More than one hundred years ago, a young Jewish woman named Helen Oppenheimer left Germany and began her journey to America. As the family story has been told, she was traveling to meet and marry a Jewish attorney in New York. But somewhere on that journey, aboard a ship crossing the ocean, Helen met a young man named Ferdinand C. Weyland.
Was it chance? Coincidence? Fate? Or was it the mysterious providence of God?
Ferdinand, known as Ferd, was returning to America after studying in Germany. He was preparing for ministry and would later become a Lutheran pastor. Helen was seven years older than he was, and her life seemed to be moving in a very different direction. Yet their meeting changed everything. They married three years later, after Ferd’s ordination, and Helen became a pastor’s wife in northern Wisconsin.
Helen Oppenheimer Weyland was my wife Naomi’s grandmother.
That one providential meeting shaped generations. Helen and Ferd raised four children in a home that was not easy or comfortable by modern standards. Life in northern Wisconsin included hard work, limited conveniences, and the demands of ministry. Ferd traveled to encourage pastors and congregations, while Helen supported him, raised their children, and faithfully lived out her calling.
Their children carried that legacy forward. Two became pastors, one became a college music professor and author, and one daughter, Helen Weyland Koerwitz, became a teacher. She would become Naomi’s mother.
The more I have researched Helen’s story, the more questions I have. What was she thinking as she stepped onto that ship? What did she know of God’s hand upon her life? Did she understand that one decision, one meeting, one conversation, could alter the course of a family for generations?
We may never know all the details this side of Heaven. But I do believe God was present in them.
Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” Helen may have had one plan when she began her journey, but God had another. His purposes were larger than she could see.
I am especially thankful for Helen because, through her life and faith, God shaped the family line that eventually led to Naomi. Naomi loved the Lord, cherished Scripture, and was proud of her Jewish roots. Her grandmother’s journey became part of Naomi’s story, and Naomi’s story became part of mine.
Looking back, I see more than family history. I see grace. I see providence. I see God working through decisions, relationships, waiting, uncertainty, and even unanswered questions.
Helen’s life reminds me that God often does His deepest work quietly. A ship crossing the ocean. A conversation on deck. A change in direction. A marriage. A family. A legacy of faith.
What looked like an ordinary journey became part of a much greater story.
Helen Oppenheimer Weyland: Personal Letter. What I am Thankful for.
As I write this letter, this Thanksgiving day, Nov. 24, 2022, I have a feeling that you are aware of what I am doing. Tracing our family heritage back to my wife’s Jewish roots…after all these years…43 years of marriage to my wife Naomi Koerwitz Dassow, one of your granddaughters, who is proud of her “Jewish Roots”.
We have heard about you, but do not know very much…other than you met your husband Ferdinand Weyland on a ship when you immigrated to America…going to meet your intended Jewish husband in New York. Must have been quite an experience meeting “Ferd” and the time you spent on the ship and getting to know him and eventually “converting” as Jewish people say of the experience. I hope and pray it was not just a new “religious” set of beliefs but a real personal connecting with God through his son, Jesus Christ, your long awaited Messiah. I am excited to getting to know you a little after all these years through my research and then actually getting to meet you face to face in Heaven! Because of you, I have a wife who also loves the LORD and is proud of her Jewish roots and knows more of the Old Testament than a lot of Jewish people we have known…
The Bible says , …that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus who prays for us. As I mentioned earlier I have a feeling you know what I am doing…I know I am on unchartered water here in writing this, but I truly believe the Holy Spirit is guiding me. Getting excited as I have about 50 questions I would like to ask you, and hope to know a little about you before we actually meet, but don’t know if…this is really important.
We know your life was not always easy as a Jewish young lady coming to America, leaving your family, friends and Jewish religious beliefs, and marrying a Lutheran pastor, living in Northern Wisconsin and somewhere becoming a real believer in Jesus. We know your sister Emma also immigrated to America and became a believer in Jesus, as her tombstone says, “Asleep in Jesus”. I’m sure you had a good relationship with her and that she was a real help and inspiration to you…
You helped raise and should be- are proud of your 2 sons who became pastors and the other son who was a college music professor and a daughter who was a Christian school teacher, Helen Weyland who was Naomi’s mother.
Looking forward to that grand meeting in Heaven. Not only with you, but your daughter, Helen Weyland Koerwitz, my wife, Naomi’s mother, whom I also have never met but looking forward to!
See you soon!
Richard Dassow.
And so, this story is not only about genealogy. It is about gratitude. It is about seeing God’s hand in the lives of people who came before us. It is about realizing that one meeting, one journey, one act of faith, can ripple through generations.
Helen’s story is part of Naomi’s story. Naomi’s story is part of my story. And all of it belongs to God.
To God be the glory.
