Dick, Elmer John (1916-1993)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1993 Sep 2 p. 11

Birth date: 1916 Mar 26

text of obituary:

ELMER J. DICK

Elmer John dick, son of John C. and Katherine (Janzen) Dick, was born March 26, 1916, in Mun8ch, N.D. He accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior at the age of 10 and was baptized at Salem Mennonite Church, Munich, Aug. 5, 1934.

On Oct. 1, 1941, he married Esther Quiring at Bergfelder Mennonite Church, now Gospel Mennonite Church, Mountain Lake, Minn. He graduated from Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School in St. Paul, Minn., in 1941.

He was ordained as an elder June 13, 1943, in Munich. The Dicks were ordained as missionaries June 25, 1944, at Salem Mennonite Church. They served churches in Lustre, Mont., Doland and Huron, S.D., Delft and Butterfield, Minn., before leaving Jan. 1, 1946, to be missionaries in the Congo, now Zaire.

They served in the Congo and Zaire from March 1946 until their retirement in June 1980, when they returned to live in Mountain Lake. During retirement, Elmer was interim pasor [sic pastor] for several churches and returned to Zaire from February 1989 to April 1990.

He died Aug. 21, 1993, at Unity Hospital in Fridley, Minn., at the age of 77. Services were held at Gospel Mennonite Church, Mountain Lake, where he was a member.

He is survived by his wife; two daughters, LaVerna Stonina and her husband, Darrell, of Columbia Heights, Minn., Doretta Drey and her husband, Thomas, of Council Bluffs, Iowa; two sons, Delbert and his wife, Susan, of Zaire, John and his wife, Carol, of Ramsey, Minn.; seven grandchildren; a brother, Clarence Dick of Munich; and two step-sisters, Tena Ortmann and Mary Thiessen, both of Warroad, Minn.

The Mennonite obituary: 1993 Oct 12 p. 20