Dyck, Walter H. (1908-1996)

Revision as of 20:26, 7 January 2010

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 30 May 1996 p. 7

Birth date: 1908

text of obituary:

Longtime Pastor, Former GC Leader Dies at 87 in Illinois

NORMAL, Ill. — Walter H. Dyck, a pastor for more than 50 years and executive secretary of the General Conference Mennonite Church in the late 1940s, died May 16 at BroMenn Lifecare Center in Bloomington. He was 87.

He was born Sept. 16, 1908, in Elbing, Kan. He attended Bethel Academy in North Newton and the Bible Institute of Los Angeles.

Dyck served eight pastorates: in Burrton, Kan., beginning in 1936; Beatrice, Neb., 1939; Whitewater, Kan., 1949; Aberdeen, Idaho, 1956; Arvada, Colo., 1962; Henderson, Neb., 1965; Danvers and Carlock, Ill., 1971; and part-time at the Mennonite Church of Normal, 1981. He also served seven interim pastorates.

He was GC executive secretary from 1946 to 1949 and was a member of the GC Board of Missions for many years. In 1955 he represented the board for a year in South America.

In World War II he taught hundreds of young men about Christian nonresistance and how to face a hostile draft board.

He is survived by his wife, Martha; two daughters, Evelyn Bertsche of Norman and Delores Suderman Bartel of Goshen, Ind.; two sons, Gordon of Goshen and Gerald of Assonet, Mass.; a sister, Dorothea Dyck of Newton, Kan.; 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. He was precided in death by his first wife, Agnes; a son, Charles Suderman; a brother and a sister.

Services were held May 19 at the Mennonite Church of Normal.