EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a breaking-news story and will be updated.
HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — The people who knew and loved her best simply called her Max.
Maxine DeBruyn “matriarch and founder of the Hope College Dance Department” died Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, according to a statement by Hope College Dance Department Chair Matthew Farmer, which he shared on the department’s Facebook just before 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Farmer, a Hope 2004 grad, is a former student of Mrs. DeBruyn, who was 83.
“We grieve for her passing, and we mourn her absence,” he wrote. “She was a teacher, a mentor, and a friend to many of us, and was an inspiration for us all. Her dedication to dance, education, Hope College, and the Holland community is a legacy that will live on for ages to come, and her gift of love and passion is an eternal fire that will never be extinguished.
“As we all begin to grieve and mourn, may we also keep Max’s family in our thoughts and prayers. Let us come together as friends, artists, and lovers of dance, and support one another in this time. Let us draw close to another, sharing our memories, love, and admiration for Max, and let us carry forth the torch that she passed on to each and every one of us. May her memory and legacy live in and through each of us, and may we always remember “if you have a love a dance, then there is a place for you.”
He concluded his statement by writing, “May Maxine’s light shines through us all, and may we always remember to “zig, zag, and zing” through life.”
A founding member of the National Dance Education Organization, Mrs. DeBruyn received that group’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. She was the Hope’s first dance department chair, retaining the title through the spring of 2005; she founded Hope’s cheerleading program and coached them from 1968 to 1996. She founded and advised student groups, including the Strike Time Dance Company, which specializes in bringing dance to children in grades K-6 — and has a concert set for Jan. 10, 2021.
Hope College’s website notes she was a past president of the National Dance Education Organization; past vice chair of the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs; past president of the Midwest District of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; past director of the National Association of Schools of Dance; past member of the Advisory Board of Dance and the Child International (daCi); and past member of the Counseil International de la Danse, UNESCO, Paris. She has been the coordinator for Cecchetti Council for America International Summer School at Hope College since 1994.
Among her other professional honors are multiple service awards from the Midwest District of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; a service and leadership award from AAHPERD in 1987; the “Honor Award” from Michigan Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance in 2000, according to earlier Hope College press releases.
- In 1989, her work in the arts was cited in the U.S. Congressional Record and in a Joint Concurrent Resolution from the State of Michigan Legislature.
- In 1992, she received a Presidential Citation from the National Dance Association for dance assessment.
- In October 2004, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Michigan Dance Council in cooperation with the National Dance Education Organization.
- She received the Resthaven Good Shepherd Award in 2011, honored as “a leader in senior wellness throughout the Holland/Zeeland, Michigan community.”
DeBruyn was named to the college’s DeLong Professorship in 2002. She received the college’s Ruth and John Reed Faculty Achievement Award in 2001, and was honored by the Alumni H-Club at Hope in 1985 and 1996.
She continued teaching dance in retirement, a sprite at any age, her eyes sparkling when she talked about arriving at Hope in 1965 to teach dance classes under the auspices of the athletic department. She was unstoppable, even with a broken ankle, sitting happily crosslegged on the floor in the Knickerbocker Theatre’s lobby to chat with a reporter. Even into her 80s, she helped teach adults with Parkinson’s disease stretching and flexibility moves in sessions at Evergreen Commons and the Warm Friend, as well as at various area churches.
Her death elicited immediate reactions. On a Facebook page dedicated to sharing memories, Jonathan Fly wrote, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? I don’t know – but make the pin a prop, and Maxine DeBruyn is dancing on it right now. Love you, Max, always.”
She is predeceased by her husband of 48 years, Robert “Bob” DeBruyn, who died in 2009. She is survived by a daughter, Margret Christine DeBruyn, an extended family and wide circle of friends.
While her burial will be a private family affair because of the pandemic, a celebration of her is planned for a later date, Farmer noted.
