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Mildred Anne Paine (1893-1988), American Missionary to Japan, was born on July 25, 1893 in Barre, New York. She was the daughter of Emory Conydon Paine and Martha V. Waterman Paine. Her grandfather, Colonel Elisha Wright, was a primary founder of the community of Barre and the Barre Methodist Church in 1833.
She graduated from Genesee Wesleyan Seminary and went on to earn a BA in Psychology and Sociology from Oberlin College in 1919. Paine earned a Master’s Degree from Boston University in 1927, and a Psychology degree from New York University in 1935, as well as further theological training.
Paine was briefly employed as a school teacher near her home before she entered the Women’s Foreign Missionary Service with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1920. She sailed to Japan that year, and spent her first five years abroad learning Japanese and working in Kagoshima.
In 1923, a devastating earthquake demolished the Methodist Social Evangelistic Center in East Tokyo, and left a community of people displaced and impoverished. Members of the Methodist Mission observed pressing needs in the community for social aid, schooling for children, and religious education. In 1928, Paine was given supervisory responsibilities over all aspects of a new community center named Ai Kei Gakuen, which opened its doors in 1930. She oversaw the building’s construction and organized its functions, including the school, health clinic, religious education, and other community services.
After the Japanese entered WWII in 1941, Paine and her fellow American missionaries were cut off from all contact with the United States, but Paine continued her work at Ai Kei Gakuen undeterred until she was interned by the Japanese government in 1942. After one year of internment, Paine was released and allowed to return to the United States. After the war, Paine continued her missionary work at Ai Kei Gakuen until her retirement in 1962.
Following WWII, the Japanese government distinguished Paine with two honors. The first was a citation given by the Welfare Ministry of Japan in 1958, for her “devotion to children, boys and youth welfare.” In 1960, she was honored with the 4th Class of the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare in recognition of her social work at Ai Kei Gakuen
Paine died in September 1988 in Asheville, North Carolina.