Dwight T. Hendricks died Sat morning, Feb 8, at his home in Hiram Township following a year's struggle with pancreatic cancer.
The youngest of five children, he was born in Kalkaska on Jan 16, 1932, to Dr. Henning V Hendricks and Jennie Burnett Hendricks. In his young years, Dwight often drove his arthritic father in the family Model T to see patients in the countryside and was called on to assist his father and his mother, a nurse, in office procedures in the family home.
When he learned of his cancer, Dwight volunteered to participate in a clinical trial of a new drug protocol, continuing his medical family's tradition of doing something useful with one's remaining time.
His older brothers had served in WWII and the Korean War. Dwight interrupted his college years to volunteer for the infantry. Following basic training, he was enrolled in leadership training and became a member of the 101st Airborne drill team. He was posted, not to Korea, but to a radar site in Norfolk, England, that was established because Cold War anxieties were strong.
Despite his mixed feelings about not serving in combat, Dwight remembered his time at the post fondly - never before had he had so much time for reading, or as much food as he wanted, including meat. At the same time, always sensitive to the broader world, he knew the population of Great Britain had not recovered from WWII privations. He remembered going to an English restaurant and ordering a plate featuring three vegetables; they proved to be fried potatoes, a baked potato and mashed potatoes. During leaves, besides traveling in Great Britain, he went to Paris and to Sweden, trying to trace the Hendrickson roots.
An example of Dwight's occasional contrariness is that he went to Edinburgh on the day of Queen Elizabeth's coronation, not wanting to be among the masses crowding into London. In later years he was a little regretful of his choice.
Dwight was a graduate of Albion College, where he met Joanne Grebe, and the University of Michigan, where he received a master's degree in Far Eastern studies.
Following their marriage in 1956, he and Joanne spent six months in a Christian work camp in Japan. Back in Michigan, their daughter, Dawn, and son Steven, were born. Dwight loved being a dad, and his work as a teacher gave the family - who called themselves "the four buddies" - frequent summer travel experiences.
Despite a childhood difficulty with reading, which may have been unrecognized dyslexia, Dwight taught himself to read much and fast in graduate school. He had broad insterests, and a passion for histoyr. During the 1960s, Dwight taught social studies and political science at Detroit's Fitzgerald High School and Wayne State University, where he was particularly impressed by the determination and dedication of adult students in the night courses.
"Politics" to him was not a dirty word, but an intense form of communication that more nearly enables different points of view to be aired in a democracy. He was vitally interested in local politics, participating in whatever way he could. He encouraged and supported Joanne in becoming a Grosse Pointe council member.
During the social and gender tension of the 70s, Dwight and Joanne were divorced, a lasting sadness to Dwight.
With a zest for experience and eagerness for knowledge, he got a master's degree in library science, and in 1977 came to Hiram College where he was reference librarian. Providing student reference, he said, is not having the answer; it is opening windows to the best, the fastest or the deepest ways to define the question and pursue the answer. In 1982, Dwight and Elizabeth Allyn became acquainted in church choir and were married in 1985. He helped care for Elizabeth's mother, Madge Brosius Allyn, for her last three years during which she and Dwight became fast friends.
Dwight and Elizabeth shared many enthusiasms, each finding that the other added new dimensions to a subject. Dwight expanded his community involvement, participating in township government. He had a route for Meals on Wheels, sang in the church choir and the Hiram Men's Chorus, was a Hospice volunteer, and served on the Board of Portage County Hospice for three years. He brought his vitality and his intense interest in history and community to his terms as an officer of Hiram Historical Society, and on the Board of The Hiram Community Trust.
A passion he and his wife shared was for responsible stewardship of fragile resources. Because of the conservation development of their land, Dwight and Elizabeth were presented the 2000 Portage County Environmental Conservation Award for Community Enhancement.
Dwight is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, by his daughter, Dawn Hendricks of Columbus, OH; his son, Steven Hendricks and daughter in law, Kena Creel Hendricks, of Horn Lake, Miss, whose sons, Caleb and Creel, were a delight in their Grandpa Hendricks' life. He is also survived by a sister, Phyllis Gosling, in Maple City; and by two brothers, Dr. Charles Hendricks of Chapel Hill, NC, and Burton Hendricks and his wife Dawn Wubbena Hendricks of Hershey, PA.
Another sister, Edna Shoner of Ypsilanti preceded Dwight in death by one day.
An old Sunday School song that Dwight often quoted, and that he lived by, often at the risk of alienating some people around him. The refrain is this:
Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm! Dare to make it known.
-PP Bliss
