Long-time service worker dies

Elfrieda Klassen Dyck, a long-time worker with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) who was named one of the 20 most influential Mennonite men and women of the past century by The Mennonite, died August 20 in Scottdale, Pa. She was 87.

She served with MCC during and after World War II when refugees began flooding out of war-torn Europe. When in May 1948 the good ship Charlton Monarch turned out to be a not-so-good ship, Elfrieda Klassen Dyck stepped up to the deck.

Elfrieda Dyck on board the refugee transport ship, Heintzelman, 1948. Photo courtesy of the Centre for MB Studies

She did what everyone at the time, including her husband Peter J. Dyck, expected she would do. She successfully led 860 war-weary European Mennonite refugees to safety and a new life in Paraguay, all the while contending with what was then considered a “sinking ship.”

The story of the Charlton Monarch, a ship that fell victim to a myriad of engine and crew problems only to become stranded off the coast of Brazil, may have been a defining moment in the life of Elfrieda Dyck.

Peter and Elfrieda Dyck share a laugh during a commissioning ceremony at MCC in 1994 when they began a speaking tour for MCC.

But it was only one moment in a life filled with service to others through MCC, her church, community and family.

A refugee herself, Elfrieda Dyck was born in Donskaja, New Samara, Russia, in 1917, the youngest of 14 children. In 1925 her family fled Russia, settling in Winnipeg, Man. where she graduated from St. Boniface Hospital in 1939 as a registered nurse.

Her nursing skills led to involvement with MCC in 1942, first at a home for babies in North Wales, and later at a boys’ convalescent home in northern England. She met Peter J. Dyck, another MCC worker, during her service in England. They married in 1944 and continued working for MCC through the end of the war and beyond.

Elfrieda Dyck was in charge of a Mennonite refugee camp in Berlin from 1946–47. With Peter and other MCC workers she gathered scattered Mennonite refugees and helped many of them resettle in Paraguay. Ten years ago, during MCC’s 75th anniversary, she and Peter shared their experiences in a speaking tour across Canada and the U.S.

“Elfrieda and Peter Dyck have spent a life time of service ministering to homeless and hungry refugees and to the faith community around the world,” says MCC executive director Ron Mathies. “Elfrieda’s care for the hurting, her gracious hospitality, and her empathetic ear for all those who met her have made her an example of Christian compassion to generations.”

Elfrieda Dyck is survived by her husband Peter, two daughters, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. A memorial fund to help refugees – a concern very much in her heart – has been established in her name through MCC.

—from MCC News release