Item 40.0 - Conference officers

David P. Neufeld (1919-1982), minister and church administrator, was born in Russia to Peter and Anna Neufeld. He came to Canada with his parents in 1926. In 1931 the family moved to Rosemary, Alberta and farmed through the use of irrigation. David P. Neufeld married Helen Neufeld of Madison, Saskatchewan in 1942. David P. Neufeld was called as a minister at the age of 21 in Rosemary. He studied at the Winter Bible School in Rosemary and later received further theological training at Winkler Bible Institute, Mennonite Brethren Bible College in Winnipeg and Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. He taught Bible school at the Menno Bible Institute in Didsbury, Alberta and worked as a Sunday School teacher, youth worker and farmer-lay minister in Didsbury. From 1953-1955 he had an assignment with MCC in Germany working with refugees in Bremen and West Berlin. From 1955 to 1961, the family again lived in Didsbury where David continued to farm and be active in congregational and church conference activities. He was the chair of MCC Canada for 8 years, founding chairman of Mennonite Foundation, Moderator of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada and sat on various other committees and boards from 1950 to 1980. In 1961 the family moved to Winnipeg where he became the first Executive Secretary for the Conference of Mennonites in Canada, a position he held till 1967. From 1967 to 1977 he served as the pastor of the Bethany Mennonite Church at Virgil, Ontario, followed by a pastorate at Olivet Mennonite Church in Clearbrook, BC. He died in 1982 at the age of 62.