer weather enticed her back home to Florida. She interviewed at a few schools, including Westminster, but was hesitant to return to the school her grandfather had founded and where her dad had served in leadership roles. She was in town for only three days and needed to have a job before she left. She prayed for the Lord’s guidance, and Westminster called and said they wanted to hire her.

Memories from a former student

Miss DeRuiter was my PE teacher in junior high, and in high school, I became her teacher’s assistant, where I helped with the junior high classes. What I remember most were the times when we would talk in her office. These conversations helped me realize that being an adult was not some strange unknown thing because she treated me with respect and made me feel important. I had so many great teachers during my 12 years at WCS and a few of them became friendships as an adult. Kari was one of them. I was so happy to see her again when my son started at Westminster. It reminded me that WCS will always feel like home, because of the people who make it feel like a family, people like Kari DeRuiter.

– Melissa DeJong ‘87

“I had to put aside my pride. Even though my family was no longer involved with the operation of the school, I was concerned people would say that I got the job because of my grandfather or dad,” said Kari. “No one brought it up, but I was self-conscious about it.” turned her love of sports into a successful coaching career, including 18 years as the girls

In 1982, Kari began to teach middle school and high school girls’ physical education at Westminster. She taught high school in the morning and middle school in the afternoon. After school, she coached in the girls’ athletic program. Over her 40 years at Westminster, she coached volleyball, softball, and track and field, and served as the women’s varsity basketball coach for 18 years. She even helped coordinate the tennis program.

As the years went by and the school began to celebrate milestone anniversaries, Kari was called upon to share about her family and the history of how the school began.

“As a student, I never felt any different than the other students. But as an employee, I came to recognize the tremendous opportunity the Lord had given me to share the story of Westminster.”

Kari was a first-hand witness to her grandfather rallying his friends and business partners to support Westminster with their time and resources. Her grandfather also shared his intention with other Christian men, including his son-inlaw and Kari’s father, Jim DeRuiter, who also believed in the dream.

Jim DeRuiter, who passed away in 2022 at the age of 90, had spent countless years on the Westminster Board and championed the need for an endowment at the school to help families who could not afford a private, Christian education for their children.

“My grandfather would pass the plate around the board meeting and say ‘you have to give more, we need more’ to make sure Westminster continued to grow. He would often pay teachers from his own pocket because it needed to be done.”

Kari is the oldest of the four children of Jim and Ethel DeRuiter. Her sister, Ruth, graduated from Westminster in ‘75, and twins Mary and Jim graduated in ‘78. She and her sisters were all educators, with