A Recollection of John Dyck

Early this morning the entire Dyck family headed out on their journey's back to Manitoba.  It was much earlier than I ever get up so we did hugs and everything last night.  Julie and Ryan will be catching an early flight out of Las Vegas to head back to Manitoba after a very short vacation here.  This is the first time we have met Ryan and it was great to spend a little time getting to know him.  For all its worth Julie, he certainly gets our stamp of approval.  We loved sharing a little time with Julie as well.

Pat and Harold will drop the kids off at the airport and then they will continue on to Manitoba to attend Harold's fathers funeral on Thursday April 5.  They are driving home in their pickup truck which they used to pull their 5er before they traded for the motor home.  They will then fly back here and they can then both ride back home at a slower pace in their motor home.  We will pick them up from the airport on Friday.

Harold's father passed away earlier this week and I have spent some time thinking about Harold and his loss, and in doing so have reflected on his father who I had the pleasure of knowing.  I have know Harold and his family for a long time.  We were not bosom buddies through most of our lives, but in a small community everyone is friends.  In our later years we have become good friends, and as you know by our blog, we hang around together a lot now.  Harold's father John, was a true member of a smaller community.  He and his wife Helen worked hard and raised a good sized family which was in itself a big task in those days.  They were an old style farm family and their values were very important to them, and everyone respected them for that.  I was never there to see it in the family setting, but I know John loved his family expected his kids to do the family proud, which they did.  If you ever sat down for coffee with him, he would boast proudly of everyone's accomplishments. They were mixed farmers so they had cattle to tend to all winter and crops to grow all summer.  I don't think there were many times that there was nothing to do on that farm.  The thing that amazes me about people like John is that they didn't forget about their fellow man.  John was involved in a lot of community organizations which demanded a good chunk of his time.  He didn't have to be, but rather chose to give in this manner.  The things I remember him being involved in and passionate about were his church, the Legion, the Ag Society, and he sat on various other boards of directors around town.  This all took valuable time away from his farm operation and his family, but he did it willingly and with a huge smile on his face.  He has passed his values down to his family and they will carry on serving our community I'm sure.  Our community will certainly miss him as will I.  I hope Harold finds comfort being with his family at this time and we look forward to their return to our happy caravan.

John Dyck

Here is the view from our window today:

Our Location Today: Government Wash Road NV, near Las Vegas NV. 36.1257 -114.8342