Reverend David Derksen was born in 1910, in Fischau, Molotschna Colony, Ukraine.
“He has made His wonderful works to be remembered” Psalm 11:4a. Only as we remember His wonderful works can we truly rejoice in them.
I was born on October 1st 1910, an autumn day when our workers, two men and one woman were hired for the six month winter period. In summer, many more workers were needed. At that time, our family farmed about 300 acres of wheat, barley and oats. I was the third child of four daughters and three sons, who were born to David and Susanna Adrian Derksen. Four other siblings died earlier in infancy. I became fluent in the Russian and German languages as a lad and added English in my late teens. Our Fischau neighbors were the Enns and Isaac families. Some of the families in our village maintained that “only crazy people go to America.”
Before I was born, my father was the pastor of the Kirchengemeinde in the community of Lichtenau. For one year, he, together with my mother and two older sisters traveled to Berlin Germany where he studied in a Bible School. While in Berlin, my father was introduced to the Elberfelder translation of the Bible which he began to use in his teaching and preaching. Upon his return, there was concern in the Kirchengemeinde that my father was not using the Luther translation of the scriptures. This necessitated a move to the Alliance Church in Lichtfelde where he was ordained and where he continued to minister until we left Ukraine for Canada.
I attended school in Fischau for seven years, and then walked two miles with my cousin Peter Woelk to the Fortbildungsschule (high school) in Lindenau. There was a famine at that time and we often had to satisfy our hunger with water. With whatever she had, my mother made sandwiches for Peter and me. I remember my teachers Mr. Loewen and a Mr. Enns, who had only one arm. At the young age of ten, I was responsible for the transfer of soldiers with a team of horses from Fischau to Lichtenau. During the early years of the 1920s, the people living in our area feared the terrorist raids of Machno and his cohorts. Destruction of property, theft, rape, torture and murder marked those years of chaos. Our hired man was also murdered along with others from our village.
It was also at this time when I was twelve, that I realized my need for forgiveness and for the Savior. I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior with the help and counsel of my father. From that time on, I knew that I would be preaching some day. When I was eighteen and in Canada already, I was baptized upon my confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Despite treacherous times, we were favoured with a providential opportunity to move to America. Dad consulted with his family, asking if they were in agreement to leave their homeland and emigrate to Canada. The response was completely in the affirmative. My father asked another question: “are you willing to go, even if you might have to work for others the rest of your life?” Again the response was unanimous!
Because father was a preacher, he had difficulty getting his emigration papers. Our family slept fully dressed and one night shots were fired into our house. Father ran into the orchard before the thieves entered our home and took whatever they wanted. Mother bravely protected my sisters. There was a Mennonite man who said that he could get Dad’s papers in several hours for the price of 500 rubles. Dad paid him, got the needed papers and so in 1926 we were finally able to leave the country. Also during that time, Benjamin Janz, who assisted the Mennonite people leaving Russia, was warned that the police were after him. He was then disguised as an old woman, had a communist paper placed in his suitcase and escaped safely! We thank God for this provision!
We arrived in Boissevain Manitoba in the spring of 1928. Here Jake Derksen, later of Leamington, lived with us for one month. When my sisters heard that he was not a reader, they got him the book Es muss doch Frühling werden, which he enjoyed. Jake and I were privileged to cut wood together and so our friendship developed. Jake received ten dollars in pay for the month and we got ten dollars from the Manitoba government for boarding him.
In 1935 I left Boissevain because there seemed to be no work or future for me on the prairies. Before I left, I had fed pigs for a period of six months. When it came time to ship a 200 pound pig, I got $4.00 for the animal and was charged $1.60 for freight to Winnipeg. Needless to say it was difficult to make a living. My journey east took me to Leamington Ontario where I worked in the H. J.Heinz Company for one season. Then I went into business with Henry Thielman for six years. Henry and I operated a grocery store at 26 Erie St. North and our monthly rent paid to Mr. Nelson Vanidour was $30.00. Henry worked in the store while I went door to door with a 1938 panel Dodge truck which was restocked each morning for the day’s rural retailing.
I had three grocery routes per week and spent Mondays and Wednesdays on my Kingsville route. The remaining days I traveled to the east and north of Leamington. My Kingsville route alone had 60 stops and so I ate lunch along the way. Gasoline then was 4 gallons for 92 cents. This work I continued for more than four years. I became the sole owner of the business in 1942 and eventually we moved the business to 30 Erie St North and introduced self serve mode of shopping. Being in business for over twenty-five years naturally brought many acquaintances into my experience. A large fraction of our best customers were allowed to buy groceries on credit. This relationship of trust was almost always rewarded at harvest time when the year’s debt was “paid in full!”
I met my future wife Louise Dyck in church where we served in the choir together. Mennonite Brethren services were held above Watson’s shoe store on Talbot East at that time. Louise was the first pianist in our church. We were married in the basement of the Leamington First Baptist Church in 1938 and Rev. Jacob Penner of Port Rowan officiated. Louise and I lived in several apartments in the east section of town and then purchased a house at 68 Marlborough St. West. As the family grew, we asked Dietrich Dick to help with plans for a new house. We moved into our new home at 4 Churchill Ave in November of 1951 and enjoyed fifty three years there.
In 1943 I was ordained to the ministry of the Mennonite Brethren Church and my father was one of the ministers who officiated. Isaac Tiessen was the leading minister when this ordination took place. During those early years of church life there were five of us who served in the ministry of the Word of God: Abram Huebert, Jacob Kroeker, Wilhelm Toews, Isaac Tiessen and myself. I served as leading minister for twelve years. A paid pastorate was introduced in 1959 and I sought to support those called to this ministry.
In 1974 my involvement in the grocery enterprise ended and I began a very rewarding assignment at the Leamington Nursing Home on Franklin Rd. Chaplaincy duties and handling other needs of the residents occupied my time and interest. I spent twenty nine years ministering there.
I retired from the Church ministry in 1974 and from my Nursing Home position in 2003 Today, Louise and I feel blessed to have our supportive family: three sons, our daughter, our daughters-in-law and eight grandchildren.
