Dirks, Marvin J. (1911-1979)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1979 Dec 6 p. 3

Birth date: 1911 Dec 21

text of obituary:

Missionary Dies During India Term

Bangalore, India—Marvin J. Dirks, former pastor, seminary professor and missionary to China, died Nov. 30 at Bangalore, India. He had just completed one year of a two-year teaching term at Union Theological College of Bangalore. He was 68.

After graduation from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and Bethel College, North Newton, Kan., Dirks began his career as a missionary to China. As a result of the war, the family was forced to go to the Philippines where they spent three years in Japanese concentration camps.

Following their release, they returned to the U. S. for further study after which Dirks took a faculty position at Mennonite Biblical Seminary and also taught at Bethany Seminary of the Church of the Brethren. He later taught for many years at Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts.

He served pastorates or interim pastorates at the Boston (Mass.) Mennonite Church; Bethel Mennonite Church, Mt. Lake, Minn.; Quincy Center Methodist Church and Newton Highlands Methodist Church in suburban Boston; and North Barnstead (N. H.) Congregational Church.

He is survived by his widow Frieda and four children, Marvin, Jr., of Newton, Kan., Carole Hilty of Washington, D. C., Anna Rae Dirks of Wollaston, Mass., and Stanley J. Dirks of San Francisco, Calif.

Memorial services were held at the Wollaston (Mass.) Methodist Church in conjunction with Eastern Nazarene College and at the Boston Mennonite Church.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1980 Jan 3 p. 11

text of obituary:

MARVIN J. DIRKS, SR.

Marvin J. Dirks was born Dec. 21, 1911 in Halstead, Kan., the oldest child of Jacob and Anna Zuercher Dirks. He died Nov. 30, 1979 in Bangalore, South India.

He attended the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and graduated from Bethel College, North Newton, Kan., in 1936. Following graduation, he began his career as a missionary in China in 1939. As a result of the war between the Chinese and the Japanese, the family was forced to go to the Philippines to spend three years in Japanese concentration camps.

Following release from the camps, they returned to the U. S. where he resumed his education, receiving a master's degree in music from Northwestern University and a B. D. from Mennonite Biblical Seminary and Bethany Seminary. During the next years he taught at MBS in Chicago, Ill. and Elkhart, Ind., as well as at Bethany Seminary of the Church of the Brethren. He became well-known for directing many choirs and giving vocal concerts throughout the U. S. and Canada.

In 1961 he moved to Massachusetts, where he received a Th. D. degree from Boston University. He taught at Eastern Nazarene College until his retirement in 1978.

During his lifetime he served pastorates and interim pastorates in many churches, among them the Boston Mennonite Church, Bethel Mennonite Church of Mountain Lake, Minn., Quincy Center Methodist Church and Newton Highlands Methodist Church in suburban Boston and North Barnstead Congregational Church in New Hampshire.

At the time of his death, he had just completed one year of a two-year teaching term at Union Theological College of Bangalore, where he was teaching preaching, communications and pastoral counselling courses. He was accompanied by his wife, Frieda Albrecht Dirks.

She survives along with four children, Marvin, Jr., of Newton, Kan., Carole Hilty of Washington, D. C., Anna Rae Dirks of Wollaston, Mass., and Stanley J. Dirks of San Francisco, Calif.; brothers, Norman Dirks of Los Angeles, Calif., and Virgil Dirks of Omaha, Neb.; and sisters, Salome Sperling of Moundridge, Kan. and Florene Dirks of Nigeria.

Memorial services were conducted Dec. 2 at the Wollaston Methodist Church in conjunction with Eastern Nazarene College and at the Boston Mennonite Church.

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The Mennonite obituary: 1980 Jan 1 p. 11

text of obituary:

Marvin J. Dirks died November 30 in Bangalore, South India. Dirks was born 21 December 1916 in Halstead, Kansas. He graduated from Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas, in 1936. He began his career as a missionary in China in 1939. He later taught at Mennonite Seminary in Chicago and Elkhart, Indiana. He served pastorates in many churches, including Boston Mennonite Church, Boston, Massachusetts, and Bethel Mennonite Church, Mountain Lake, Minnesota.