Blanche Lucille (Eding) Decker was born in Holland, Michigan on April 13, 1937. The youngest of six siblings, she was raised on the family farm in Hamilton, Michigan. Learning to work the earth instilled within Blanche her love of nature, beauty, and exploration.
Blanche graduated from Holland High School in 1955, earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Western Michigan University, then a master’s degree in education from Indiana University. While attending college, Blanche married the love of her life John Leonard Decker on September 13, 1958. Blanche embraced the arts with playing the piano, oil painting, traveling to scenic views, and cooking from scratch. Blanche filled her home with a wide assortment of flowers, butterflies, and her pretty things. John and Blanche took teaching positions in Maui, Hawaii, later moving to Hamilton, Michigan, then onto Springhill, Florida.
John Leonard passed away in August 2016, after being married for nearly 59 years. When Blanche became widowed, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia to reside with her son John Alan. During the later phase in her life, Blanche embraced being a grandmother, traveling with her sons, and word puzzles. When Blanche watched re-runs of gameshows from the 1960s and 1970s, she yelled out the correct answers to questions over 95 percent of the time. Keenly intelligent and well educated, Blanche viewed her greatest role to being a wife and mother. She transitioned from being a classroom teacher to running the home front for the three men in her life. On September 7, 2025, Blanche peacefully passed away near Atlanta, Georgia following a week long vigil of care with her beloved sons. Blanche’s wait to be reunited with her husband John has come to a conclusion.
Blanche is survived by her two sons John Alan and Michael Keith (Kristine) and one granddaughter Emily Louise. Blanche is proceeded in death by her parents, five siblings, and her husband John Leonard Decker.
Funeral services will be at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, September 16, 2025 at Langeland-Sterenberg Funeral Home, 315 East 16th Street, Holland, MI 49423. Visitation prior to the service will begin at 10:00 AM also at the funeral home.
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