1993 Alumni Awardees

Peter Dyck ’52, Akron, Pa., is widely known among Mennonites for lifelong service to the church through Mennonite Central Committee and through pastorates. In all of this, Elfrieda, his wife of nearly 50 years, has been an active participant.

He was a pastor in Ontario in 1941 when MCC asked him to take an assignment to England. He and Elfrieda Klassen were married in 1944, and they worked in England until World War II ended. In June 1945 they began relief work in the Netherlands and later worked with refugees in Germany.

Their assignment included responsibilities for refugees in camps and resettlement efforts. They escorted refugees by ship to South America, with Elfrieda in sole charge on two trips. Much time was spent helping North American churches understand and respond to the effects of the war.

In 1949 they came to Goshen College where Peter completed requirements for a B.A. in English. In 1950 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands named Peter a knight in recognition of his work in that country. That year the couple moved to Moundridge, Kan., where Peter served as pastor for seven years. The next move was to Germany where they lived for 10 years while he was MCC Europe and North Africa director and was responsible for East-West (Soviet Union) relations.

The family next located to Akron where Peter continued with MCC until his retirement in 1981. Since then, he and Elfrieda have maintained an active schedule and have collaborated on Up From the Rubble, their story of the postwar refugee programs. The Dycks have two daughters, Ruth ’72 and Rebecca ’75 and five grandchildren.

 

Abram Hostetter ’53 has practiced psychiatry in Central Pennsylvania since 1961 and founded Hershey Psychiatric Associates in 1973. After receiving his degree in natural science from Goshen College, he obtained an M.D. from the Thomas Jefferson University Medical School. He completed his internship at Methodist Episcopal Hospital, then a residency in psychiatry at Norristown State Hospital.

For the past 18 years he has been involved in extensive research into the genetics of manic-depressive disorders, using the Old Order Amish of Lancaster County as a study population. He and his team have found this psychiatric illness to be an inherited condition, and their findings have opened new avenues for research that may lead to more effective treatment or prevention. In this capacity he holds a professorship at the University of Miami School of Medicine, which administers his grant.

At the local level, he has served a variety of organizations in mental health, chaired the South Central Pennsylvania Health Planning Council and the United Way of the Capitol Region and for 30 years has been the psychiatric consultant to the public schools of Lancaster and Lebanon Counties. He is an elder at Derry Presbyterian Church.

He is a past president of Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society and currently is serving a second term as one of seven Area Trustees on the governing Board of the American Psychiatric Association, representing Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

As a Goshen College alumnus, he serves as class agent for the class of 1953 and was a national chair of the Alumni Fund Drive. He and Patricia Lerch ’52 are parents of three adult children.

 

Leanne Fricke Schertz ’58 is immediate past president of the Goshen College Board of Overseers. During her terms on the Board, the college embarked on a $48 million fund-raising campaign that will conclude in 1995. This campaign included a$7.12 million project for a renovated Science Hall and a large annex to the existing building, both of which were completed during her term. From 1975 to 1977, she was president of the alumni association.

She received her master’s degree in English from the University of Illinois in 1967 and has taught English at the high-school and college level since that time.

Joining the faculty of Illinois Central College in 1969, the strong liberal arts background nurtured at Goshen College served her well in developing interdisciplinary humanities courses, among them “The Bible as Literature.”

She became chair of the English department in 1981 and later served as acting dean of liberal arts and sciences for the college.

She and her husband, Ron ’58, an attorney, are active in the Illinois Mennonite Conference and were instrumental in planting the Peoria-North Mennonite Church. They are the parents of Kathleen ’85 and Suzanne ’87.