Ida Boers

Ida Gezina Boers, née Hommes, died at home, tended by her daughters, in the early morning hours of March 8, 2025. She was born March 29, 1936, in Krugersdorp, South Africa. She grew up on a farm in Gauteng and attended Afrikaans Hoer Meisies Skool in Pretoria as a girl. She qualified as a nurse at the Andrew McColm Training Hospital in 1959 and married her husband, Hendrikus Boers, that same year. After he received his Doctor of Theology degree at the University of Bonn, Germany, they immigrated to the United States in 1962 for his position as a new faculty member at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. After raising her three daughters, Ida's love of books led her to accept a position at Pitts Theology Library from 1983 until her retirement in 1998.

Everyone who knew Ida will remember a cultured, well read, clever woman, who enjoyed long, wandering, interesting conversations on all subjects. Her sense of humor had elements of her Groninger and South African heritage, but she also took great pleasure in irony, in keeping with one of her favorite authors, Jane Austen. Even cancer could never get in the way of her quick wit or a good joke. Nor could it extinguish her wide smile and twinkle, though it tried its best. Her ability to create a beautiful home full of books and fresh flowers, her culinary magic, and her pleasure as a hostess gave joy to her family, friends, and guests. She was an extraordinary linguist, fluent in Dutch, Groningers, Afrikaans, English, and Sesotho even before she attended high school. She became proficient in German during her husband's doctoral studies and learned French during their sabbatical in Lyon, France, in the early 1980s. She loved gardening and music.

She was wonderfully blessed in friendship. The Candler faculty wives in the 1960s who helped her transition to this country grew in number over the decades. This loving group of women, the "birthday club," has been steadfast for sixty years. She was also a long-standing member of the Emory Women's Club. As the Interlibrary Loan librarian at Pitts Theology Library, she befriended scholars, researchers, librarians, and staff, borrowing and lending with libraries across the globe. Because Hendrik's research and scholarship frequently took them overseas, her friends and correspondence spanned worldwide.

Her friendships spanned other kinds of distances as well: before 1994, Atlanta's South African expatriate community was fraught with trauma and distress. Hendrik and Ida's abiding friendships among their fellow South Africans crossed racial, ethnic, and linguistic divides in defiance of the Apartheid laws of their country. Similarly, in a neighborhood which petitioned against them as outsiders when they moved to their house in 1964, they developed many deep friendships. When she was wheelchair bound in her home, her neighbors waved through the living room window when they walked by, sent messages, and brought in her mail. After her husband's death in 2007, she joined The Writers' Bloc. Their steady, creative, encouraging relationships resulted in her 2023 publication "Traveling Beyond Borders," a collection of family stories crossing centuries and continents.

Ida is survived by her three daughters, Greta Gezina Boers, Johanna Hommes Boers, and Maria Boers Morris; two granddaughters, Alice and Haven Morris; her brother, John Hommes; nieces Nikki Hommes and Lesley Bruce-Brand, nephews Edwin Hommes and Jakobus Boers, and their families. Ida's many relatives are scattered across the globe, from the Netherlands, Ireland, England, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.

In lieu of flowers, please give donations to Chris 180. This was Ida's favorite charity, offering mental health services to people who have suffered trauma, children, families, and the homeless, as well as other communities in Georgia. A Memorial Service will be held on March 29th in Cannon Chapel on Emory University's main campus. Details will be forthcoming.