$750 per year to one recipient
The family of Isaac and Dorothy Kroeker established this scholarship fund in loving memory of their parents and grandparents to highlight the values they lived by during their lifetime in Morden.
Isaac Kroeker grew up on a farm south of Morden and went to grade school at Mountain City. Dorothy Doerksen was raised on a farm southwest of Niverville. They met through mutual friends in Winnipeg and were married in 1951, taking up residence on Alvey Street in Morden, where they spent the rest of their married lives. They lived there in four different houses, either renovated/and or built by Isaac, until Dorothy passed away in the summer of 2015. Isaac passed away in the fall of 2021, just short of his 96th birthday.
Isaac was a heavy equipment operator at Pembina Mountain Clays, strip-mining bentonite clay in the escarpment (home of “Bruce”, the Morden Fossil Discovery Museum’s resident mosasaur) south of Miami. Later, he was employed by Morden Lumber and Fuel in the mid 60’s and eventually became the Plant Manager at Valley Concrete until he retired in 1991. Dorothy was an efficient homemaker, raising six children, while tending a large garden and doing much of her own canning/preserves. She became very involved in the operations of the Morden Thrift Shop, volunteering there, in various capacities, in the store and on the Executive Committee, for over 30 years. They were both long-time volunteers and recognized for their service in support of the Morden Tabor Home. Both were extensively involved in many aspects of the life of their home church, Christian Life Centre, including three volunteer work assignments in Kenya, the longest of which was six months.
Like many of their generation, they were raised during the depression years and their education was limited to grade school. Self-sufficiency, thrift, and hard work were the order of the day for most of their working lives. But they believed they had a responsibility for more than just themselves and their own family; that they had a responsibility to do/share what they could, with what they had, that would benefit others. Thus, their daily lives were suffused with a humble faith in God and a desire to help others in their church and community; values they lived by their entire lives, and ultimately passed on to their family.
This scholarship fund is created to assist a student graduating from high school and pursuing higher education in any domain, be it trade apprenticeship/certification, enrolment in a community college, or a seminary/university degree program. This scholarship is established to support study in any discipline for a vocation that provides a service to others; particularly, but not exclusively, in the domains of theology, education, health and/or gerontology. Other areas of study than those listed above will be considered, provided the applicant can demonstrate how their chosen vocation will allow them to further serve the community.
Academic achievements must be high enough to be considered for entry into the educational institution of choice and the successful applicant must provide some insights of what was needed to be achieved/learned by them to meet that standard. That explanation, along with a response to the question, “Why is this vocation important to me?” and how does it serve the community, combined with evidence of volunteerism/willingness to help others (in two pages or less) will be used by the selection committee in their determination.
- Adam Derksen 2023
- Dana Hynes 2022
