Schrock, Dellis Darrel (1931-2008)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2008 Mar 24 p. 9

Birth date: 1931 Jul 29

text of obituary:

DELLIS SCHROCK

Dellis Darrel Schrock, 76, of Fargo, N.D., died Feb. 23, 2008, after a week of volunteer work with Presbyterian Disaster Service in Houma, La. He was born July 29, 1931, to Lewis and Ada Lehman Schrock at Woodriver, Neb.

When he was 5 his family moved to Iowa. He graduated from Iowa Mennonite High School. In 1951 he met Twila Stoll at Hesston (Kan.) College. They married in 1953 and went into alternative service at Evanston (Ill.) General Hospital.

He received a bachelor’s degree from Goshen (Ind.) College in 1956. In 1958 they moved to Casselton, N.D., where they raised four children and attended Casselton Mennonite Church for 28 years. He received a master’s degree in 1962 and a specialist degree in English from the University of Illinois in 1968.

He spent 37 years teaching secondary English and creative writing in Amenia and Fargo, N.D.; 22 years as chair of the English department at South High School; six years as co-director of the TriCollege Prairie Writing Project; and six years teaching rhetoric and supervising student teachers for Concordia and MSU.

He was appointed by Gov. Olson and Gov. Sinner to the North Dakota Professional Practices Commission. He served as mayor of Casselton, as president of the North Dakota Council of Teachers of English, as editor of North Dakota English and as a deacon of First Presbyterian Church. He received the Fargo Schools Recognition of Excellence Award in 1986 and the PTA Teacher of the Year Award in 1987.

He was devoted to family, church and family heritage. He was skilled in construction, with a great work ethic and a quiet spirituality.

Survivors include his wife, Twila Mae Stoll; children Michael Lewis and his wife, Erin Geiser, Deirdre Ann Albrecht and her husband, Tom, Joan Marie Schrock-Woodward and her husband, Don, and Elizabeth Jean Slabaugh and her husband, Marvin; four siblings, Thelma Schrock, Wilma Cannon, Lila Mae Gould and Roy Schrock; and 11 grandchildren.

His son Michael died Feb. 25 while home preparing for his father’s funeral.

Services were held at First Presbyterian Church in Fargo.