Watching Works

On a tiny Caribbean Island, Carl and Laura crouched together as Hurricane Louise blasted around them. “Part of the roof came off of the house,” Carl remembered. “We were there. We were under a mattress in the bathroom.”

Carl and Laura Dube lived in the Antilles during 1996 Hurricane Louise. The morning after the hurricane they went to work cleaning up their rented home. “There were only 800 people on the whole island,” Carl said. “Everyone on that whole island would have known that the roof came off our rental house. Not one person came to help. Not one person from the church we were going to. Not one person from my work.”

Soon they returned to Texas. “In the first years of our marriage,” Laura explained, “We moved twenty-six times.”

“One time while we were living in Houston,” Carl said, “There was a pretty good rain event. Our house and our neighborhood flooded. About an inch of water came into our house. People who were part of Houston Mennonite, where we attended, realized they were seeing our house on the TV news report about the flooding. They saw us on the eleven o’clock news and the next morning they called and said, ‘We are coming over.’  And they came.”

The Dubes watched and paid attention to the impact of compassionate response to their personal disaster experiences. “We know the difference of being well loved and cared for after a disaster,” Carl said. “We experienced the difference. We know what it means when someone comes to help you and stand by you.”

Laura said, “It is easier to show compassion if you have already experienced a disaster yourself. We have never been hurt, and we have never lost everything. But we still understand what it means for someone to be compassionate to us.”

“Years later, during Tropical Storm Allison, we had about a foot of water in the house,” Carl said. “That happened on a Saturday. Our neighbors and us helped each other and that was really great. Then on Sunday afternoon there were twelve or fifteen people from Houston Mennonite who came and helped us cut out dry wall and insulation.”

The impact of receiving help during disasters became one of the factors influencing the Dubes to begin volunteering for MDS in the 1970s. Soon they could be found on weekends and vacations on any MDS response within a day’s drive of wherever they lived at the time.

Laura’s life of compassionate service, however, began many years earlier as a young nurse in LaJunta, Colorado.

Their friend, Rollin Ulrich, remembered, “In 1970-1972, I worked as an orderly in LaJunta, Colorado, in a Voluntary Service program through Mennonite Board of Missions. We had a lot of nurses working in that hospital. There was one particular nurse that I was watching. I watched her great patient care, her compassion, and communication. I saw her being deliberate. Not making patients feel that she was hurrying. We became friends. As I watched her work I thought I could emulate what she did. As a career. That I could be the kind of nurse that she was.”

“The challenge was for me to go to school,” Rollie continued. “So that’s what I did. I went to Goshen College and became a nurse in 1977.”

What Rollie did not know was that while he was watching Laura, Carl Dube was watching him.

“Laura and I met in LaJunta, Colorado,” Carl said, “When I was in the Air Force. We met on a blind date. Rollie Ulrich was volunteering at the same place as Laura worked. I discovered that there were people like Rollie who were doing jobs that were worse than mine for less pay.”

Rollie chuckled, “Unbeknown to me, in 1970 Carl was watching me, and others, to see what kind of Christians we were. Making sure we were not just a bunch of kids having fun. But I never remember meeting Carl in Colorado.”

“Rollie’s actions convinced me to become aware of faith,” Carl said. “To give Christianity another chance.”

Carl and Laura married in 1973. After finishing college, Carl began a 28-year career in construction management as a project engineer. As they moved from city to city following Carl’s work, they searched for MDS sites. The Dubes served in many capacities. Laura did volunteer recruitment, framing, and damage assessments. Carl mucked houses, organized volunteer groups, and assisted with construction.

Laura said, “When we first started, we didn’t know how to build a house. But now we know how to build a house. MDS can teach almost anything to almost anyone. No single task in building a house is all that difficult.”

Carl said, “We made a commitment that that kind of service came first. Our first-hand experience with disaster made it very easy to focus on serving with MDS. And so, we patterned our life, scheduled our life so that that type of service was our first priority.”

“We realized that MDS could only do the projects for which they had long-term volunteers. There are always plenty of short-term volunteers, but if you don’t have leadership then you can’t open a project,” Laura said. “Carl’s work was in construction management. Because of his work experience, he would feel very comfortable and capable in MDS leadership.”

Laura continued, “I remember as we were leaving the project in North Fork, West Virgini,a and driving home to Chicago, we talked about Carl retiring early while he was young enough to work for a length of time. We specifically made the decision so there could be more long-term project direction for MDS so that others could be blessed by short-term experiences like we had been.”

Carl added, “I would characterize the North Fork trip as more of a culmination of our years of service than a as a moment of decision.

Carl retired in 2005. “Katrina happened just before I retired,” he said. “Rita happened right after I retired. We went to Hesston for the training. We were on the project the same year I retired. I was fifty-six years old.”

The Dubes flourished as long-term leaders for MDS, Carl as Project Director and Laura as Office Manager.

“If you would have asked us 30 or 40 years ago how we would have decided for MDS to be so important to us,” Carl said, “We wouldn’t have had a clue. Like many Christians, our faith and our decisions and the opportunities God presented to be disciples didn’t come in a real linear way.”

The Dubes served in long-term leadership with MDS for 20 years. “With very few exceptions,” Laura said, “we were able to teach anyone who came to be part of the team.” What Dubes might not have realized was that others were watching them.

Rollie Ulrich said, “Within the first year of my retirement, I took a group to LaGrange, Texas, to the MDS response to Hurricane Harvey.” When Rollie arrived, Carl Dube was the Project Director.

During that week in Texas, Rollie was watching Carl. “I watched Carl work as Project Director. I knew by watching Carl work that I could emulate his high degree of inclusion on the site. Carl welcomed the weekly volunteers and recognized each person who came. He showed compassion. Carl’s attention to detail in his work was good. His management style was great. I thought, ‘I can do that!’”

Rollie watched Carl with the life altering attention that Carl had watched Rollie when Rollie was a young volunteer in Colorado. Rollie continued, “I was just retired and came to my first MDS project. Now I was watching Carl and Carl influenced me.”

Carl said, “Rollie decided to be an RN after working with Laura. Rollie’s actions convinced me to give Christianity another chance. Rollie eventually was convinced to join long-term MDS after seeing me.”

“You can’t make it up,” Rollie said. “It could never be orchestrated. I didn’t plan it that way. Carl didn’t. Laura didn’t. But 50 years later, it happened just like that.”

After his first week in LaGrange, Texas, Rollie served in many capacities for MDS including Project Director. Rollie said, “Carl set the standard of project direction.”

After 20 years of leading projects for MDS, Carl and Laura Dube are spending more time near his family in Austin, Texas, but their passion for service and nomadic lifestyle continues.

Laura said, “I don’t think that everybody has to do the same thing in the same way that we did.” Reflecting on the impact of MDS on their lives, Laura added, “Over all these years, we learned that people who are different from us are not to be feared. Instead, we have been blessed by the diversity of people we’ve met.”

“If someone is considering making MDS first priority in how they schedule their lives,” Carl said, “They should not be afraid that the decision is a sacrifice. It is an opportunity! The relationships we made, those were so important. We are so glad we didn’t miss out on those. I hope people look at us, but not to put us on a pedestal. I hope they see the blessings we have received and wonder and ask the question, ‘Where are the opportunities and places for me to make similar commitments and experience some of that blessing as well?’”

Carl Dube’s example as an MDS Project Director is available to watch in a training video HERE 

Elaine Maust’s passion is helping people find words for their stories. She writes from Bay Port, Michigan, where she lives with Duane, her husband, and Glenn, her 95-year-old father-in-law.