recognizes over 50 years of college caring Teacher, friend, civic leader, volunteer -- Mendal Dick wears many hats well When Mendal Dick first set foot on the Roberts Wesleyan campus in 1953, the Athletic Center was a barn -- literally. With only four academic buildings -- the barn, a trailer park and a barracks comprised the remainder of the structures -- and about 250 students all told, the livestock seemed the majority. “When I got here, I went out one night, and you could have heard a pin drop on Buffalo Road,” recalls Mendal. “I honestly felt that if anything happened to the United States, they wouldn’t ever find us.” In these days of the Cold War, and the hydrogen bomb and nuclear testing creeping into newspaper headlines in 1953, it wasn’t irrational to muse on ‘something happening’ to the United States. Nor was it farfetched for Mendal to imagine himself isolated from the rest of the country. For him, this tiny college campus was like an island amidst a sea of open land. It was, as he said “the end of the world.” That pastoral quiet did not last long, however. With the burgeoning of such industrial giants as Eastman Kodak Company and Xerox in the 1950s and 1960s, Rochester began to thrive. “People were flocking to Rochester from all over the place,” said Mendal. “And the jobs were just tremendous at that point.” This prosperity was paralleled at Roberts with the arrival of Ellwood “Woody” Voller as college president in 1957. Voller instituted a revolution on campus, said Mendal, who knew first-hand, as campus electrician, the gargantuan task of constructing a college. No less than 14 new buildings were erected in Voller’s 11-year tenure. “There was just an amazing amount of work he accomplished while he was here,” said Mendal. “We got public sewers, public water—it was just an explosion of activity. After that, housing developments came in and everything just took right off.” Mendal continued to work in maintenance for Roberts after his graduation in 1957, and while he taught full-time at Spencerport’s Cosgrove Middle School. He was on campus to trip the circuits, thread the wire and patch the conduits for nearly every new building, not to mention his volunteer work with nearby Pearce Memorial Church, which, though independent, is intimately bound to the college. They met over a malt At first, it seemed Mendal would follow in his father’s footsteps and become an electrician himself. After graduating from Erie Academy in 1951 he went right to work with the Leonard Niederriter Electric Co. But only two short years later, Mendal gave in to the itinerant lure of the Roberts Quartet and the cajoling of his brother-in-law, Bill Brunk, and made the move. “Back then, the Roberts choir used to stop at our Erie Church and put on a concert,” recalls Mendal. “They used to come by our house, and they’d hound me to come to Roberts. And Bill said to me: ‘Listen: sell your car, quit your job and try it out. If you don’t like it, you can always go back. If you like it, you can stay.’ Well, I came up here and obviously just fell right in love with the place. I liked it right off the bat. Then, right off the bat, I met Bert.” Alberta “Bertie” Smith and Mendal Dick Jr. had their idyllic first date at an ice-cream parlor during Christmas vacation. Bertie, who started at Roberts a year earlier, was from the City of Rochester, and Mendal had only been in town a few months at that point, but they got along real well, said Mendal. After dating throughout college, they were married in 1957. Still so attached to their alma mater, the newlyweds moved no further than across the street from campus into an apartment at 2284 Westside Drive. A year later, Mendal was drafted by the U.S. Army. Mendal never served on active duty. First stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey, he was transferred to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where (of course) they sent him to electrician school. During the sub-zero Ozark winters at Fort Leonard Wood, Mendal climbed utility poles and strung electrical lines to the automatic targets in the bleak freeze of the endless Missouri fields. He still shivers at the thought of that bitter cold. Two years later, after Mendal finished his reserve time with the Army, he and Bertie packed up and moved out of their small apartment. But they didn’t go far. Their new home was at 2218 Westside Drive, just down the street and still across from the Roberts campus. Mendal the teacher Though he has worn so many hats in his life -- runner, electrician, usher, coach, councilman to name a few -- Mendal wouldn’t hesitate to say that, above all else, he has been a teacher. His career with Spencerport Cosgrove Middle School spanned 33 years. His 8th grade Social Studies classroom exhibited the tenets of consistency, interest and joy. Ed Przybycien recalls that, during his ten years as principal of Cosgrove from 1986 to 1996, not a single referral for bad behavior came from the classroom of Mendal Dick. And that’s no small feat considering the perpetual flurry of adolescents who swept through his class in that decade alone. “The best thing one could do for children at that age,” said Przybycien, “is love the kids for what they are, and develop a relationship with them so they can be comfortable with learning. Mendal understood that, and the kids respected him for it.” For Mendal, however, the school day did not end when the final bell rang. As head coach, he led the Cosgrove Cross Country and Track Team to a state championship in 1965. He proctored school dances, performances and field trips, which he often helped organize as advisor to the Student Council. And through Project Business, a program designed to introduce students to the internal workings of corporate America, Mendal arranged classroom lectures by company representatives and tours of such manufacturing facilities as Eastman Kodak Company, General Motors and Delco. “We’re all students in some fashion,” said Roberts alumnus Angie Merrill, “and he’s always teaching us.” Merrill graduated in 2001 and now works with IT Services at Roberts where she studies for her master’s degree. A few years ago, after she helped Mendal navigate the intricacies of cyberspace and learn the college’s e-mail, he invited her to dessert at his home with him and his wife. Angie and her husband are now regulars for the soiree that has since become a tradition, every other Tuesday evening, rain or shine, and Mendal and Bertie have been known to make reminder calls the day before. “It’s a little clan,” she said laughingly. “It’s invite only. And though some of us knew each other as students, we’ve become really good friends since.” Just Mendal (and Roberts) “I’ll tell you an interesting thing about Mendal,” said Pastor Knappen. “If you get a picture of him from about 20 years ago, you’ll see that he looks exactly the same. And I think Bertie once told me that he’s even within two pounds of his weight from when he graduated from college.” At 72, Mendal Dick still seems physically fit enough to run a marathon. “He’s like the Energizer bunny,” said Merrill, which isn’t much of an exaggeration considering the amount of time Mendal devotes to his work, often on a purely voluntary basis. “He’s always exceeding expectations,” said Jonathan Poag, assistant track coach at Roberts and 2003 alumnus. “He often starts work at 5:30 in the morning and goes until 10 o’clock at night, or later.” Poag is another member of the ‘little clan’ that meets for dessert and discussion on Tuesday evenings on Westside Drive. As an undergraduate, Poag worked with Mendal on campus during the summers, and often crossed the street to aid with remodeling or yard work. Poag still remembers the jolt of the jackhammers and the whir of the conveyor belt as he and Mendal dug out a basement for the guest apartment behind Mendal’s home. And after a day of sweat, dirt and renovation, Poag was welcomed to the couple’s table for dinner and dessert (dining services were closed at the school during summer recess). “He and Bertie are good at providing a comfortable environment,” said Poag. “Really, it’s good times with good people.” Though the summer meals for students began as an occasional treat, the popularity of Bertie’s cooking and the garrulous teachings of Mendal won over a legion of hungry students who weren’t likely to turn down a hot meal with such an original pair. “We’d give them a full four-course meal—the whole works,” said Mendal. “Boy, they’d enjoy that. They’d have the potatoes and vegetables, meat, rolls and salad; anything they wanted to drink. Then they’d finish it off with ice-cream pie… So word spread, and all of the sudden we got kids --” Mendal stops and laughs to himself, flashing a long smile. “Well,” he continues, “kids seem to be interested in coming down.” Mendal would be the first to admit his love affair with Roberts Wesleyan. Even as he taught full-time at Cosgrove, studied for his master’s degree at SUNY Brockport, served as Ogden town councilman, raised his three children and immersed himself in the extracurricular, Mendal continued to work maintenance at Roberts. In 1997, as evidence of this deep interest, he and his wife began another tradition, an annual endowment of five $1,000 scholarships. As an ex-runner and coach himself, Mendal wanted the scholarships awarded to athletes interested in attending the college. “If that little bit will help them come to Roberts, fine,” said Mendal, who often refers to himself and the college as ‘we.’ The scholarships include the Mendal and Bertie Cross-Country and Track Awards (for two male and two female students) and the Coach Harry F. Anderson Award for recognition of outstanding academic achievement. Honors for a self-effacing soul In 1982, Roberts inducted Mendal into their Sports Hall of Fame; in 1996 he was named Alumnus of the Year and welcomed to the College Hall of Fame; and in 2001 he received the Staff Member of the Year Award. Still, it hasn’t ended there. On August 16 of this year, while he was making his daily rounds of the college campus, Mendal was called to Shewan Hall for an electrical problem: the lights were out -- though the caller failed to explain that nobody bothered to flip the switch. It was a hoax. “Mendal is so focused on his work that he won’t take time to go to chapel,” said Logan, with a smile. “So the only way you can get him to chapel is to tell him that there’s an electrical issue.” For this quiet, humble man, the celebration of his endeavors was a bit embarrassing. “Boy, everybody stood up and clapped and I was so dumbfounded,” recalls Mendal. “I was just absolutely speechless. I had no idea they were going to do this.” ‘Hooray for Mendal’ buttons graced the lapels and blouses of everyone present, and they bore a tiny photograph of a college-age Mendal with the same levelled crew cut and the same beaming grin. And for lunch: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit, of course. Mendal and Bertie consider themselves blessed to have their entire family living in the area. Their three children, Darla, Jeff and David and their six grandchildren often come by the home they helped build in 1987, the third for Mendal and Bertie. And yes, it’s also on Westside Drive and not far from Roberts Wesleyan College. October 15, 2006 |
