Adrianus Maria van Dijk

After a short and very tough battle with cancer Ad van Dijk died peacefully, surrounded by his family at the age of 62 in Winnipeg Manitoba on June 28th 2025

Adrianus was born January 19th, 1963 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands to Janny Steenvoorden and Ad van Dijk. He was the eldest brother to Renee and Rob and always took that “title” seriously. He was always very proud to be Dutch- and was often heard saying “you aint much- if you aint Dutch!”

He proudly served his mandatory 2 years in the Dutch Military, but it was a time of his life he rarely spoke about. His love of food, cooking and hospitality started early, after cooking school, as a Chef he spent several years cooking on many sea vessels including tugboats, SMIT150 and later Holland to America Line Cruise Boats. During this time, he was able to see the world and always had so many stories to share. Working on the ocean was a love that was always with him, and always longed for those days, except one day in 1988 his Dad asked him to come to Canada to help a friend with his restaurant in Steinbach, Manitoba. The most land locked center of Canada. About a year later, now working in Winnipeg at Merteen’s Restaurant in walks a young apprentice chef named Lisa. They were married at Grace Lutheran church on August 23, 1991.

After a brief stint at Hecla Island resort, they moved to Morden Manitoba to run the Log Cabin restaurant together. During the time in Morden, Cody and Byron were born in 1996. Shortly after they moved back to Winnipeg, Ad started welding school which led to a 20+ year career in steel plant welding, maintenance and repair. Having worked most of those years at Champ and later Mackow Industries.

While Cody and Byron were growing up, Ad spent many years as a Cub  Scout leader aka Akela. They started taking a group of kids and dads to our church camp Luther Village near Kenora Ontario for volunteer work weekends. This led to 25+ years of work weekends and adding a 1st work weekend to get more things done and many years turned into weeks of volunteering. This love of Luther Village and genuine desire to fix things that needed fixing, help people and do everything to make someone experience better turned into an idea/ dream/ plan to one day work at LV. This was never a real possibility but in fall of 2021 this “dream” became reality. Ad and Lisa began as the Executive Director Team of Luther Village in January 2022. Every spring, including this year, he prayed for the snow to melt (100% convinced this time would be early spring) so he could get into camp and get started on projects, repairs and renovations. Some notable contributions to camp include the pontoon boat, new kitchen and dining hall, community space and so much more. Whenever someone needed a hand, he was always there to help -and never expected anything in return.

 As much as he loved this work, he always went back to the beginning and his love of cooking and making people feel welcomed with food. This included BBQ potlucks, Pancake Breakfast and Frydays (on Saturday).His favorite thing to do would be to cook a big piece of meat over an open fire something he learned from his father.

Ad was fiercely protective of his family and immensely proud of them. He did not miss an opportunity to brag about his sons or help them in any way possible. He loved watching them play football and grow into the coaches they are today.

Ad is survived by his wife  (33 years) Lisa, sons Cody van Dijk (Julie Sprague) and Byron van Dijk ( Alyvia Flanjak) Mom Janny Steenvoorden- van Dijk, sister Renee van Dijk and his brother Rob van Dijk (Helene), nieces Sanne and Fleur. His Father-in-law Harry and Mother- in-law Penny Popke, Brother-in-law Eddie Popke (Julie) and nephew Ashton, Brother-in- law David Popke (Adrienne), Sister- in -law Amy Northcliffe (Kyle), nephew Josh, nephew and Godson Zach and niece Madelynn. Godson Christian Proulx

Celebration of Life will take place at Luther Village on Sept 13th please contact family for more info.

Lisa and her family have asked for donation in memory of Ad to be made to Luther Village

There will be a wish list of items posted later, Ad was always grateful when someone would donate much needed items to camp. We all know how important Luther Village was to Ad and will use the funds to find a way to honor Ad and his legacy at camp, specifically Work Weekend 2026!

Donate to Luther Village

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