Peter J Dyck Peace and Justice Scholarship Fund

Peter J Dyck was born in Lysanderhöh, Russia on Dec. 4, 1914 and died January 4, 2010 of cancer at the age of 95 at his residence in Scottdale, Pa.  When Peter was a young child during a famine and typhoid epidemic in Russia, he was on the brink of death when a shipment of food relief from North American Mennonites saved his life. At the age of 12, his family immigrated to Saskatchewan. Peter later often recounted his father’s difficult decision to move the family of 9 children to Canada, leaving behind all relatives and his position of leadership in the Mennonite community in Russia.

Peter attended the University of Saskatchewan and Bethel College, and graduated from Goshen College with a BA in English. In June 1968 he completed his Masters of Divinity degree at Bethany Theological Seminary, Chicago. Waterloo University in Ontario granted him an honorary doctorate in 1975 in recognition of his years of service.

During WWII he served with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in England, where in 1945 he married Elfrieda Klassen, an MCC nurse. Immediately after the war Peter and Elfrieda transferred to Holland to direct a massive relief program. He was later knighted by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands in recognition of MCC’s feeding and clothing program.

After the war ended, Peter and Elfrieda moved to Germany to take care of thousands of Mennonites who had fled from the Soviet Union. They established refugee camps and eventually transported more than 5,500 to South America. Most went to Paraguay, some to Brazil and Uruguay. Still others immigrated to Canada. The popular Mennonite children’s book Henry’s Red Sea told this story from the perspective of a young Russian refugee boy. The Dycks themselves recounted their experience in their 1991 book Up From the Rubble.

Upon arrival in war-torn England, Peter bought an 8-mm and then a 16-mm camera. He chronicled the work of MCC and the plight of the Dutch people as well as Mennonite refugees. He and Elfrieda traveled across the US and Canada showing this film and raising money and awareness for the work of MCC with European refugees. Peter went on to make numerous films on MCC work throughout Europe, North Africa and in Paraguay.

From 1950 – 1957 Peter served as pastor of the Eden Mennonite Church in Moundridge, Kansas. Then Peter and Elfrieda with their two daughters, Ruth and Rebecca, returned to Europe to direct the MCC program there and in North Africa. He also was responsible for MCC’s East-West program, visiting Russia seven times. In 1967 they relocated to the MCC

headquarters in Akron, Pa. where he continued until his retirement in 1982. In 1995 Peter and Elfrieda moved to Scottdale, Pa. to be closer to their children and grandchildren.

For two decades after his “retirement” from MCC he travelled to speak in churches, schools and at retreats. He was well-known among the Amish and Mennonites for his inspiring stories, was popular in his 70’s and 80’s at Mennonite high schools and colleges for his ability to engage young people, and still packed auditoriums when he spoke at age 90. He was a passionate advocate for peace, conflict resolution, justice and tolerance. By refusing military service in his youth, marching against the Vietnam war, refusing to pay war taxes, attending peace conferences in Moscow at the height of the Cold War, supporting Christian Peacemaker Teams, trailblazing interfaith cooperation on peace initiatives and preaching about Jubilee, Peter embodied active involvement. He challenged everybody to find concrete ways of bringing about peace in the world.

Peter was the author of five additional books. Three were children’s books (The Great Shalom, Shalom at Last and Storytime Jamboree), one was a collection of his stories (A Leap of Faith) and his last one was a meditation on growing old gracefully, Getting Home Before Dark. His spellbinding storytelling was captured on three videos produced by the Menno-Hof in Shipshewana, Indiana.  He also wrote 17 volumes of “Stories from Opa” for his grandchildren.