Dyck, Henry Janzen (1880-1970)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1969 Dec 4 p. 6 [bio]

Birth date: 1880 May 31

text of obituary:

NO, THIS IS NOT a retired engineer taking a nostalgic pose beside his retired engine. Old Santa Fe engine No. 1880 in Newton's Military Park simply provided a convenient background for Rev. Dyck to indicate the year of his birth.

Now Elder Emeritus

89-Year-Old Minister Views Life 'In Retrospect'

"THIS IS is not to be a 'brag book' but rather an account of what God may have accomplished in and through my life."

With this sentence Henry J. (Janzen) Dyck begins the 40-page typewritten "Story of My Life" which he titles "In Retrospect."

Verifying the fact and date of his birth, he cites Birth Document No. 45, Fuerstenau, Germany, June 4, 1880, in which his father, "the landowner, Jacob Dyck, residing in Laakendorf, of Mennonite religion, reported (to J. V. R. Vollerthun, the Registrar) that of Sara Dyck, nee Janzen, his wife, of Mennonite religion, living with him in Laakendorf in his dwelling on the 31 of May in the year 1880 at two o'clock before noon, a child of the male sex was born, and had been given the first name, Heinrich."

IN A WARMLY personal account, the 89-year-old elder emeritus of the Zion Mennonite Church of Elbing, Kan., recalls memories of his early youth in the "open village of Unter-Laakendorf, West Prussia, Germany," of the "heart searching" evangelistic services "at our house," and of the emigration to America with his parents in 1893.

Dedication of his life "fully to God's service" in a revival meeting in 1903 led into various phases of church work and eventually into the ministry and 10 years of "serving the churches and groups in the Western District Conference" under the conference Home Mission Committee.

Experiences on the not-yet-fully-tamed Midwestern frontier are described with subtle humor, such as when at bedtime the host "brought a ladder into the room and set it up in a corner, opening a lid in the ceiling," then showed him to a mattress on the attic floor. Or, at another occasion, while also sleeping on a mattress on the floor, "I notices someone crawling in under the cover with me. I the morning I found out that it was one of the boys in the family."

The German services at the prisoners-of-war camp near Peabody, Kan. in 1943, and during the period of MCC relief work in Europe after World War II were highlights in an unique and always challenging career.

A BRIEF section of the story is devoted to the 32 years Elder Dyck served as pastor of the Zion church, from which he resigned in September 1952. For a portion of this time he also was chairman of the board of the Bethel Deaconess Hospital.

The account, written mostly for his children, close relatives and friends, concludes with several pages of "Echoes" compiled by daughter Dorothy.

Among these, one of the most intriguing concerns a letter received from Vienna, Austria.

"The writer was the recipient of a can of MCC relief meat canned by our church," Dorothy explains.

"We were puzzled about the address until we discovered that it had been copied from a can of meat. It read, 'Hamburger Zion church, Elbing, Kansas, General H. J. Dyck.' The label was:

"Contents: Hamburger

Congregation: Zion Church
Address: Elbing, Kansas
Conference: General

Pastor: H. J. Dyck"

REV. DYCK is now by far the oldest member of the Herald Publishing Co. board of directors, having served since the very beginning in 1920. His "Messages for the Heart" have brought spiritual enrichment to many readers of the Mennonite Weekly Review.

---

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1970 Jul 30 p. 2

text of obituary:

Aged Retired Elder, Board Member, Dies

Rev. H. J. Dyck, 90, for 50 years a member of the Herald Publishing Co. board of directors and writer of the widely read and appreciated Review Column, "Messages for the Heart," died Sunday at 5:20 p.m. in Bethel Deaconess Hospital after an illness of several months.

Rev. Dyck was yet able to attend the Herald Publishing Co. 50th Anniversary Observance in the Newton First Mennonite Church on Sunday afternoon, June 28, an occasion he had looked forward to with much anticipation.

Born May 31, 1880, at Unter-Laakendorf, Germany, he came to America with his parents in 1893 and grew up to young manhood at the family home near Elbing, Kan. He was elected minister, and later elder of the Zion Mennonite Church, a position in which he served until his retirement in 1952. He was active in various phases of District and General Conference work and was president of the Bethel Deaconess Hospital and Home for Aged board of directors for 10 years.

He is survived by his aged wife, an invalid in Bethel Home for Aged, Walter and Martha Dyck, Henderson, Nebr., and Dorothea of the home; also a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Wednesday morning at the Zion Church in Elbing, conducted by Rev. Harold Graber, pastor of the church.

The Mennonite obituary: 1970 Aug 25 p. 511