Jake Terpstra, 1927 - 2021. What a fighter!

I have fought the good fight!  If Jake Terpstra didn’t say that when he strolled through the pearly gates last week, I’ll bet St. Peter said it for him! 

Matt’s short email message to me: “We lost Jake.” 

That really hit me hard. He was referring to the death of Jacob Terpstra of Grand Rapids, a fighter and crusader for all that is right and just until the very day he stopped breathing. He was 94. 

In earlier life, Jake Terpstra’s focus was on the welfare of kids. Holding an MSW, he worked for many years for the state, and then for the feds. On the national level, he was particularly focused on humanizing detention programs for children. He was the author of a book that can still be purchased, BECAUSE KIDS ARE WORTH IT. 

In later life, detention at all levels was of concern to him. That’s when he and I connected. 

He used to say, “No one does more for Michigan prisoners than Doug Tjapkes!” In all fairness, he wasn’t referring to me...he meant HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS. Back in those days, HFP was a one-man show, so I got the credit. His premise was correct, however. I don’t think anyone does more for our prisoners than HFP.

In one of our many conversations he expressed the desire for a pen pal. I paired him up with a man I believed had been wrongly convicted, but who had made a terrible mistake while behind bars. The two became best of friends. That prisoner has never had, and will never have again, such a fierce advocate! 

Jake was born only 9 years before I arrived on this planet. But I never dared grumble about getting old. “Getting old is a privilege,” Jake used to say, and he obviously felt that not a moment was to be wasted! 

While I might have considered sitting in my Lazy Boy and reading a good book, Jake, on the other hand, was putting on warm clothes so he could get out on the street to carry a sign with some worthy protest group. 

When he couldn’t go on the street anymore, he continued to write. It was just a few months ago that his fine article, Mistakes can be corrected, appeared in The Banner, a publication of the Christian Reformed Church of North America. 

In lamenting the shamefully poor treatment of mentally ill, especially behind bars, Jake said it was important that elected officials do something. But then he asked: 

But what about ordinary Christians? In Matthew 25:36, Jesus said, “I was a stranger … sick and in prison, and you visited me.” This may be the time that Canada and the United States are willing to try to address the needs of prisoners who are mentally ill and to avoid the dangers posed by lack of treatment to the whole prison population. As a result, they and all prisoners will be more inclined to feel as if they are part of the human race. 

RIP, Jake. We’ll try to pick up where you left off!