MapleCreek resident honored at Acton University opening dinner June 14

 What was at first a misunderstanding and huge surprise turned into a very nice evening for Diet (DEET) Eman, 91-year-old resident of The Terraces at MapleCreek. Diet, originally from the Netherlands, has a special heart for people and for liberty issues, having been an active member of the Dutch underground movement against the Nazi occupation during World War Two. She participated in efforts to hide Jewish people and downed Allied pilots from the Germans. She was also a nurse for the native workers in the oil fields of Venezuela before coming to the U.S.

Diet said, “I got a phone call asking me if I could go to dinner with Father Sirico on Tuesday night.” Father Robert Sirico co-founded the Grand Rapids-based Acton Institute in 1990 for the study of religion and liberty. “This was a nice invitation,” Diet said, “so I said yes, I would enjoy having dinner with my friend. I thought it was just going to be the two of us. But then they brought me to DeVos Place, the convention center downtown, and there were hundreds of people there at this big dinner. I had no idea I would be sitting at the head table with Father Sirico, or that he would bring me up on the stage to talk.”

The event on Tuesday, June 14, marked opening night of the 2011 Acton University, a unique, four-day exploration of the intellectual foundations of a free society. The more than 70 courses range from the theological and the philosophical, to the policy-oriented and the practical, and are presented by a world-class faculty. “The Acton Institute is an educational think tank that examines the foundations for a free society,” said Holly Rowley, executive assistant. The groundwork for the conference each year is laid when Father Sirico talks about the dignity of the human being. “We are made in the image of God, made to create and to be a good steward,” Rowley explained. “He always says, ‘If we get that part wrong, we get everything else wrong.’ So it was very fitting, especially with an audience of 700 people from 70 different countries, to hear Diet’s story.”

Participants in Acton University come from many walks of life:  business, academia, clergy – actively working or retired.  “There were three of them sitting near Diet at dinner who are in their late 80s,”  Rowley said. “So she was in good company.” 

 Film clips of Diet were shown, taken from the documentary “The Reckoning: Remembering the Dutch Resistance.” The movie features four Dutch people who were in the resistance, two in the Netherlands and two in the U.S., including Diet. Then, when Father Sirico announced that she was in the crowd, she made her way to the stage and people immediately stood to their feet.

Twenty minutes of questions from the audience included, “At what point did you make the decision to put your life in danger?”  “Did you tell your parents and what was their reaction?” “Why did you get involved?” “Would you have done it even if you only helped one person?” “How did you deal with your fears?” When the Q&A time formally concluded, there were still 20 hands in the air. Several people came up and talked to Diet afterward.