CI - do parents inspire it

My dad passed away Monday September 14 - my 55th b-day. He was 87 and a half and lived an amazing life. His obituary is attached below if of interest. In reflecting on his life and impact on me, there are quite a number of things he taught me directly and indirectly which have made me reasonably successful at my CI craft. I am grateful and want to recognize him for teaching me and modeling for me:

1) Persistence, commitment, steadfastness, discipline, focus, choicefulness
2) Finding deeper meanings and connections
3) Ethical behavior, love for people
4) A sense of adventure and pioneering
5) Taking a stand on important issues
6) A more global worldview
7) Keeping it simple

Probably missing many attributes I will think of later, but this covers much of it.

Godspeed Ernest.

Ernest Dyck Obituary

On September 14, Rev. Ernest Henry (Peter) Dyck, passed away at Heritage Place in Virgil, Ontario and went to be with his Lord. Born April 5, 1922 in Hierschau (Ukraine) to Katarina and Peter Dyck, he came to Canada in 1926 days after his father was murdered as they prepared for departure. The family homesteaded briefly in Saskatchewan before moving to Pincher Creek, AB and later to the Fraser Valley in BC in the mid 30’s. He left school at 14 to support his mom and two older sisters near Clearbrook, BC.

At 18 he was called by God to be a missionary to Africa. For the next 11 years he finished high school and college (Winnipeg’s MB Bible College, Tabor College, KS) and prepared to go to the Belgian Congo. In 1951 he married Lydia (Lil) Elizabeth Krahn at S. Abbotsford Church in BC and left immediately to study French in preparation for work in Congo. They arrived there in 1953 via a year in Belgium where Norman was born in 1952. 1952. Son Stan arrived in 1954. In 1957, while on furlough, he completed a Masters Degree at University of Washington in Seattle returning to Congo the following year. A year later daughter Ruth arrived and shortly after in mid 1960 the whole family was forced to leave because of political and military turmoil which accompanied independence.

Returning to Canada, Ernest taught HS for a year in Coaldale, AB before agreeing to start new churches in Quebec. For 31 years he did so with great passion and was used by God to establish a half dozen congregations, a Christian camp and a Bible School. Despite a lifelong desire to return to people he loved in Congo, this was never possible other than a short visit in 1989. In 1992 he “retired” to St. Catharines, Ont. and served in various capacities at Grantham MB Church. In 2004 he and Lydia moved to Virgil.

Ernest is predeceased by his mother and 9 siblings. He leaves countless nieces and nephews mostly in Western Canada. He leaves Lydia, his wife of almost 58 years, his sons Norm and wife Trudy Schroeder, their children Nina and Katrina), Stan and wife JoAnne and their children Jeffrey, Jakob and Stephanie and daughter Ruth and her husband Jean Cusson…and many spiritual children and disciples.