The Rev. David O. and Darlene Birkey Byler Memorial Scholarship Fund
Both Dave Byler (b. 17 February 1920, Poland, OH) and Dottie Birkey (b. 23 March 1923, Fisher, IL) grew up in dedicated Christian families that had been deeply rooted for generations in the Amish Mennonite and Mennonite faith tradition. Therefore, no one was surprised when in 1941 these two young people selected Goshen College as the place at which to seek a Christ-centered education.
When she was in the first or second grade, Dottie’s family moved to Bremen, IN, where she graduated from high school in 1941. Dave attended various schools in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania before he graduated high school in 1940 in Lehighton, PA.
In the fall 1941, both commenced their studies at Goshen College. During the next few years, as the two students attended classes, studied, engaged in extracurricular activities and events, and regularly participated in worship and other church functions, they would meet, become engaged, marry (29 March 1945, Bremen, IN), and graduate−Dottie in elementary education (B.S., 1944) and Dave in Bible (B.A., 1945). While a student at Goshen, Dave honed his musical talents by singing in a men’s gospel quartet that gave concerts at churches throughout the upper Midwest. After graduation, Dottie taught second grade for one year in her hometown of Bremen while Dave finished his final academic year. By year’s end, Dave had begun his life-long calling to full-time Christian ministry−now at a Baptist church in South Bend, IN, and Dottie had taken leave from teaching to give birth to the first of their four children.
In 1947, Dave enrolled at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, KY. There he studied for a B.Div. degree, while also serving as the part-time Minister of Music at nearby Crescent Hill Baptist Church. Dottie, meanwhile, worked as a church secretary at Crescent Hill until the birth of their daughter in 1948.
After graduation in 1950, Dave was called as Associate Pastor and Minister of Music to the first of three churches at which he was to serve until his retirement in 1985:
First Baptist Church, Kingsport, TN (1950-1952);
Brainerd Baptist Church, Chattanooga, TN (1953-1957);
First Baptist Church, Hickory, NC (1958-1985).
Although he preached an occasional sermon, Dave more often delivered the gospel message at Sunday worship in the form of tenor solos. Over his 35-year ministry, Dave planned the music, directed the choirs, led the singing at Sunday worship, and developed a choir program that ultimately included singers five years old to adult. Throughout his ministry, Dave was well-loved for faithfully visiting newcomers to town, the sick, the homebound, and those grieving the death of a loved one.
In addition, he also was frequently asked to preside over weddings and funerals for members of the church’s congregation.
Meanwhile, as homemaker, Dottie kept the home fires burning. Two more sons, born in 1952 and 1956, rounded out their family. Throughout the decades, she regularly served as a Sunday School teacher and often as a leader of the Women’s Missionary Union (WMU). In the mid-1960’s, after their youngest child entered school, Dottie had the opportunity to return to teaching children at a local kindergarten.
In February 1985, Dave and Dottie officially retired, but as Pastor Emeritus he continued regularly to make visits to those in need of pastoral care until just a few years before his own death on 20 May 1999. During retirement, he continued to sing solos and even gave an occasional musical concert. In 2004, the congregation of First Baptist Church Hickory dedicated their magnificent new pipe organ in memory of their beloved pastor and in honor of his wife.
In 2005, Dottie moved from Hickory to Raleigh, NC to live near her daughter and her second son. On 25 August 2011, she too went home to meet her creator and savior.
Dave and Dottie were passionate about their Christian faith. They lived lives that bore witness to Christ’s New Testament teachings – quietly manifested in repeated acts of everyday kindness shown to friends and strangers alike. For that reason, Dave and Dottie’s four children now establish this Goshen scholarship fund to honor and remember their loving parents and the Christian charity and kindness that exemplified their lives of service to others.