Elfrieda and Peter Dyck stand together at Bremerhaven, Germany, in 1948, preparing to escort the Volendam group of refugees. Bremerhaven was the port from which the ships departed. MCC Photo AKRON, Pa. – Peter J. Dyck – storyteller, Mennonite pastor, author and lifelong servant to people in need around the world – died of cancer on Monday, Jan. 4, 2010. He was 95 years old. Dyck, who lived in Scottdale, Pa., is well known in Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Amish communities throughout Canada, Europe, Paraguay and the United States, especially for his work with Mennonite Russian refugees and with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Born in Lysanderhoh, Am Trakt, Russia, on Dec. 4, 1914, Dyck was a child when the Russian Revolution ushered in the start of the Soviet Union. At 6 years old, he almost died of typhoid and hunger that accompanied the Russian Famine of 1921. Dyck and his family were rescued by food shipments sent from Mennonites in Canada and the United States, a kindness he would not forget. Six years later his family, including eight siblings, fled Russia and settled in Saskatchewan. Dyck attended the University of Saskatchewan and Bethel College, North Newton, Kan., and graduated from Goshen (Ind.) College with a bachelor’s in English in 1952. In June 1968, he completed his master’s of divinity degree from Bethany Theological Seminary, Chicago. During World War II, he served with MCC in England. MCC is a world-wide ministry of Anabaptist churches that responds to basic human needs and works for peace and justice. Motivating his decision to work with MCC was his memory of the food aid he received as a child. The food had come through a newly formed MCC. “I knew these were people that do good…. They fed our family. They fed our community. Now they are asking me to go and do something like that for others? To me, it would almost have seemed immoral not to say yes,” Dyck told author Robert Kreider, editor of Interviews with Peter J. Dyck and Elfrieda Dyck. His decision to go was fortuitous not only for MCC, but also for Dyck. In 1944, he married Elfrieda Klassen, a nurse who also was serving with MCC in England. She too was a Russian refugee who moved to Canada. Once the war ended, the Dycks moved to the Netherland to direct a massive relief effort. Dyck was later knighted by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands in recognition of MCC’s feeding and clothing program. In 1946, the Dycks set up refugee camps in Germany for thousands of Mennonites who had fled the Soviet Union. Over time, they led 5,500 Mennonites by boat to South America, predominantly Paraguay. This experience provided content for Dyck’s stories and was the basis of the book, Up From the Rubble, that he co-authored with his wife. Dyck also recorded MCC’s work in Europe and Paraguay with 8 mm and 16 mm movie cameras. He used the movie as he traveled around Canada and the United States in the late 1940s, educating people about the plight of the European refugees. “Peter was an exceptional and admired communicator who was also a pioneer Mennonite film maker,” said John A. Lapp, executive director emeritus for MCC. He produced the first MCC films. “Peter was a key voice in helping MCC supporters in Canada and the United States be aware of need in the world,” said Herman Bontrager, chair of the MCC board of directors. “Peter and Elfrieda were bridges in that they built linkages and relationships across continents.” From 1950 to 1957, Dyck served as pastor of the Eden Mennonite Church in Moundridge, Kan. The Dycks returned to Germany with their two daughters, Ruth and Rebecca, to direct the MCC program there and in North Africa for the next 10 years. Peter Dyck then moved into an administrative position with MCC in Akron, Pa., where he was responsible for East-West relations in the midst of the Cold War. In this role, he made numerous trips to encourage Baptist and Mennonite congregations in Russia, Siberia and Central Asia, Lapp said. Dyck assisted Baptist World Alliance as the organization successfully negotiated with Soviet authorities for permission to make biblical commentaries available. “This project gave credence and moral support to all Russian-speaking churches,” Lapp said. “Clearly, Peter played a very important role in how Mennonites, Brethren in Christ and the wider Christian constituency related to Christians in the former Soviet Union in a difficult era,” Bontrager said. For two decades after his “retirement” from MCC in 1981, Dyck traveled to speak at churches, schools and retreats. He was well-known among Amish and Mennonites for his inspiring stories and was popular among young people at Mennonite high schools and colleges in the 1970s and 1980s for his ability to engage them. At 90, he could still pack auditoriums. “He was a passionate advocate for peace, conflict resolution, justice and tolerance,” his family said. “He promoted and embodied active participation in bringing about peace in the wo

It's tempting, and not entirely inaccurate, to describe "Harry Brown" as a geriatric "Death Wish," though many wags more likely will blurb it as Michael Caine's "Gran Torino." Either way you look at it, this bleak, gripping, sporadically exciting drama about a retired soldier who takes aim at young hoodlums (and their not-so-young enablers) in his London public-housing complex could generate respectable theatrical coin and impressive homevid action. Pic should skew toward older auds, though many younger ticketbuyers may be curious to see ass-kicking by the actor they know best as Batman's butler. Caine is effortlessly and authoritatively credible in the title role, a stoic pensioner who's introduced during his death watch for his hospitalized wife. Resigned to spending his twilight years alone, he tries to ignore the drug-dealing and violent outbursts that are increasing common in his gone-to-seed apartment block. (Pic was filmed in and around the notorious Heygate Estate of London's East End -- ironically, not far from where Caine grew up.) But when gang members brutally dispatch Harry's friend Leonard (David Bradley), after the old fellow unwisely brandishes a knife while traveling through their "territory," Harry realizes he can't rely on help from a largely impotent police force represented by a well-meaning detective inspector (Emily Mortimer) and her cynical partner (Charlie Creed-Miles). "Harry Brown" is the work of first-time feature helmer Daniel Barber, a Brit filmmaker who cut his teeth on TV commercials and earned a 2008 Oscar nomination for "The Tonto Woman," a dramatic short based on a Western story by Elmore Leonard. There's a discernible Western flavor to this drama as well, with Harry bearing more than a passing resemblance to the genre archetype of a long-domesticated fellow who must strap on his shootin' irons one more time to face down outlaws. After he begins his one-man crusade, his experience as a Royal Marine comes in very handy while he's gunning down armed miscreants or gaining necessary info through enhanced interrogation techniques. To their credit, Barber and scripter Gary Young infuse the cliches with a fair degree of conviction. "Harry Brown," like its eponymous hero, is a slow-burner -- Harry doesn't actually hurt anyone until a half-hour into the storyline -- and the filmmakers don't move too fast or push too far while building up to the action sequences. They're especially impressive while ratcheting up suspense during a deliberately paced sequence that shows how Harry manages to acquire firepower before disposing of drug-addled gun dealers. Barber doesn't shy away from depicting violence, but he doesn't dwell on it to a needlessly off-putting degree. He's also subtle about getting across plot points that help define characters: Without beating viewers over the head, he provides ample explanation for why Harry might interrupt his guerrilla war, and actually risk capture, to aid a young woman near death after a drug overdose. Although overlaid with a mood of despair that's only partly relieved by a relatively happy ending, "Harry Brown" remains, for all its touches of gritty realism, a revenge fantasy about someone aptly described by another character as "a vigilante pensioner." Still, the supporting cast -- including many first-timers cast as young hoods -- is solid, and the moody lensing by Martin Ruhe ("Control") vividly conveys the no-hope squalor of a contemporary urban wasteland. More important, Caine neatly balances ferocity and frailty, so that a viewer is never quite certain whether he's up to completing the bloody business at hand. Caine often has evinced an ability to turn on a dime from tearful anguish to fearful rage. But he's rarely had a role, or been in a movie, that required him to put that talent to such frequent use. A Lionsgate (in U.K.)/E1 Entertainment (in Canada) release of a Marv production in association with Prescience, the U.K. Film Council's Premiere Fund and Framestore. (International sales: HanWay Films, London.) Produced by Kris Thykier, Matthew Vaughn, Matthew Brown. Executive producers, Christos Michaels, Reno Antoniades, Tim Smith, Paul Brett, Steve Norris, Tim Haslam. Directed by Daniel Barber. Screenplay, Gary Young. Michael Caine... Harry Brown Emily Mortimer... D.I. Alice Frampton Charlie Creed-Miles... D.S. Terry Hicock David Bradley... Leonard Attwell Iain Glen... S.I. Childs Sean Harris... Stretch Ben Drew... Noel Winters Jack O'Connell... Marky Jamal Downey... Carl Lee Oakes... Dean Joseph Gilgun... Kenny Liam Cunningham... Sid Rourke Marva Alexander... Nurse Forbes KB... Troy Martindale Liz Daniels... Kath Joe Leydon Variety 18 September 2009