Person

DeFehr, Cornelius A. 1881-1979

Cornelius DeFehr was born in 1881 in Einlage, the Ukraine. His father Abram A. DeFehr, a craftsman, was born in Einlage, and his mother, Helena Peters, was born in Kronswiede. The family moved to Kronswiede where Cornelius DeFehr spent his childhood; later they moved to Petrowka where they owned a farm. The DeFehrs were devout members of the Mennonite Brethren Church. DeFehr married Elizabeth Dyck in 1903. In 1904, the couple moved to Millerowo in the Don district where, together with members of the extended Dyck family, they established a machinery factory. After the outbreak of World War I, the revolution, and the famine that followed, DeFehr was active in helping with relief for the needy. When DeFehr left the USSR for Canada in 1925 at the age of 44, married, with three sons, a daughter and several grandchildren, he had already made his mark in enterprise and servanthood. Like so many entrepreneurs, the DeFehrs had lost everything in the Russian upheavals. And, like others, they made a fresh start in the country of their adoption. Teamwork in the family, hard work, foresight, and thrift, plus merchandising to meet real needs, led again to prosperity, though not without hard times, especially during the depression. In Canada, as in the Soviet Union, DeFehr freed himself from his business in order to serve, frequently and sacrificially, the interests of the wider Mennonite community. Almost everywhere DeFehr lent a helping hand. During a lifetime of active involvement in a variety of Mennonite Brethren and wider Mennonite church endeavors, he gave generously both in advice, friendship, and funds to such programs as Bible College education, foreign missions, and publishing. He was a key figure in the development of several schools: the Mennonite Collegiate Institute, the Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute, and the Mennonite Brethren Bible College; he was also treasurer of the Canadian Mennonite Brethren Conference for many years. He served with distinction in the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization. He was a member of the Canadian Mennonite Publishing Association Incorporated. His greatest love was the inter-Mennonite program in immigration, relief and resettlement, for which he served as treasurer and which led to special assignments in Paraguay in the post-World War II movement of refugees. Later, he helped facilitate the restructuring and relocation of the relief organization, leading directly to the founding of Mennonite Central Committee (Canada) in 1963. He was named an honorary life member of two Canadian Conference committees because of his long involvement and significant contributions. In 1963, he wrote an autobiography entitled "Lebenserinnerungen aus meinen Leben." C.A. DeFehr died on February 11, 1979. His wife Elizabeth predeceased him in 1972.