If this site was useful to you, we'd be happy for a small donation. Be sure to enter "MLA donation" in the Comments box.
Dyck, Elfrieda Klassen (1917-2004)
| Line 25: | Line 25: | ||
Along with her husband of 60 years, Dyck served with MCC during and after World War II when refugees began flooding out of war-torn Europe. As recently as 10 years ago, at the time of MCC's 75th anniversary, she and Peter set out on a speaking tour across the United States and Canada, recounting their experiences. |
Along with her husband of 60 years, Dyck served with MCC during and after World War II when refugees began flooding out of war-torn Europe. As recently as 10 years ago, at the time of MCC's 75th anniversary, she and Peter set out on a speaking tour across the United States and Canada, recounting their experiences. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Dyck was born in Donskaja, now Samara, Russia, in 1917, the youngest of 14 children. In 1925, when she was 7, her family fled Russia and settled in Winnipeg, Man. There she graduated from St. Boniface Hospital in 1939 as a registered nurse. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Dyck's nursing skills led to her involvement with MCC. In 1942, during World War II, she began a one-year term of service at a home for babies in North Wales and later at a boys' convalescent home in northern England. |
||
| + | |||
| + | During World War II, she was among the first volunteers for MCC overseas service. |
||
| + | |||
| + | While serving in England she met her husband, an MCC worker as well as a fellow immigrant to Canada, coming from Lysanderhoh, Am Trakt, Russia. They married in 1944 and continued working for MCC after the war. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Dyck was in charge of a Mennonite refugee camp in Berlin from 1946-47. With Peter and other MCC workers, she gathered scattered Mennonite refugees and helped many resettle in Paraguay. |
||
| + | |||
| + | [[Image:Dyck_peter&elfrieda_1994.jpg|300px|right]] The Dycks told their story of aiding the European refugees in ''Up from the Rubble'' (Herald Press, 1991). |
||
| + | |||
| + | "Elfrieda and Peter Dyck have spent a lifetime of service ministering to homeless and hungry refugees and to the faith community around the world," said MCC executive director Ronald J. R. Mathies. "Elfrieda's care for the hurting, her gracious hospitality and her empathetic ear for all those who met her have made her an example of Christian compassion to generations." |
||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | |||
Revision as of 12:46, 10 January 2011
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2004 Aug 30 p. 1, 2
Birth date: 1917
text of obituary:
By Mark Beach MCC News Service
AKRON, Pa. — In May 1948, when the good ship Charlton Monarch turned out to be not so good, Elfrieda Dyck stepped up to the deck.
The story of the Charlton Monarch, a ship that fell victim to engine and crew problems and became stranded off the coast of Brazil, may have been a defining moment in Dyck's life.
But it is only one moment in a life filled with service to others through Mennonite Central Committee, her church, community and family.
Elfrieda Klassen Dyck, a longtime MCC worker who helped resettle European refugees after World War II and who exemplified the spirit of Christian service throughout her life, died Aug. 20 in Scottdale. She was 87.
"Refugee work is just a part of her life," said son-in-law Jack Scott of Scottdale. "Her life was spent so much caring for others, whether it was on the ships going across the Atlantic or her own family. Very much in her heart was a concern for refugees."
Along with her husband of 60 years, Dyck served with MCC during and after World War II when refugees began flooding out of war-torn Europe. As recently as 10 years ago, at the time of MCC's 75th anniversary, she and Peter set out on a speaking tour across the United States and Canada, recounting their experiences.
Dyck was born in Donskaja, now Samara, Russia, in 1917, the youngest of 14 children. In 1925, when she was 7, her family fled Russia and settled in Winnipeg, Man. There she graduated from St. Boniface Hospital in 1939 as a registered nurse.
Dyck's nursing skills led to her involvement with MCC. In 1942, during World War II, she began a one-year term of service at a home for babies in North Wales and later at a boys' convalescent home in northern England.
During World War II, she was among the first volunteers for MCC overseas service.
While serving in England she met her husband, an MCC worker as well as a fellow immigrant to Canada, coming from Lysanderhoh, Am Trakt, Russia. They married in 1944 and continued working for MCC after the war.
Dyck was in charge of a Mennonite refugee camp in Berlin from 1946-47. With Peter and other MCC workers, she gathered scattered Mennonite refugees and helped many resettle in Paraguay.
"Elfrieda and Peter Dyck have spent a lifetime of service ministering to homeless and hungry refugees and to the faith community around the world," said MCC executive director Ronald J. R. Mathies. "Elfrieda's care for the hurting, her gracious hospitality and her empathetic ear for all those who met her have made her an example of Christian compassion to generations."
