Dyck, Harold P. (1920-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Jun 11 p. 7

Birth date: 1920 Sep 2

text of obituary:

Kansas businessman, benefactor dies at 86

By Robert Rhodes

Mennonite Weekly Review

HESSTON, Kan — Harold P. Dyck, 86, one of the early executives of Hesston Corp. and with his wife the founder of an arboretum that bears his name, died May 29 at Schowalter Villa.

In 1968, after leaving Hesston Corp. — where he had been a vice president and sales manager since 1951 — Dyck became western regional manager and an estate planner for the Mennonite Foundation in Hesston, a post he held until the late 1980s.

Michael Miller, who now holds that position, remembered Dyck as a generous man who essentially contributed his services to the foundation.

"He worked for the foundation without a paycheck," Miller said June 4. "He really put the Mennonite Foundation on the map here."

Miller said Dyck personified the values of good business and of the conservative Mennonite faith he was raised in.

"He was the consummate gentleman and very committed to a high level of professionalism," Miller said. "He was kind and unbelievably generous."

Born Sept. 2, 1920, at Newton, the son of Jacob H. and Fanie Elizabeth Yost Dyck, he married Elva Mae Hershberger on Sept. 19, 1942.

Dyck was a member of Hesston Mennonite Church and with his wife, after seeing a similar nature preserve at Belle Plaine, founded the Dyck Aboretum [sic Arboretum] of the Plains in Hesston in the late 1970s.

He served on various boards, including those for Schowalter Villa, Mennonite Publishing House, Hesston Mennonite Church and Newton Medical Center. He was mayor of Hesston from 1969 to 1971 and served 18 years in the Kansas legislature.

During World War II, Dyck was a conscientious objector, doing alternative service in South Dakota and Pennsylvania. As a young man, he was a successful salesman, from peddling eggs on street corners to offering Fuller Brushes door-to-door.

He achieved his greatest success as an executive for Hesston Corp., now AGCO, a major manufacturer of agricultural equipment.

Survivors include his wife; two sons and their wives, Gary and Teresa Dyck of Frankston, Texas, and Tom and Regina Dyck of Hesston; two daughters, Joycelyn Cooley of Hesston and Julia and her husband, Brad Roupp, of Ashland, Ore.; two brothers, John of Hesston and Kenneth of Newton; three sisters, Neva Schmidt of Moundridge, Margaret Ensz of Inman and Velma and her husband, Melvin Jantzen, of Hesston; 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by a brother, Clifford.

Services were held June 2 at Hesston Mennonite Church. Burial was in Eastlawn Cemetery.