Meet a Community Elder: Fred Dyke

At 74, Pastor Fred has got the moves. Fred Dyke, who presides at the pulpit of Belfountain Village Church, has also been practising and competing in the martial arts for 56 years and has a 6th degree black belt in judo. “Judo was an all-consuming passion during my university days in St. John’s,” he says. 

Fred estimates that of more than 25,000 judo practitioners in Canada, only about 150 have reached 6th degree. He has been teaching the sport since 1975, and keeps his hand in instructing a weekly class at Orangeville’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy and Dyman Judo Club. Over the years, he has earned 10 provincial championships across Canada and was inducted into the Newfoundland Judo Hall of Fame.

Fred grew up in a large family on Pool’s Island off the northern coast of Newfoundland. His father was a sea captain, and a good deal of what the family ate was either hunted or homegrown. The family had no electricity and Fred was 13 before he saw his first toilet. In 2022, Fred published Skipper Ches: As Tough as It Gets, a memoir recounting his parents’ hardscrabble and courageous life in the fishing outport. 

 “My dream was to become a pilot, but instead I was recruited to teach physics and math straight out of university,” he says. “I quickly switched to the banking industry, married, and worked my way up the ranks, moving from Newfoundland to Ontario as the jobs demanded.” Eventually Fred became a manager at the Bank of Montreal in Toronto. 

In his 30s, Fred served the 1,200-person congregation of a Brampton church, first as volunteer secretary-treasurer, then for seven years as a consulting business manager. 

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With his wife, Judee, he moved to Orangeville in 1992, working first for a printer, then starting his own management consulting company, serving clients across North America. All the while keeping up the deep connection to his religion.

In 2015 Fred was invited to deliver a guest sermon at Belfountain Village Church, which then had a congregation of about eight. “God led us here for a reason,” he says. At a time of life when most people retire, Fred and Judee attended pastoral school on weekends. Now as joint pastors in Belfountain, where Judee also serves as music director, they have watched the congregation grow to its current 110 and counting.

Between them, Fred and Judee have seven children, 14 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.