‘Ambassador of Bethania’ brightens residents’, visitors’ day
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/10/2022 (1406 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
HENRY Dahl isn’t sure he should be the subject of a column in the Free Press, and he doubts he has what it takes to answer a writer’s questions.
“I have not much education,” he says. “I’m just an ordinary guy.”
That might be true, but it hasn’t stopped Dahl from making a difference in the lives of those around him through his volunteer work.
SUPPLIED PHOTO
One of Henry Dahl's key duties at Bethania Mennonite Personal Care Home is maintaining the grounds, specifically the flowers in front of the entrance to the care home.
The 90-year-old is a fixture at Bethania Mennonite Personal Care Home, where he has been responsible for the beautiful flowers at the facility’s entrance for nearly a decade.
Dahl and his children buy the flowers each spring, plant them together and then he tends to them throughout the summer.
The volunteer work is an expression of his gratitude to the staff at Bethania. In late October 2011, his wife, Lina, moved into the home. Dahl was immediately impressed by the care she received.
He and his children asked Dianne Nixdorf, director of recreation and volunteer services, if they could take over the nine garden plots as a way to say thanks. Nixdorf agreed.
“We still enjoy it, and if the Lord gives me strength and I will be around and my kids will be around, we’ll continue to do it,” Dahl says. “I’m so thankful we can do it. That’s the least we can do and we love it.”
Dahl’s steadfast faith is evident when you speak with him.
He was born in the Molotschna Colony, a Russian Mennonite settlement in southeast Ukraine. He became a refugee with thousands of other Mennonites escaping the horrors of Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union.
In February 1947, Dahl was one of more than 2,000 Mennonites who boarded the Volendam, an old transport ship. The ship took them from Bremerhaven, Germany, to their new home in Paraguay.
After 12 years in Paraguay, Dahl — who by then was married with two children — immigrated to Winnipeg.
Eventually, he started a successful construction company. Along the way, he and Lina added four more children to their family. They were married for 65 years before Lina died in 2018.
“I miss my wife Lina very dearly, but I have good kids and good friends,” Dahl says. “I have more to be thankful for than to complain about. I look at the positive and not at the negative.”
Dahl’s volunteer contributions extend beyond the flowerbeds, says Nixdorf. He helps residents get to meals and social activities, visiting with them along the way.
The proximity of the flowers to the entrance means Dahl is also usually around to say hello to people when they arrive to visit their loved ones.
“He’s like the ambassador of Bethania. He talks with them, greets them and jokes with them,” Nixdorf says. “Henry is really just super special.”
Bethania relies on a variety of volunteers who Nixdorf says embody the organization’s values: respect, dignity, integrity and hope.
“I want to share my gratitude for all the volunteers who give their time,” she says. “They are rooted in the tradition and values of the people who built this home.”
After a two-year delay owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bethania will celebrate its 75th anniversary on Oct. 20, with a sold-out gala at Douglas Mennonite Church.
Dahl will be there and, God willing, he’ll be at the care home’s entrance this spring planting new flowers.
At the end of an interview with a Free Press columnist, Dahl is still not sure he’s said anything worth printing.
“You interview a lot of people,” he says. “Will it pass?”
It will, Henry. It definitely will.
If you know a special volunteer, please contact aaron.epp@gmail.com
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca
History
Updated on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 2:00 PM CDT: Photo added, fact box formatting fixed.