Krahn, Margaret Dyck (1918-2011)

Margaret (Dyck) Krahn: teacher and mission worker; born 30 March 1918 to John and Agatha Dyck in the village of Burwalde near Winkler, Manitoba, Canada. She was the second youngest of 13 children. On 3 July 1992, she married Peter Krahn, a widower with ten children, in Winkler. In December 2008, when her health began to fail, she moved to Donwood Manor Personal Care Home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she died on 1 July 2011.

When Margaret was seven years old, she and her family moved to Osterwick, Manitoba, so that her father could take English classes there. The Osterwick church which Margaret and her family attended occasionally had missionaries as guest speakers, and Margaret began to develop an interest in overseas work. When she was baptized at the age of 17, she believed that the minister’s words confirmed her calling.

At the end of that year, Margaret Dyck and her family moved to Enderby, British Columbia, where they met some missionaries from England at the Baptist church the family attended. The missionaries encouraged Margaret to attend Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta. She completed her secondary education there and at Tabor Academy in Hillsboro, Kansas, before returning to Prairie Bible Institute, where completed a Bible course in 1940. She continued on to linguistic studies at Briercrest Bible Institute in Caronport, Saskatchewan, and then further education at the Missionary Medical School in Toronto, Ontario. Margaret worked as a nurse for a year and went to Winnipegosis, Manitoba, to work with church planting for the Mennonite Brethren church.

In 1946, Margaret Dyck applied to work in Africa with Mennonite Brethren Missions and was ordained as a missionary by the Winkler Mennonite Brethren Church on 6 October. She left New York on 17 June 1947 and traveled to the Belgian Congo (later Zaïre), where she lived at the Matende station. There she worked in a dispensary, as well as teaching students at a variety of levels. After returning to North America on furlough, she went back to the Congo, this time to Kafumba, where she served as a school director and worked in literature development. When the war for independence began in 1960, Margaret and the other missionaries escaped to Angola and then returned to North America. 

Over the next years, Margaret Dyck was able to return to Zaïre several times to work with in literature distribution, radio broadcasting, and eventually church planting. Margaret also taught in the high school in Kinshasa, the capital city, and worked with the local people on literature development. She retired in 1987 and returned to Winkler, where she became involved in volunteer work at the church and the local hospital. 

In 1992 she married Peter Krahn. They volunteered together at the Salem seniors' residence and also frequently invited people to their home. In December 2008, they moved to the Donwood Manor Personal Care Home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Margaret died.    

Margaret Dyck Krahn was a dedicated missionary whose work in Africa and Canada set an example of commitment for others to follow.

Bibliography

“Miss Margaret Dyck.” Missionary Album of Missionaries Serving Under the Board of Foreign Missions, The Mennonite Brethren Conference, Inc. Hillsboro, Kan.: Board of Foreign Missions of the Conference of Mennonite Brethren Church of North America, 1954: n.p.

Obituary. Mennonite Brethren Herald 51 January 2012: 35.

Obituary. Winnipeg Free Press. http://www.passagesmb.com/obituary_details.cfm?ObitID=179966.

Obituary. Wiebe Funeral Homes. http://www.wiebefuneralhomes.com/w/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1684:margaret-krahn&catid=58.

Author(s)	Susan Huebert
Date Published	May 2012

Cite This Article

MLA style

Huebert, Susan. "Krahn, Margaret Dyck (1918-2011)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. May 2012. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Krahn,_Margaret_Dyck_(1918-2011)&oldid=123751.

APA style

Huebert, Susan. (May 2012). Krahn, Margaret Dyck (1918-2011). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Krahn,_Margaret_Dyck_(1918-2011)&oldid=123751.

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