Pastor F. Dean Nemecek – A Christmas Story

(Holley Gazette, January, 1998)

Dean Nemecek served our church as interim pastor on two separate occasions (1972-3 & 1979-81) and has ministered to us during our pastors’ absence. The following is adapted from the article by Steve Regan entitled “The Greatest Gifts are Often the Simplest” in the Suburban News for the week of December 14, 1997. Mr. Nemeckek is currently serving as interim pastor at the Ogdon Baptist Church.

“Mr. Nemecek was serving with the 100th Infantry Division during WW II, stationed in Urlach, a small village not far from the Rhine River. It was Christmas Day, 1944, but there was no time to celebrate the birth of the ‘Prince of Peace.’ North of Urlach, the Germans had pushed the Allied forces back with heavy casualties and a counterattack had briefly caused the 100th to make a retreat. They had returned and were now attempting to dig foxholes in the frozen ground preparing for another onslaught. Making things worse was the cold bone-chilling, bitter cold. The kind of cold that the standard two sets of longjohns, two wool uniforms, fatigues, and a field jacket couldn’t begin to compete with. And forget about shelter. ‘You slept in your foxhole,’ relates Dr. Nemecek.

It was against this backdrop that the company commander, a captain, called the young Nemecek over and with a simple ‘Merry Christmas’ handed him a box. It contained nothing unusual, just a government-issued fur-lined parka and a pair of waterproof boots. But to the half-frozen infantryman it meant everything. ‘Over the years I have received more expensive gifts and many with greater sentimental value, but never have I received a gift that I appreciated more,’ admits the pastor today.

But there were other strange circumstances surrounding this Christmas Day that would leave a life-long impression on the young man. The commanding officer that day, Captain Bill Garden, happened to be of the Jewish faith. And the gifts that he presented to his troops were given from the only enclosed area around, a nearby stable. Close to this stable, a local man, a shepherd, was watching over his flock of sheep. It always struck Dean Nemecek as odd that that was the only day in his entire eighteen-month tour of duty that he ever saw sheep.

It would be lending perhaps too much of a Hollywood twist to the story to say that the events of that long-ago Christmas were taken by the young soldier as a direct sign from above. But it wouldn’t be stretching to say it made a life-long impact. ‘I’ve thought a lot about this incident in the last 50 years and these strange circumstances,’ concedes the pastor today.

Not long after the war, Dean Nemecek made his decision to enter a seminary in Chicago. The years have seen him apply his calling in churches in Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan before coming to this area in 1970 as Dean of Students at Roberts Wesleyan College in North Chili. Although retired from that position since 1981, he and his wife, Sylvia, continue to live in that community…

There should be plenty more Christmas memories for the Nemeceks, who have raised four children. But Dean Nemecek will always remember a Christmas back in 1944, one that perhaps went a long way in shaping an entire future. ‘I am always reminded of God’s great gift to me – His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,’ he adds.”