A memorial service celebrating the life of longtime Hope College English professor A. James Prins will be held Sunday, August 17 at Mulder Chapel at Western Theological Seminary. The memorial service will begin at 2 p.m.
A reception will follow in Semelink Hall at the Seminary. Family, friends and former students of Dr. Prins will be invited to speak informally about him.
Dr. Prins died on Tuesday, May 27, 2003. He was 86.
He served on the Hope College faculty for 35 years, retiring in 1981. Dr. Prins joined the Hope faculty in 1946 as an instructor in English. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1948, associate professor in 1957 and professor in 1965.
He received the Hope Outstanding Professor Educator (H.O.P.E.) Award in 1966. The "Dr. A. James Prins Scholarship" has been established at the college in his honor.
Dr. Prins was a 1938 graduate of Hope College. He received the master's and doctorate in English from the University of Michigan. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Army in England, France and Belgium.
Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Iris; his children and their spouses, Christopher Prins and Yvette Hopkins of Arlington, Va., and Robin Prins Bakker and Philip Bakker of Holland; six grandchildren; a sister, Mrs. Willis (Julia) Streur of Holland; and in-laws, Ivy and Hubert Grantham of Phenix City, Ala.
Members of the Hope College English Department are preparing a memorial volume and are soliciting documents, correspondence, photographs and memoirs of any length. The tentative deadline is Wednesday, Oct. 15. Additional information may obtained from Professor Kathleen Verduin (616-395-7609 or e-mailed at verduin@hope.edu.).