Walter Peter Dyck

Dr. Walter “Wally” P. Dyck, the youngest of ten children, was born on December 7, 1935, in the small Mennonite farming community of Chortiz, Manitoba, Canada, and passed away peacefully on October 2, 2025, in San Antonio, Texas with his family by his side.

His parents, Isaak Peter and Maria Penner Dyck, and their three children at the time, emigrated to North America from southern Russia in 1924 to escape the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution that had already claimed the lives of their two infant sons. After spending one month crossing the Atlantic, Wally’s parents learned they had been denied entry into Canada where they had intended to connect with other Mennonite immigrants. Instead, they were rerouted to Chihuahua, Mexico where they remained for the next year, awaiting sponsorship from the Mennonite church for their journey north to Canada.

The family’s early years in Chortiz were followed by a move to the nearby town of Winkler where Wally remained through high school. Their traditional Mennonite home was filled with faith, love, laughter, and music. His fondness for the violin was rewarded at age 14 when he won the Toronto Conservatory of Music silver medal.

Wally attended Bethel College in Newton, Kansas, receiving free tuition and board in exchange for teaching string instruments to undergraduate students. While in college, his career plans drifted from music to medicine, resulting in his enrollment at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. This was followed by an internship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan where he also met his future wife, Lana Kushnir. Wally next completed one year of research at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, a second year at the University of Toronto Hospital for Sick Children and, finally, a two-year NIH fellowship in gastroenterology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

In 1968, Wally accepted a position at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas where he remained until his retirement in 2006. He oversaw all educational and research activities as Chief Academic Officer, including serving successive roles as Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and Executive Dean for Academic Affairs at Scott and White and the Texas A&M University College of Medicine. Prior to moving into his administrative role, he spent 22 years as chief of the Gastroenterology Division. In 1990, Wally represented Texas A&M as a visiting professor at Charles University in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Wally also played the violin in the Central Texas Orchestra for many years and served on the Bethel College Board of Directors from 1999-2013.

Throughout his long career, Wally deeply valued his relationships with patients, colleagues, and medical students. Quick to offer his trademark smile, he was known for his kindness and compassion, his endless optimism, and his unwavering integrity.

While Wally found immense satisfaction in his career, he frequently said that his greatest pleasure was spending time with his four children and grandchildren, taking his family on countless adventures throughout the United States and Canada and inspiring in each of them a life-long love for travel. Weekends would usually find him working on his farm in Holland, Texas, planting prolific vegetable gardens and pruning zinnias, growing sweet corn, and cultivating a small fruit orchard. Here he taught his children a deep appreciation and love for land and the life it supports through gardening, picking pecans, fishing the creek for perch, and taking in brilliant sunsets.

Left to celebrate Wally’s memory and life are his three children, Christa Klimchuk, Lauren Fisher (Eric), and Paul Dyck (Jennifer); his longtime companion Beverly Fulton; former wife Lana Dyck; and ten grandchildren Jack (Claire), Will, Andrew, Maddie, Ike, George, Elisabeth, Sophie, Samuel and Claudia; as well as many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, siblings, his dear son Jon, and his beloved granddaughter Kate.

Our family extends deep gratitude to the staff at The Forum in San Antonio, and most especially to his devoted caregiver and friend, Norma, as well as Gloria and Lisa who provided loving care in his final years.

A celebration of Wally’s life will be held at the Dyck family farm in early spring.

Donations in his honor may be made to Bethel College Advancement Office, 300 East 27th Street, North Newton, Kansas 67117 or online at bethelks.edu/gift.