Father: Johannes Johannes Dyck 1885-1948
Mother: Renate Mathies 1885-1963
Born: Lysanderhoeh, Am Trakt, Russia. (just prior to the formation of the USSR)
Baptized: 28 May 1939 in Tiefengrund, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Immigrated: 14 Jul 1927, Rosthern, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Married: 12 Aug 1952 in Tiefengrund, Saskatchewan, Canada to Wilma Louise Regier.
Children: Mary Johanna, Jennifer Louise, Suzanne Renee.
Siblings: Eliese, Anna, Irma, John R., Peter J., Helene Lora, Clara, *.*, Renata "Rena".
Dr. Cornelius J. Dyck died at his home in Normal, Illinois at 3:30 AM, 10 January 2014.
Dr. Dyck was a teacher, author, and historian. "CJ's leadership had an impact on Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite World Conference and profoundly on AMBS. Thanks be to God for his wisdom, his faith and faithfulness, his commitment to the church ... and his humor."
------
A small representation of his writings include:
* The Mennonite Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Reference Work on the Anabaptist-Mennonite Movement (Volume V)
* Twelve Becoming Biographies of Mennonite Disciples from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century
* From the Files of McC (Mcc Story Series. : Vol. 1)
* An Introduction to Mennonite History: A Popular History of the Anabaptists and the Mennonites
* The Writings of Dirk Philips (Classics of the Radical Reformation)
* Spiritual Life In Anabaptism
* A legacy of faith : the heritage of Menno Simons. A sixtieth anniversary tribute to Cornelius Krahn
* They gave themselves : lessons in Christian stewardship
* The Lordship of Christ : Proceedings of the Seventh Mennonite World Conference, Kitchener, Ontario Canada, August...
* From the Files of McC (Mcc Story Series. : Vol. 1)
* Responding to Worldwide Needs
* Witness and Service in North America
* The Golden Years of the Hutterites (Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, No. 23)
* Confessions of Faith in the Anabaptist Tradition 1527-1660 (Classics of the Radical Reformation)
----
Cornelius John (CJ) Dyck, 92 years, 520 Bobwhite Way, Normal, Ill., died Jan. 10, 2014, surrounded by Wilma Regier Dyck, his loving wife, and family.
His body has been donated to the Illinois Anatomical Gift Association, from where his ashes will be returned to the family for burial at the Mennonite (Ropp) Cemetery. Visitation is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 17, from 5 to 8 p.m., with a memorial service on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 10:30 a.m.; both events will be held at the Mennonite Church of Normal. Kibler-Brady-Ruestman Memorial Home in Bloomington is assisting the family with arrangements.
Dr. Dyck was born in Russia on Aug. 20, 1921, and immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of five. Soon after completing high school, he was drafted, being assigned to alternative service on his father's farm because of the latter's ill health, where he raised a lot of "Bacon for Britain" during World War II. After four years, and at the end of World War II in 1945, he volunteered for service with Mennonite Central Committee, where he served for six years in England and the Netherlands. In 1946, he was assigned to the British Zone of Germany through MCC and the Council of Relief Agencies Licensed to Operate in Germany, working with all in need of food, clothing and emigration help, but mostly with refugees from Eastern Europe and Russia.
Of great satisfaction to him was initiating the feeding of about 100,000 children daily in North Germany with food supplies sent by Mennonites in North America through MCC. When he was born in the famine year of 1921, it had been MCC food sent to Russia that saved his life 25 years earlier. His MCC field service ended with nearly three years in South America, resettling refugees from Europe and Russia in Paraguay and Uruguay. Among his greatest rewards was finding and initiating the founding of a hospital and treatment center for lepers at Km81 in Paraguay, together with the Mennonites in that land. He returned to Canada in 1951 and in 1952 married Wilma Regier of his home community in Laird, Saskatchewan.
Following his return from MCC service, he studied at Bethel College for two years, graduating in 1953. He then earned an MA degree in history from Wichita State University while also serving as pastor of the Zion Mennonite Church in Elbing (1951-1955). From 1955-1959, he studied history and theology at the University of Chicago, earning the Bachelor of Divinity and PhD degrees, while also serving as Business Manager of Mennonite Biblical Seminary on Woodlawn Avenue. Two children, Mary and Jennifer, were born to the Dycks in Chicago. A third daughter, Suzanne, was born in Elkhart, Ind.
Since MBS in Chicago and Goshen (Ind.) Biblical Seminary agreed to found a joint campus in Elkhart, Ind., it became CJ's responsibility to move the Chicago seminary to Elkhart where the two schools formed the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in 1958. AMBS is now known as Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. He was then invited to join the new faculty team as Professor of Historical Theology, a position he held for 30 years until retiring in 1989. He had already begun his work as Director of the Institute of Mennonite Studies, a research agency, in 1958, a position he held for 21 years. This work led to many conferences and some 50 publications, including some of his own writings. Among the latter was his Introduction to Mennonite History, which after two revisions since 1967, was still being used as a textbook in many Mennonite high schools and colleges into the 21st century.
CJ was preceded in death by his parents, John J. and Renate (Mathies) Dyck of Laird, Saskatchewan; his sisters, Eliese Quiring, Anna Neufeldt, Irma Balzer and Helene Funk; as well as brothers, John R. and Peter J.
Surviving him are his wife of 61 years, Wilma of Normal; three daughters, Mary of Normal, Jennifer (Suzie Lane) of Dunkirk, N.Y., and Suzanne (Brad Kliewer) of Minneapolis, Minn.; three granddaughters, Claire Dyck of Normal, and Aurora and Avery Kliewer of Minneapolis; and sisters, Clara Dyck and Renate (George Kroeker) of Winnipeg, Manitoba; as well as many nieces and nephews.
He was involved in many Mennonite church and local community committees, including Elkhart (Ind.) Urban League, YMCA, General Conference Mennonite Church Board of Business Administration, as well as its Historical Committee, Executive Committee of MCC, founding board of Oaklawn Psychiatric Center, Elkhart, Ind., Mennonite Historical Committees in the U.S., Canada, Netherlands, Germany, American Society of Church History, Society for Reformation Research. He served as Executive Secretary of Mennonite World Conference from 1961-1973.
A Festschrift, Anabaptism Revisited, edited by Walter Klaassen, was published in Dr. Dyck's honor in 1992, which also contains a bibliography of his major writings. The Oaklawn board awarded him a citation in 1970. Bethel College awarded him the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1976. He became a member of the Mennonite Church through baptism in Saskatchewan in 1939 and was a member of the Mennonite Church of Normal, Ill.
Memorial gifts may be made to Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, Pa.; Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind.; or Mennonite World Conference, Fresno, Calif., or Waterloo, Ontario.
Mother: Renate Mathies 1885-1963
Born: Lysanderhoeh, Am Trakt, Russia. (just prior to the formation of the USSR)
Baptized: 28 May 1939 in Tiefengrund, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Immigrated: 14 Jul 1927, Rosthern, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Married: 12 Aug 1952 in Tiefengrund, Saskatchewan, Canada to Wilma Louise Regier.
Children: Mary Johanna, Jennifer Louise, Suzanne Renee.
Siblings: Eliese, Anna, Irma, John R., Peter J., Helene Lora, Clara, *.*, Renata "Rena".
Dr. Cornelius J. Dyck died at his home in Normal, Illinois at 3:30 AM, 10 January 2014.
Dr. Dyck was a teacher, author, and historian. "CJ's leadership had an impact on Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite World Conference and profoundly on AMBS. Thanks be to God for his wisdom, his faith and faithfulness, his commitment to the church ... and his humor."
------
A small representation of his writings include:
* The Mennonite Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Reference Work on the Anabaptist-Mennonite Movement (Volume V)
* Twelve Becoming Biographies of Mennonite Disciples from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century
* From the Files of McC (Mcc Story Series. : Vol. 1)
* An Introduction to Mennonite History: A Popular History of the Anabaptists and the Mennonites
* The Writings of Dirk Philips (Classics of the Radical Reformation)
* Spiritual Life In Anabaptism
* A legacy of faith : the heritage of Menno Simons. A sixtieth anniversary tribute to Cornelius Krahn
* They gave themselves : lessons in Christian stewardship
* The Lordship of Christ : Proceedings of the Seventh Mennonite World Conference, Kitchener, Ontario Canada, August...
* From the Files of McC (Mcc Story Series. : Vol. 1)
* Responding to Worldwide Needs
* Witness and Service in North America
* The Golden Years of the Hutterites (Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, No. 23)
* Confessions of Faith in the Anabaptist Tradition 1527-1660 (Classics of the Radical Reformation)
----
Cornelius John (CJ) Dyck, 92 years, 520 Bobwhite Way, Normal, Ill., died Jan. 10, 2014, surrounded by Wilma Regier Dyck, his loving wife, and family.
His body has been donated to the Illinois Anatomical Gift Association, from where his ashes will be returned to the family for burial at the Mennonite (Ropp) Cemetery. Visitation is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 17, from 5 to 8 p.m., with a memorial service on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 10:30 a.m.; both events will be held at the Mennonite Church of Normal. Kibler-Brady-Ruestman Memorial Home in Bloomington is assisting the family with arrangements.
Dr. Dyck was born in Russia on Aug. 20, 1921, and immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of five. Soon after completing high school, he was drafted, being assigned to alternative service on his father's farm because of the latter's ill health, where he raised a lot of "Bacon for Britain" during World War II. After four years, and at the end of World War II in 1945, he volunteered for service with Mennonite Central Committee, where he served for six years in England and the Netherlands. In 1946, he was assigned to the British Zone of Germany through MCC and the Council of Relief Agencies Licensed to Operate in Germany, working with all in need of food, clothing and emigration help, but mostly with refugees from Eastern Europe and Russia.
Of great satisfaction to him was initiating the feeding of about 100,000 children daily in North Germany with food supplies sent by Mennonites in North America through MCC. When he was born in the famine year of 1921, it had been MCC food sent to Russia that saved his life 25 years earlier. His MCC field service ended with nearly three years in South America, resettling refugees from Europe and Russia in Paraguay and Uruguay. Among his greatest rewards was finding and initiating the founding of a hospital and treatment center for lepers at Km81 in Paraguay, together with the Mennonites in that land. He returned to Canada in 1951 and in 1952 married Wilma Regier of his home community in Laird, Saskatchewan.
Following his return from MCC service, he studied at Bethel College for two years, graduating in 1953. He then earned an MA degree in history from Wichita State University while also serving as pastor of the Zion Mennonite Church in Elbing (1951-1955). From 1955-1959, he studied history and theology at the University of Chicago, earning the Bachelor of Divinity and PhD degrees, while also serving as Business Manager of Mennonite Biblical Seminary on Woodlawn Avenue. Two children, Mary and Jennifer, were born to the Dycks in Chicago. A third daughter, Suzanne, was born in Elkhart, Ind.
Since MBS in Chicago and Goshen (Ind.) Biblical Seminary agreed to found a joint campus in Elkhart, Ind., it became CJ's responsibility to move the Chicago seminary to Elkhart where the two schools formed the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in 1958. AMBS is now known as Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. He was then invited to join the new faculty team as Professor of Historical Theology, a position he held for 30 years until retiring in 1989. He had already begun his work as Director of the Institute of Mennonite Studies, a research agency, in 1958, a position he held for 21 years. This work led to many conferences and some 50 publications, including some of his own writings. Among the latter was his Introduction to Mennonite History, which after two revisions since 1967, was still being used as a textbook in many Mennonite high schools and colleges into the 21st century.
CJ was preceded in death by his parents, John J. and Renate (Mathies) Dyck of Laird, Saskatchewan; his sisters, Eliese Quiring, Anna Neufeldt, Irma Balzer and Helene Funk; as well as brothers, John R. and Peter J.
Surviving him are his wife of 61 years, Wilma of Normal; three daughters, Mary of Normal, Jennifer (Suzie Lane) of Dunkirk, N.Y., and Suzanne (Brad Kliewer) of Minneapolis, Minn.; three granddaughters, Claire Dyck of Normal, and Aurora and Avery Kliewer of Minneapolis; and sisters, Clara Dyck and Renate (George Kroeker) of Winnipeg, Manitoba; as well as many nieces and nephews.
He was involved in many Mennonite church and local community committees, including Elkhart (Ind.) Urban League, YMCA, General Conference Mennonite Church Board of Business Administration, as well as its Historical Committee, Executive Committee of MCC, founding board of Oaklawn Psychiatric Center, Elkhart, Ind., Mennonite Historical Committees in the U.S., Canada, Netherlands, Germany, American Society of Church History, Society for Reformation Research. He served as Executive Secretary of Mennonite World Conference from 1961-1973.
A Festschrift, Anabaptism Revisited, edited by Walter Klaassen, was published in Dr. Dyck's honor in 1992, which also contains a bibliography of his major writings. The Oaklawn board awarded him a citation in 1970. Bethel College awarded him the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1976. He became a member of the Mennonite Church through baptism in Saskatchewan in 1939 and was a member of the Mennonite Church of Normal, Ill.
Memorial gifts may be made to Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, Pa.; Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind.; or Mennonite World Conference, Fresno, Calif., or Waterloo, Ontario.
Father: Johannes Johannes Dyck 1885-1948
Mother: Renate Mathies 1885-1963
Born: Lysanderhoeh, Am Trakt, Russia. (just prior to the formation of the USSR)
Baptized: 28 May 1939 in Tiefengrund, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Immigrated: 14 Jul 1927, Rosthern, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Married: 12 Aug 1952 in Tiefengrund, Saskatchewan, Canada to Wilma Louise Regier.
Children: Mary Johanna, Jennifer Louise, Suzanne Renee.
Siblings: Eliese, Anna, Irma, John R., Peter J., Helene Lora, Clara, *.*, Renata "Rena".
Dr. Cornelius J. Dyck died at his home in Normal, Illinois at 3:30 AM, 10 January 2014.
Dr. Dyck was a teacher, author, and historian. "CJ's leadership had an impact on Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite World Conference and profoundly on AMBS. Thanks be to God for his wisdom, his faith and faithfulness, his commitment to the church ... and his humor."
------
A small representation of his writings include:
* The Mennonite Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Reference Work on the Anabaptist-Mennonite Movement (Volume V)
* Twelve Becoming Biographies of Mennonite Disciples from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century
* From the Files of McC (Mcc Story Series. : Vol. 1)
* An Introduction to Mennonite History: A Popular History of the Anabaptists and the Mennonites
* The Writings of Dirk Philips (Classics of the Radical Reformation)
* Spiritual Life In Anabaptism
* A legacy of faith : the heritage of Menno Simons. A sixtieth anniversary tribute to Cornelius Krahn
* They gave themselves : lessons in Christian stewardship
* The Lordship of Christ : Proceedings of the Seventh Mennonite World Conference, Kitchener, Ontario Canada, August...
* From the Files of McC (Mcc Story Series. : Vol. 1)
* Responding to Worldwide Needs
* Witness and Service in North America
* The Golden Years of the Hutterites (Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, No. 23)
* Confessions of Faith in the Anabaptist Tradition 1527-1660 (Classics of the Radical Reformation)
----
Cornelius John (CJ) Dyck, 92 years, 520 Bobwhite Way, Normal, Ill., died Jan. 10, 2014, surrounded by Wilma Regier Dyck, his loving wife, and family.
His body has been donated to the Illinois Anatomical Gift Association, from where his ashes will be returned to the family for burial at the Mennonite (Ropp) Cemetery. Visitation is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 17, from 5 to 8 p.m., with a memorial service on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 10:30 a.m.; both events will be held at the Mennonite Church of Normal. Kibler-Brady-Ruestman Memorial Home in Bloomington is assisting the family with arrangements.
Dr. Dyck was born in Russia on Aug. 20, 1921, and immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of five. Soon after completing high school, he was drafted, being assigned to alternative service on his father's farm because of the latter's ill health, where he raised a lot of "Bacon for Britain" during World War II. After four years, and at the end of World War II in 1945, he volunteered for service with Mennonite Central Committee, where he served for six years in England and the Netherlands. In 1946, he was assigned to the British Zone of Germany through MCC and the Council of Relief Agencies Licensed to Operate in Germany, working with all in need of food, clothing and emigration help, but mostly with refugees from Eastern Europe and Russia.
Of great satisfaction to him was initiating the feeding of about 100,000 children daily in North Germany with food supplies sent by Mennonites in North America through MCC. When he was born in the famine year of 1921, it had been MCC food sent to Russia that saved his life 25 years earlier. His MCC field service ended with nearly three years in South America, resettling refugees from Europe and Russia in Paraguay and Uruguay. Among his greatest rewards was finding and initiating the founding of a hospital and treatment center for lepers at Km81 in Paraguay, together with the Mennonites in that land. He returned to Canada in 1951 and in 1952 married Wilma Regier of his home community in Laird, Saskatchewan.
Following his return from MCC service, he studied at Bethel College for two years, graduating in 1953. He then earned an MA degree in history from Wichita State University while also serving as pastor of the Zion Mennonite Church in Elbing (1951-1955). From 1955-1959, he studied history and theology at the University of Chicago, earning the Bachelor of Divinity and PhD degrees, while also serving as Business Manager of Mennonite Biblical Seminary on Woodlawn Avenue. Two children, Mary and Jennifer, were born to the Dycks in Chicago. A third daughter, Suzanne, was born in Elkhart, Ind.
Since MBS in Chicago and Goshen (Ind.) Biblical Seminary agreed to found a joint campus in Elkhart, Ind., it became CJ's responsibility to move the Chicago seminary to Elkhart where the two schools formed the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in 1958. AMBS is now known as Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. He was then invited to join the new faculty team as Professor of Historical Theology, a position he held for 30 years until retiring in 1989. He had already begun his work as Director of the Institute of Mennonite Studies, a research agency, in 1958, a position he held for 21 years. This work led to many conferences and some 50 publications, including some of his own writings. Among the latter was his Introduction to Mennonite History, which after two revisions since 1967, was still being used as a textbook in many Mennonite high schools and colleges into the 21st century.
CJ was preceded in death by his parents, John J. and Renate (Mathies) Dyck of Laird, Saskatchewan; his sisters, Eliese Quiring, Anna Neufeldt, Irma Balzer and Helene Funk; as well as brothers, John R. and Peter J.
Surviving him are his wife of 61 years, Wilma of Normal; three daughters, Mary of Normal, Jennifer (Suzie Lane) of Dunkirk, N.Y., and Suzanne (Brad Kliewer) of Minneapolis, Minn.; three granddaughters, Claire Dyck of Normal, and Aurora and Avery Kliewer of Minneapolis; and sisters, Clara Dyck and Renate (George Kroeker) of Winnipeg, Manitoba; as well as many nieces and nephews.
He was involved in many Mennonite church and local community committees, including Elkhart (Ind.) Urban League, YMCA, General Conference Mennonite Church Board of Business Administration, as well as its Historical Committee, Executive Committee of MCC, founding board of Oaklawn Psychiatric Center, Elkhart, Ind., Mennonite Historical Committees in the U.S., Canada, Netherlands, Germany, American Society of Church History, Society for Reformation Research. He served as Executive Secretary of Mennonite World Conference from 1961-1973.
A Festschrift, Anabaptism Revisited, edited by Walter Klaassen, was published in Dr. Dyck's honor in 1992, which also contains a bibliography of his major writings. The Oaklawn board awarded him a citation in 1970. Bethel College awarded him the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1976. He became a member of the Mennonite Church through baptism in Saskatchewan in 1939 and was a member of the Mennonite Church of Normal, Ill.
Memorial gifts may be made to Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, Pa.; Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind.; or Mennonite World Conference, Fresno, Calif., or Waterloo, Ontario.
Mother: Renate Mathies 1885-1963
Born: Lysanderhoeh, Am Trakt, Russia. (just prior to the formation of the USSR)
Baptized: 28 May 1939 in Tiefengrund, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Immigrated: 14 Jul 1927, Rosthern, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Married: 12 Aug 1952 in Tiefengrund, Saskatchewan, Canada to Wilma Louise Regier.
Children: Mary Johanna, Jennifer Louise, Suzanne Renee.
Siblings: Eliese, Anna, Irma, John R., Peter J., Helene Lora, Clara, *.*, Renata "Rena".
Dr. Cornelius J. Dyck died at his home in Normal, Illinois at 3:30 AM, 10 January 2014.
Dr. Dyck was a teacher, author, and historian. "CJ's leadership had an impact on Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite World Conference and profoundly on AMBS. Thanks be to God for his wisdom, his faith and faithfulness, his commitment to the church ... and his humor."
------
A small representation of his writings include:
* The Mennonite Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Reference Work on the Anabaptist-Mennonite Movement (Volume V)
* Twelve Becoming Biographies of Mennonite Disciples from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century
* From the Files of McC (Mcc Story Series. : Vol. 1)
* An Introduction to Mennonite History: A Popular History of the Anabaptists and the Mennonites
* The Writings of Dirk Philips (Classics of the Radical Reformation)
* Spiritual Life In Anabaptism
* A legacy of faith : the heritage of Menno Simons. A sixtieth anniversary tribute to Cornelius Krahn
* They gave themselves : lessons in Christian stewardship
* The Lordship of Christ : Proceedings of the Seventh Mennonite World Conference, Kitchener, Ontario Canada, August...
* From the Files of McC (Mcc Story Series. : Vol. 1)
* Responding to Worldwide Needs
* Witness and Service in North America
* The Golden Years of the Hutterites (Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, No. 23)
* Confessions of Faith in the Anabaptist Tradition 1527-1660 (Classics of the Radical Reformation)
----
Cornelius John (CJ) Dyck, 92 years, 520 Bobwhite Way, Normal, Ill., died Jan. 10, 2014, surrounded by Wilma Regier Dyck, his loving wife, and family.
His body has been donated to the Illinois Anatomical Gift Association, from where his ashes will be returned to the family for burial at the Mennonite (Ropp) Cemetery. Visitation is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 17, from 5 to 8 p.m., with a memorial service on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 10:30 a.m.; both events will be held at the Mennonite Church of Normal. Kibler-Brady-Ruestman Memorial Home in Bloomington is assisting the family with arrangements.
Dr. Dyck was born in Russia on Aug. 20, 1921, and immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of five. Soon after completing high school, he was drafted, being assigned to alternative service on his father's farm because of the latter's ill health, where he raised a lot of "Bacon for Britain" during World War II. After four years, and at the end of World War II in 1945, he volunteered for service with Mennonite Central Committee, where he served for six years in England and the Netherlands. In 1946, he was assigned to the British Zone of Germany through MCC and the Council of Relief Agencies Licensed to Operate in Germany, working with all in need of food, clothing and emigration help, but mostly with refugees from Eastern Europe and Russia.
Of great satisfaction to him was initiating the feeding of about 100,000 children daily in North Germany with food supplies sent by Mennonites in North America through MCC. When he was born in the famine year of 1921, it had been MCC food sent to Russia that saved his life 25 years earlier. His MCC field service ended with nearly three years in South America, resettling refugees from Europe and Russia in Paraguay and Uruguay. Among his greatest rewards was finding and initiating the founding of a hospital and treatment center for lepers at Km81 in Paraguay, together with the Mennonites in that land. He returned to Canada in 1951 and in 1952 married Wilma Regier of his home community in Laird, Saskatchewan.
Following his return from MCC service, he studied at Bethel College for two years, graduating in 1953. He then earned an MA degree in history from Wichita State University while also serving as pastor of the Zion Mennonite Church in Elbing (1951-1955). From 1955-1959, he studied history and theology at the University of Chicago, earning the Bachelor of Divinity and PhD degrees, while also serving as Business Manager of Mennonite Biblical Seminary on Woodlawn Avenue. Two children, Mary and Jennifer, were born to the Dycks in Chicago. A third daughter, Suzanne, was born in Elkhart, Ind.
Since MBS in Chicago and Goshen (Ind.) Biblical Seminary agreed to found a joint campus in Elkhart, Ind., it became CJ's responsibility to move the Chicago seminary to Elkhart where the two schools formed the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in 1958. AMBS is now known as Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. He was then invited to join the new faculty team as Professor of Historical Theology, a position he held for 30 years until retiring in 1989. He had already begun his work as Director of the Institute of Mennonite Studies, a research agency, in 1958, a position he held for 21 years. This work led to many conferences and some 50 publications, including some of his own writings. Among the latter was his Introduction to Mennonite History, which after two revisions since 1967, was still being used as a textbook in many Mennonite high schools and colleges into the 21st century.
CJ was preceded in death by his parents, John J. and Renate (Mathies) Dyck of Laird, Saskatchewan; his sisters, Eliese Quiring, Anna Neufeldt, Irma Balzer and Helene Funk; as well as brothers, John R. and Peter J.
Surviving him are his wife of 61 years, Wilma of Normal; three daughters, Mary of Normal, Jennifer (Suzie Lane) of Dunkirk, N.Y., and Suzanne (Brad Kliewer) of Minneapolis, Minn.; three granddaughters, Claire Dyck of Normal, and Aurora and Avery Kliewer of Minneapolis; and sisters, Clara Dyck and Renate (George Kroeker) of Winnipeg, Manitoba; as well as many nieces and nephews.
He was involved in many Mennonite church and local community committees, including Elkhart (Ind.) Urban League, YMCA, General Conference Mennonite Church Board of Business Administration, as well as its Historical Committee, Executive Committee of MCC, founding board of Oaklawn Psychiatric Center, Elkhart, Ind., Mennonite Historical Committees in the U.S., Canada, Netherlands, Germany, American Society of Church History, Society for Reformation Research. He served as Executive Secretary of Mennonite World Conference from 1961-1973.
A Festschrift, Anabaptism Revisited, edited by Walter Klaassen, was published in Dr. Dyck's honor in 1992, which also contains a bibliography of his major writings. The Oaklawn board awarded him a citation in 1970. Bethel College awarded him the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1976. He became a member of the Mennonite Church through baptism in Saskatchewan in 1939 and was a member of the Mennonite Church of Normal, Ill.
Memorial gifts may be made to Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, Pa.; Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind.; or Mennonite World Conference, Fresno, Calif., or Waterloo, Ontario.
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