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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.

Josiah Lamberson Parrish (1806-1895) was an early American missionary to the Indians, U.S. Indian agent and leader in Christian education in the Pacific northwest. He was born in Onondaga County, New York, on January 14, 1806. He learned the blacksmith trade from his father, and worked on the Erie Canal.

Parrish was converted in 1816 and renewed (?) in 1824 before being licensed to preach in 1830. Parrish heard the call to the Indian mission in Oregon in 1839. Jason Lee, the superintendent of the Indian mission, had already filled his quota of ministers, so Parrish entered the Indian mission as a blacksmith.

Parrish arrived in Oregon in 1840, having come by ship around Cape Horn. He served for two years as a blacksmith at the main mission station in the Willamette Valley, before he was given charge of his own station among the coast Indians in 1842.

From 1843 to 1846, Parrish was a missionary to the Clatsop Indians. After the close of the Indian Mission in 1846, he worked as a preacher among the white settlers, first as a lay preacher and later as a conference member in full connection. From 1847 to 1848 Parrish served the Yamhill circuit. In 1844 he became a trustee of Willamette University. Between 1849 and 1854, at a time when the government was trying to move the Indians of the Pacific northwest onto reservations, Parrish was a government Indian agent.

Parrish was interested in public affairs, and helped establish the provisional government of Oregon, which was the only government in Oregon until the United States Government established the Oregon territorial government in 1846.

Parrish was admitted to the Oregon Conference in 1853 and ordained elder by Bishop Ames. Parrish was one of the first men in the Oregon Conference to be ordained elder. In 1854, Parrish returned to missionary work on the Grande Ronde Indian reservation, but retired for health reasons in 1856.

In 1857, Parrish returned to active service and was active until 1879.

Though he spent a lot of time with the Native American people on the reservations, Parrish maintained a home on his Donation Land Claim, land used for homesteading in Oregon, in what is now the city of Salem.

After his retirement, Parrish served for sixteen years as a prison chaplain at the state prison. He was an original member of the board of directors of the Oregon Institute, which was chartered as Willamette University in 1853, and remained a member of the board for the rest of his life. In fact Parrish was elected president of the board of trustees of Willamette University in 1869.

Parrish was married three times.

He married Elizabeth Winn in 1833, and had four children with her, all boys - Lamberson, Norman, Samuel, and Charles. Elizabeth Winn Parrish died in 1859.

In 1860, Parrish married Jennie L. Lichtenthaler, by whom he had two children, both girls - Josie and Grace. Jennie died in 1887.

The next year, 1888 Parrish married Mattie A. Pierce, who had one child, LaRonda Pierce, from a previous marriage.

Robert Thomas Parsons (1904-?) was a Church of the United Brethren in Christ missionary, pastor, and academic. Parsons was born on September 27, 1094 to J.B. Parsons, D.D. and Ada Parsons in Dayton, Ohio.

Parsons received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana Central College in 1926, and a Bachelor of Divinity from Bonebrake Theological Seminary in 1929. He was ordained, and in 1929 went to serve as a missionary under the Foreign Missions Board of the United Brethren in Christ to the Kono tribe in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

Parsons would return to the United States on his first furlough in 1933 to enroll as a Ph.D. candidate in the Kennedy School of Missions at Hartford Theological Seminary. During his second furlough in 1937, alongside his Ph.D. work, he received a Master of Arts from Cornell University. Parsons then returned to Sierra Leone for two years and taught at Union College in Bunumbu.

Parsons completed his dissertation in 1940, and went on to serve Fifth Ave Church in Columbus, Ohio. Parsons would join the faculty at Hartford in 1947 as a Professor of African Studies, and would later become Dean of the Kennedy School of Missions. Parsons would make a handful of other trips back to Africa for research. He also went on to serve on committees of the Division of Foreign Missions of the National Council of Churches. His dissertation was published in book form as "Religion in an African society: A Study of the Religion of the Kono People of Sierra Leone in its Social Environment With Special Reference to the Function of Religion in that Society" by Brill in 1964.

Robert Frank Petersen, D.M.D., (1921-2007), United Methodist Church missionary to India, was a skilled dentist born in Portland, Oregon, on January 2, 1921. He graduated from the University of Oregon Dental School in 1943, and served as a dental officer in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946. In 1951, Robert and his wife, Mary B. Petersen, went to India to work in dental medicine at Clara Swain Hospital in Bareilly, U.P., and remained there until 1954. After completing his dental missionary work in India, Robert and Mary returned to Oregon, and Robert continued his dental practice. Dr. and Mrs. Petersen had three children. Petersen died on January 15, 2007 in Medford, Oregon.

Frederick Merritt Pyke (1884-1976), American missionary, and his wife, Frances Louise Taft Pyke (1887-?), their colleagues and missionary stations are the subjects of a collection of photographs.

The Pykes were both children of pioneer missionaries to China. His parents were James Howell and Annabel Goodrich Pyke, and her parents were the Reverend and Mrs. Marcus L. Taft.

The Japanese interned the Pykes in a camp at Weihsien, China, for thirty months during World War II.

The Pykes had three children: Louise, Ruth, and James. In 1958, Frederick became a member of the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Church.

Frederick Merritt Pyke (1884-1976), American missionary, and his wife, Frances Louise Taft Pyke (1887-?), their colleagues and missionary stations are the subjects of a collection of photographs.

The Pykes were both children of pioneer missionaries to China. His parents were James Howell and Annabel Goodrich Pyke, and her parents were the Reverend and Mrs. Marcus L. Taft.

The Japanese interned the Pykes in a camp at Weihsien, China, for thirty months during World War II.

The Pykes had three children: Louise, Ruth, and James. In 1958, Frederick became a member of the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Church.

Faithe Richardson (1899-?) was a Methodist Episcopal Church missionary to India. She received a B.A. from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1922 and an M.A. from the University of Colorado in 1923. In 1925, she began missionary work in the central province of India where she was a teacher and the principal at Steven's Girls' School in Jubbulpore, a position she held until 1938. From 1939 to 1940, Richardson was head mistress at the Alderman Girls' School in Jubbulpore. She then returned to Johnson Girls' School where she was head mistress for six years. While she was serving in this position, she was also the principal at the Training Institute for Women at Hawa Bagh (1943-1946).

John Wesley Robinson (1866-1947) was born at Moulton, Iowa, January 6, 1866 and married Elizabeth Fisher in 1891. Having begun his career as a printer before he entered the ministry, he was educated at Garrett Biblical Institute. Robinson was ordained in the Des Moines Conference and after two years was transferred to the North India Conference. After a number of varied appointments he was elected in 1912 as a missionary bishop for Southern Asia, and in 1920 he was elected a General Superintendent. From 1912 when the National Missionary Council was organized in India until 1936 when he retired, he participated prominently in inter-church activities.

After retiring Robinson made his home in California briefly, but then returned to India to assume the editorship of The Indian Witness. In 1940 he administered the Lucknow and Hyderabad Conferences. He was again called from retirement this time to superintend the Delhi Conference. He died in India May 30, 1947. His grave is in the Kaladungi Cemetery near Nain Tal.

Charles August Sauer (1891-1972), American pastor, missionary, and author, was born on June 27, 1891, near Wheelersburg, Ohio. He was the son of Christian August and Anna (Miller) Sauer. He attended Ohio Wesleyan University, from which he received a B.A. in 1919 and a D.D., 1958, and Ohio State University College of Education, which awarded him an M.A. in 1928.

Sauer married Marguerite Suttles of Albion, Pennsylvania, on August 17, 1920, and they had three sons. Sauer served in the United States Army during World War I.

From 1921 to 1932, he lived in Yeng Byen, Korea, serving as missionary principal of the Mission High School there. From 1932 to 1935, he was an instructor of farm engineering at the Konju Mission School. He was treasurer of the Korean Methodist Church in Seoul, Korea, from 1936 to 1941, and again from 1946 to 1950.

From 1942 to 1946, after missionaries were expelled from Korea, he served as minister in the West Unity, Ohio, Methodist Church. Sauer returned alone to Korea in 1946, to be joined later by his wife. He was treasurer for the National Christian Council Union Projects in Korea, form 1950 to 1962. From 1949 to 1958, he returned to education and his position of principal, working in the Korean Language School.

From 1949 until 1962, Sauer was editor for the Korean edition of The Upper Room. Sauer wrote Korean Language for Beginners in 1925, with reprints in 1950 and 1954; Chinese Characters for Beginners, in 1930; A Pocket Story of John Wesley, in 1967; and Beginner's Lessons in the Book of Genesis, written in Korean , in 1938.

In 1962 he was cited by the Minister of Defense in the Republic of Korea, and later that year he was awarded a Cultural Merit, which is the national medal, by the President of the Republic of Korea. Sauer was a member of the Ohio Annual Conference. He participated in the General Conference of the Korean Methodist Church in 1951, 1954, 1958, and 1960, and served as a delegate to the General Conference of The Methodist Church in 1956. He acted as the editor for Korea in the Encyclopedia of World Methodism. He died on September 13, 1972, at Ashley, Ohio.

Dwight Lamar Sherertz (1893-1970) was a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, missionary to China and Africa. He received a B.A. from Roanoke College, an M.A. from Princeton University, and a honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Roanoke in 1945. Sherertz also studied at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, Columbia University, and Union Theological Seminary. In 1918 he began teaching English and religion at the junior and senior high schools in Soochow, China, a position he held until World War II when he was interned and then evacuated. Sherertz returned to China in 1945 and served as a liasison officer between Chinese and American troops. He continued to teach at Soochow University from 1946 until the Communist takeover in China in 1950. Forced to leave China, he went to Rhodesia in 1952 to work at a teacher training school and as an assistant minister until his retirement in 1957.

Margarita Mary Sherertz (1889-1973) married Dwight Lamar Sherertz in October 1919. She was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. William Hector Park and a niece of Bishop Walter R. Lambuth.

William Hector Park (1858-1927) was a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, missionary to China. He received an undergraduate degree from Emory College in 1880 and studied medicine at Vanderbilt University. He continued his medical course work at Bellevue Medical College in New York and later studied in Edinburgh, Scotland. Park arrived in China in 1882 and in the following year, with the assistance of Bishop Walter R. Lambuth, established the Soochow Hospital. He worked at the hospital for nearly forty-five years and trained many doctors. His book, "Opinions of Over One Hundred Physicians on the Use of Opium in China," published in 1899, was instrumental in stopping the British opium trade in China. Park married Nora Kate Lambuth (n.d.-1949), a sister of Bishop Lambuth. The Parks worked together at the Soochow Hosptial, and Nora Park was active in the Anti-Foot Binding Association.