Proudly Presenting Reverend Nick Van der Veur
1952 WPU Graduate
Nominated by Louis Hyslip
Nick Van der Veur attended high school in Vallejo, California, and entered the Navy when he was 17. After discharge from the Navy in 1946, he spent some time as a dairy farmer and worked at a dry cleaners.
In 1948, he married Naomi Richards. Immediately after the wedding reception, the newlyweds left their hometown for Portland, Oregon, where he attended Warner Pacific, earning a bachelor’s degree in theology. As his graduation date approached, it was discovered that Nick had never graduated from high school and had to earn his GED before he was able to officially graduate from Warner.
For most of his life, Nick worked as a pastor and, in 1948, he and four other couples founded what is now the Gresham Church of God in Portland. He went on to pastor in churches in California, Oregon, Hawaii and Calgary and served with the Home Missions Board in Hawaii.
After retiring, he continued to preach at events and churches whenever requested. Nick passed away in September 2016, at the age of 90.