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Dalke, Diedrich L. (1882-1971)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1971 Mar 25 p. 8
Birth date: 1882
text of obituary:
. . .
ENID, OKLAHOMA
March 14, 1971
. . .
Diedrick [sic Diedrich] L. Dalke, 89, died in Alexandria, Va., his home, and the funeral will be tomorrow at that place. Mr. Dalke was born at Henderson, Neb. in 1882 and came to Enid with his parents at the time of the opening of the Cherokee Strip in 1893, settling on a farm near North Enid and experienced with others the rigors of the pioneering days. After schooling, as was the custom in those early times, he left Enid as a young man to acquire knowledge for higher degrees and spent his entire life until retirement in educational work. He was a great historian and "Mennonite Life" has carried several lengthy illustrated articles written by him telling about pioneering Mennonites in those times. As a boy, in 1893-1895, he watched as clay was dug from the banks of Skeleton creek, and saw the bricks molded and laid out in the hot Oklahoma sun. These were used in 1895 in building the two-story high school in North Enid where he and his brothers later attended and graduated prior to going out in the world as successful young men on their own.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1971 Apr 15 p. 11
text of obituary:
DIEDRICH L. DALKE
Dietrich L. Dalke, 89, a former director of educational services in the Civilian Conservation Corps and a retired Arlington, Va. teacher, died March 11, after a heart attack at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria. He lived at 14D Auburn Court, Alexandria.
Mr. Dalke was born in Nebraska to Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Dalke. In 1894 his parents pioneered near Enid, Okla. Shortly after the turn of the century we went to McPherson, Kan., where he received his college degree several years later.
In his youth he became a member of the Mennonite Brethren Church at Enid. While living at Alexandria, he taught a Sunday school class for many years. His wife AnnaBelle was formerly a member of the Brethren Church in the vicinity of McPherson, Kan.
Mr. Dalke was a school superintendent in the Middle West and dean of Missouri Wesleyan College before moving to Washington, D. C. with the CCC in 1935-41.
He worked for the Agricultural Department for three years, and then taught at Swanson Junior High School in Arlington until retiring in 1951. He had been a substitute teacher until 1965.
He leaves his wife; two daughters, Mrs. Muriel DeShaine of Baldwin Park, Calif., and Mrs. Marlene Morrisey of Arlington; a grandson and a great-granddaughter.
The family requested that expressions of sympathy be in the form of contributions to DelRay Methodist Church, Alexandria.