Dick, Elizabeth Epp (1913-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Apr 23 p. 8

Birth date: 1913 Nov 14

text of obituary:

ELIZABETH DICK

Elizabeth Epp Dick, 93, of Mountain Lake, Minn., died Feb. 20, 2007. She was born Nov. 14, 1913, to Daniel and Anna (Ewert) Epp near Delft.

Her childhood years on the farm were marked by tragedies. Her mother, Anna Epp, died when she was 2; then her stepmother, Susan (Fleming) Epp, died when she was 9. Her father died when she was 12, shortly after marrying his third wife, Bertha (Rogalsky) Epp. Her brother Sammy died of scarlet fever at age 11, when she was 15. When the farm was sold and her older brothers moved away, she and her remaining siblings moved in with relatives or her stepmother. Upon her graduation from high school in 1933, she worked at the Mountain Lake pharmacy and lived with and cared for her half-brothers Henry and Rueben and half-sister Clara for a number of years. In 1936 she married Ben P. Dick.

Her home was warm and inviting, and she maintained a large garden that resulted in a major food canning effort every fall. She was involved in many church activities, including Mission Society, choir and Sunday school teaching. She was an active volunteer in the community and school. She was noted for her zwieback and the perishki (fruit pockets) she made for the Mountain Lake Heritage Festival and the MCC relief sale. After her husband died in 2000, she continued to be active in the community, including work in the Care and Share Shop.

Survivors include a daughter, Kathy Martens and her husband, Jim, of Winona; two sons, Charles Dick and his wife, Diane, of Rochester, and Richard Dick and his wife, Linda, of Columbus, Ohio; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years, Ben; a sister, Sue Kliewer; a half-sister, Clara Paulsen; two brothers, Dan and Albert; three half-brothers, Sammy, Henry and Rueben; and stepsister Erika Gunderson.

Services were held at First Mennonite Church of Mountain Lake. Burial was in Mountain Lake Cemetery.