Obituary
STEPHEN JAMES HIEMSTRA
April 17, 1931 – July 13, 2023
Stephen J. Hiemstra (Steve) passed away in the early morning hours of July 13, 2023 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease at the memory care unit (The Haven) at the Kensington in Reston, Virginia. His wife, Hazel F. Hiemstra preceded him in death July 25, 2020.
Steve had a distinguished career in both the Food Nutrition Service and Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is best known as the father of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) feeding program. He also founded the first doctoral program in food service at Purdue University and served as the director of agricultural negotiations in the President’s Council of Wage and Price Stability during the Carter Administration. This was the occasion of his photograph in the White House with President Jimmy Carter.
Steve is the second son of Frank and Gertrude Hiemstra of Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he grew up on a mixed feed-livestock farm. He is survived by his older brother, John E. Hiemstra, of West Nyack, New York and three of his four children: Stephen Wayne, Karen Lee, and John David. His younger brother, David Hiemstra, and daughter, Diane Sue, preceded him in death.
Steve attended college at Iowa State University where he studied agricultural economics, lived in the Farmhouse Fraternity, and joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). There he received both a Bachelor’s of Science and Master’s Degree. After serving in the Air Force and rising to the rank of Captain, he returned to school to complete a doctoral program at University of California at Berkeley.
Steve met the love of his life, Hazel, roller skating in Guelph, Ontario while attending a conference of the American Agricultural Economics Association. They were married a year later on September 13, 1952. The following year while Dad served in the U.S. Air Force in Korea, Mom lived with his family on the farm.
Steve’s passion for making food available to everyone was an expression of his faith. Not only did he conceive the WIC program, he worked supporting food stamps, commodity distribution, and school lunches. He traveled to Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Navajo Indian reservation to personally assist in setting up their food stamp programs. As elder in his church, he was proudest of his work in missions.
John E. Lee Jr., Retired Administrator and Professor Emeritus, reported: “His [Steve’s] role in the evolution of USDA’s programs that now feed millions of Americans should not be underestimated.”
His hobbies included golf, bridge, and square dancing. He also was an avid gardener, investor, and coin/stamp collector. He loved to travel and in retirement consulted for major hospitality companies on at least three continents.