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Anderson, Ethel Glyde
Person · 1897-1961

Ethel Glyde Anderson (nee Lea) (1897-1961) was born March 7, 1897 in Erie, Pennsylvania, and later moved with her family to Elgin, Illinois. She was educated at Elgin High School; Elgin Junior College; and Northwestern University. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and an accomplished musician. She joined the First Methodist Church in Elgin around 1909. After completing her B.S., she taught mathematics and music in high school for two years. In 1921 she was appointed missionary to China by the United Evangelical Church, and in 1922 married H. C. Anderson. She returned to the United States with her husband. She died in 1961.

Anderson, Herman C.
Person · 1888-1966

Herman C. Anderson (1888-1966) was born January 10, 1888, at Beaver Crossing, Nebraska. He received his education at the Academy at York, Nebraska; at Western Union College (now Westmar University), Lamars, Iowa; Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; Garrett Theological Seminary, Chicago; and at the New York Biblical Institute. In 1912, he was licensed to preach by the Nebraska Conference of the United Evangelical Church, and was ordained deacon in 1916. In 1919 he began his service as a missionary in China's Hunan Province. He returned to the United States in 1922 to receive his elder's orders and to wed Ethel Glyde Lea, who returned with him to China. From 1926 to 1929, he served as a pastor in Indiana, and from 1929 to 1944 in Texas. He retired to Wichita Falls. He died on June 4, 1966.

Anderson, Mary Althea
Person · 1879-1963

Mary Althea Anderson (1879-1963), Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary, was born on March 14, 1879 on the British Island territory of Mauritius to missionary parents. Anderson’s father had Scottish ancestry, while her mother was a descendent of French Huguenots. Despite familial ties to Britain, her family never lived there and considered France to be their native home. In addition to her mother’s familial ties to France, her father, S.H. Anderson, worked in the McCall mission in Paris. Mary Anderson was educated in France, attending the Lycee Moliere in Paris. She also went to school at Bunbank/ missionary training Home in Glasgow, Scotland. Anderson trained as a student nurse in Alloa County Hospital, Scotland.

Anderson carried out her work as part of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society, First Church, New Castle. She began her service in Algeria in October 1908. During her time as a missionary, she was associated with Emily Smith and Dora Welch in their work among the Kabyles. Anderson was also a poet, who wrote about religion and African history.

Though Mary retired on June 1, 1948, she remained in El Bier (Algiers), Algeria because “there was no home or family in France to which (she and her sister) could return” as a result of the Second World War.

By July 7, 1959, Anderson and her sister were in bad health. Ruth Lawrence, of the Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries,recommend that she be eligible to receive medical help for retired missionaries, it indicates that perhaps she was not considered retired as she was not recognized as living out her retirement in her “native country.”

In 1962, Anderson traveled to England because of her declining health in order to be closer to a relative, possibly her cousin Ralph J. B. Anderson. Mary died on May 29, 1963, in the French Hospital, London, England.

Atkinson, Virginia M.
Person · 1861-1941

Virginia "Jennie" M. Atkinson (1861-1941) was a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, missionary in China from 1884-1940. After graduating from Lagrange Female College in Georgia, she went to China in October 1884 with Laura Haygood. Working primarily in the Shanghai and Soochow regions, Atkinson taught, was instrumental in establishing several schools, and involved in women's work.

In Soochow, she was placed in charge of the city day schools under the Woman' s Board and later established a center in the western part of the city which accommodated four of the schools. She founded the Atkinson Academy for Boys in 1896 and the Davidson Girls' School. When the Boxer Rebellion erupted, she took many Chinese Christians to Japan where they were refugees for four months. In 1901 Atkinson returned to Soochow and continued her work with the day schools. During this period of her work another center, the Embroidery Mission, was opened, providing evangelistic work, teaching, and housing for many Chinese women.

Atkinson also purchased land, with the approval of the Women's Board, to provide buildings for the Davidson Girls' School, the Louise Home for Missionaries, the Moka Garden Embroidery Mission, and the Kindergarten and Kindergarten Training School. She then moved to Changshu to work with Chinese teachers and Bible women (evangelist/teachers for women). With the assistance of her Alabama Conference, Atkinson again purchased land near the Center at Moka Garden, on which the Dowdell Church was built for the Embroidery Mission and the women's work of the church.

Upon her retirement in 1927 with emeritus status she received special permission to stay in China near Soochow, remaining through the Japanese invasion, ministering to the Chinese. Due to poor health and the growing threat of war, Atkinson eventually left China in 1940. She was later buried in China.

Avett, Louise
Person · 1903-1994

Louise Avett (1903-1994), an American missionary, was born May 7, 1903, in Norwood, North Carolina. She received an A. B. from Duke University and an M. A. from Scarritt College. Avett taught fifth grade in the United States prior to her missionary service in China, which lasted from 1932 to 1945. Part of her service included evangelistic and social work in the Soochow, Changhsu Ku, Haito, Huchow provinces of East China and the Houchuan Province of West China. Teaching duties included working at the Hwa Mei, Hochuan, Dahoba, Tongnan, and Gwei Chin Tze primary and middle schools. When itinerating, Avett would stay with numerous families and minister to them for several days at a time. She also taught in Hong Kong during the 1960s. Louise Avett died in 1994.

Becker, Arthur Linn
Person · 1879-?

Arthur Linn Becker (1879-?), Methodist missionary, was born in Ray, Indiana on May 12, 1879. His parents moved to Reading, Michigan prior to his fifth birthday. He graduated high school in 1899 and enrolled in Albion College that same year. Becker became interested in foreign missionary work in his senior year. He graduated from Albion College in 1903. Becker was then appointed to Korea by the Methodist Episcopal Mission Board in 1903. His first responsibility as a missionary was as an educational missionary in Pyeng Yang.

Becker traveled to Tokyo, Japan, in 1905 where he met and married Louise Ann Smith, the daughter of a Methodist minister. Becker brought his wife back to Pyeng Yang. They had three children, two daughters and a son. Two of their children were born prior to the family's visit to the United States in 1910. Their second daughter was born after the family moved to Seoul.

Becker assisted in the foundation of the Chosen Christian College, now Yonsei University, in 1918. He was involved in the administration of its policies and curriculum from its establishment to his retirement.

Due to World War II, the Beckers were forced to evacuate. They were reassigned to Lucknow Christian College in India where Becker served as a physics instructor. The Becker family later returned to the United States and settled in Michigan where they retired. They were recalled to Korea in 1946 after World War II. Becker served as the President of Yonsei University during the Korean War from 1950-1953.

Dr. and Mrs. Becker returned to the United States to reenter retirement in California. His wife passed away in 1961. In 1965, Becker moved to Frasier Meadows Manor in Boulder, Colorado in 1965 with the help of his granddaughter, Mrs. Claud Morel, a resident of the town. He spent his time transcribing details of his experiences with assistance from his daughter, Mrs. Evelyn Becker McCune, during the summer of 1974.

Braden, Charles Samuel
Person · 1878-1970

Charles Samuel Braden (1878-1970) was a Methodist Episcopal Church missionary and educator. He received his B.A. (1909) and Doctor of Divinity (1943) degree from Baker University in Kansas. In 1912, Braden earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1926. He also studied at Columbia from 1911-1912. In 1911 he married Grace Eleanor McMurray.

Braden was appointed a missionary in July 1912 and a month later arrived in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In 1914 he was ordained into the ministry. Braden left Bolivia in 1915 and went to Santiago, Chile, where he was a professor and president of the Union Theological Seminary. In addition, he managed the Union Book Store and was the editor of El Heraldo Christiano. While Braden was in Chile (1916-1922), he pastored several churches including First Church in Santiago.

Upon his return to the United States, he became the assistant secretary of the Methodist Episcopal Church Board of Foreign Missions and the secretary of the Methodist Life Service Commission. He taught in the department of religion and literature of religions at Northwestern University from 1926 until his retirement in 1954. Braden was active in several professional organizations and the author of numerous articles and books.

Grace McMurray Braden (1888-1951) was a Methodist Episcopal Church missionary to Bolivia and Chile with her husband, Charles S. Braden. Grace Braden received a B.A. from Baker University in Kansas in 1909 and taught high school in Cheney, Kansas, from 1909 to 1911 before her missionary appointment.

Burtner, Luther Olin
Person · 1858-1910

Luther Olin Burtner (1858-1910) was a United Brethren Church missionary. He attended Shenandoah Institute in Virginia, and graduated from Bonebrake Theological Seminary in 1888. In 1885 he was licensed to preach by the Virginia Conference, and in 1888 he was ordained. Burtner then transferred to the Maryland Conference and began his first pastorate at Keedysville, a position he held for four years. From 1892 to 1893 he served at Walkersville.

Later in 1893, he sailed for Sierra Leone, where he was the superintendent in charge of the work of the Foreign Missionary Board of the United Brethren Church. His first furlough was taken in 1896, and while in the United States, he attended the General Conference. Burtner returned to Sierre Leone in 1897, and was one of the few missionaries to escape the massacre of 1898.

Upon his return to the United States, Burtner was appointed to the Hagerstown (Maryland) circuit. In 1898 he was named the presiding elder of the Maryland Conference.

A second missionary tour of duty began in 1901 when he arrived in the Philippines to oversee the work of the Women's Missionary Association. After three years of work, he took a furlough. Between the period of 1904 and 1909 he suffered from failing health and was only able to serve periodically in the home and foreign mission fields.

He married Jennie Light Burtner who served with him on the mission field.

Conrow, Marion Lane
Person · 1894-1986

Marion Lane Conrow (1894-1986) was a missionary in Korea for forty years. She received a B.A. from Fairmount College (now Wichita University) in 1918, an M.A. from Boston University in 1929, and completed coursework for an advanced degree at the University of Chicago University in 1937. In 1956, Conrow received an honorary doctor of letters degree from Ewha Woman's University in Seoul. Prior to working as a missionary, she taught high school in Mulvane, Kansas (1918-1920) and Beloit, Kansas (1921-1922).

In 1922, she arrived in Seoul and began teaching at Ewha Woman's University. She remained in Korea until 1940, when war conditions forced her evacuation to the United States. While in the United States, she served as Dean of Women and professor of English at McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois, from 1941 to 1943. In 1943. Conrow returned to Kansas where she was director of the Girl Reserve program of the Wichita City Y.W.C.A. for one year. From 1944 to 1947 she was an associate secretary of missionary personnel for the Methodist Board of Missions in New York City. It was not until 1948 that Conrow was able to return to Korea.

Conrow continued to teach English at Ewha University unitl 1950, when she was evacuated to Japan due to the Communist threat. She remained in Japan until 1952 and taught at Tokyo Woman's Christian College. When she returned to Korea, the University had been moved behind United Nations lines to Pusan, and would remain there until 1953. While at Ewha Conrow was instrumental in establishing the English House on campus.

In 1960 a scholarship fund was established in her name at Ewha. The University of Wichita honored her with its annual Almuni Award in 1963. Conrow was a member of the National Mortar Board Honor Society; Pi Kappa Delta, an honorary forensic society; Alpha Psi Omega, an honorary dramatic society; and the Delta Gamma Sorority. She retired from missionary work in 1962

Doyle, Gladys
Person · 1899-1991

Gladys Doyle (1899-1991) was a Methodist Episcopal Church missionary to India for forty years. She received a B.A. from the University of North Colorado in 1924 and an M.A. from Drew Theological Seminary in 1925. Later that year she sailed for India to begin her work as an education missionary. During her first term she supervised Methodist schools in northern India. Doyle also taught school in the Himalaya mountains. From 1950 to 1967 she supervised village schools in three districts. In addition to these duties, beginning in 1958, Doyle was in charge of evangelistic work among women in the four districts of the Moradabad Conference. Active in the campaigns of the Laubach Literacy Movement, Doyle wrote two readers in Hindi with Dora Walters. After her retirement in 1967 Doyle returned to Boulder, Colorado, where she was active in the First United Methodist Church and United Methodist Women.