CMU recognizes grads with Distinguished Alumni Awards

Four who followed ‘the call of God’

October 5, 2015 | Web First
Kevin Kilbrei | Canadian Mennonite University
Winnipeg, Man.

An Olympian-turned-lawyer, an English language educator, a businessman with a passion for international development, and a couple who have ministered for more than 45 years in Winnipeg’s North End are the recipients of Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) 2015 Blazer Distinguished Alumni Awards.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards celebrate alumni who, through their lives, embody CMU’s values and mission of service, leadership and reconciliation in church and society. The awards are presented to alumni from CMU and its predecessor colleges: Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC) and Mennonite Brethren Bible College (MBBC)/Concord College.

The recipients are:

• Larry Plenert (CMBC ’78), a lawyer, teacher, coach, musician and Olympic athlete who has worn many hats. He played on Canada’s national volleyball team that competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Since 2008, he has worked as an adjudicator of claims of serious physical or sexual abuse by former students of Indian Residential Schools.

• Cheryl Woelk (CMU ‘03) counts peacemaking, language and education as interests that have continually woven together in her life. From 2002-08, she was a Mennonite Church Canada Witness worker in Seoul, South Korea, where she worked as education coordinator at the Korean Anabaptist Center and head teacher at Connexus. She is currently involved in a variety of projects in Saskatoon, where she and her family live, including Language for Peace, which brings together teachers and learners interested in the connection of language, peace and education from a Mennonite perspective.

• Gerry Dyck (MBBC ’82) has fused his interest in business with his interest in international development to make a difference. Dyck is the co-founder and president of Kalora Interiors International, a business that specializes in décor solutions for the home furnishings industry. An offshoot of a multinational non-profit charity called International Development Enterprises, Kalora was established to match the needs of suppliers from the developing world with the needs of customers in the western world.

• Arno and Lena Fast (MBBC ‘55) celebrated their 85th birthdays last year, along with their 60th wedding anniversary and 45 years of ministry at Salem Community Bible Church in Winnipeg’s North End. At a time when many are enjoying retirement, the Fasts remain committed to their work at the church. Arno is currently mentoring his 32-year-old grandson into the ministry role at the church. “We don’t feel we’ve done anything exceptional,” Arno says. “We just followed the call of God.”

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