Happy 100th birthday to West Seattle’s newest centenarian! His family sent the announcement:
Rev. John Van Lierop is turning 100 today (born October 27, 1921 in Yakima) at The Kenney in West Seattle, where he has been a resident in Memory Care the last 7 years. His son John, Jr. is planning a small celebration party today.
Rev. Van Lierop is a retired Presbyterian minister, having served for 42 years pastoring 7 churches in 4 states. He retired from his last church in Sandy, Oregon, in 1986 and moved back with his wife to the Gatewood Hill home to live with his grown children. In 1987 he was asked to be the new Chaplain of The Kenney, where he served until 2004. Rev. Van Lierop returned to the Kenney Home as a resident of the Memory Care in 2014 following a fall that fractured his hip. A number of the present Kenney staff still remember him when he was chaplain and have fond memories of his working there.
Rev. Van Lierop’s hobby was collecting used books. At one time he had 20,000 books. His friends kidded him that he had enough to run a used book store. Even the owner of the famous Powell’s Book Store in Portland, Oregon, offered to buy Rev. Van Lierop’s entire library for a lump sum when he retired, but it was to no avail since he couldn’t part with his books. Rev. Van Lierop is the first of the Van Lierop clan to reach the milestone of 100. His son credits his longevity to clean living, since he lived what he preached!
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