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Herbert Cookman Withey (1873-1937) was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, on June 8, 1873. At twelve, he went with his parents, Amos E. and Irene Withey, to the interior of Angola, with the original Bishop William Taylor party in 1885. From his early youth he, like his parents, was devoted to mission work. Withey combined evangelistic, educational, and industrial service in his Christian ministry to the Angolans. He learned the local languages and translated Pilgrims Progress, the catechism, the Discipline, the Psalms, and the New Testament into those languages. At the time of his death on February 9, 1937, he was working on a translation of the New Testament.

Melville Owens Wiliams (1904-1995) was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, to Meville Owens and Mary Louise Codd Willams. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1924, an Master of Science degree in sociology and religion from Vanderbilt University in 1929, and an Doctor of Education from Union Theological Seminary in 1936. He married Annie Lee Young in August of 1926, and they had two children: G. Melville and Anne W. (later Craig).

Willaims spent his early years in education, serving as the chaplain for the Virginia Industrial School in Maidens (1924-1925), and then as a teacher at Emory University Academy, in Oxford, Georgia (1926-1928). In 1929 the Williams family moved to China where he taught sociology. They remained there until 1940. In 1942, Williams was ordained in the Virginia Conference of the Methodist church, receiving his full connection in 1945. The same year he was ordained Williams was appointed secretary of Missionary Personnel, a position he held until the merger in 1968. From 1964 until 1968 he was Chairman of the Commission on world Mission under the National Student Christian Federation. After his retirement from the Board of Missions, Williams worked with the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR), a cooperative effort with the Presbyterian Church, USA. In this capacity he and his wife traveled to Africa, Asia, Europe, and Central and South America. They retired to Ohio in 1985.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1867, Laura Marsden White (1867-1937) was a missionary to China for about 43 years of her life. Her work there included teaching, translating, writing, editing a magazine, and organizing schools.

Before her work as a missionary, White taught in public schools in Philadelphia for five years, then attended Wellesley and Chicago Training School, graduating in 1890 with a B.H.

She sailed for China in 1891 under the auspices of the Philadelphia branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, and taught school in Chinkiang. Then in 1907 she moved to Nanking, where she was given the task of turning the school there into a college. In 1912, the first building for the junior college in Nanking was dedicated. In 1915, this school merged with several different denominational mission institutions to become Ginling College.

White was chosen in 1912 by the Christian Literature Society in China to edit The Woman's Messenger, one of the first missionary literary projects developed for women. In 1915, she moved to Shanghai to work full-time with the Christian Literature Society. White retired from mission work in 1934, and died in 1937.

John Christman Wengatz (1880-1977), American missionary to Africa, was born on October 13, 1880 in Steuben, New York. At age ten years later, after hearing a powerful sermon on missionary work, he decided that it was God's will that he become a missionary.

He became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1898, and soon after enrolled in Cazenovia Seminary, from which he graduated in 1906. He went on to study theology at Taylor University, where he earned his doctorate of divinity in 1909.

At Taylor University, Wengatz, fell in love with Susan Talbott. Susan, the granddaughter of a Methodist minister, was studying stenography and later theology at Taylor. The two were married June 29, 1909.

The Wengatzes wanted to do mission work. John tutored at Taylor for a year in Latin, Greek, and oratory, and received his license to preach in 1909, and was a pastor at a church for two years.

Susan graduated from McCordsville University in 1910, and the two set off on their assignment to the Quiongua mission in Malanie, Angola

They arrived in Angola on September 16, 1910, and Wengatz became a member of the West Central Africa Conference.

John and Susan Wengatz taught at the mission school. John became superintendent, did industrial work, and was the local preacher. Susan translated over fifty songs into the local language.

On December 13, 1929, Susan was bitten by a rabid dog. Her survival was dependent on a serum that was locally unavailable. Her husband appealed to his superiors in Cape Town, who had serum flown to Malenie, but they it was too late. Susan died three weeks after being bitten.

John finished his term in Malanje, and left in July 1931. He returned to Taylor, where he met Helen Barton. They were married, coincidentally, on June 29, 1933, exactly twenty-four years after his first marriage began. The two left for mission work in Liberia in 1934, and worked there ten years. They served in the Congo from 1946 to1949, and then went back to Angola until April 1951, when John Wengatz retired.

Wengatz was one of the few missionaries of his time who was a licensed pilot. He was also a dentist. He and Helen moved to Winter Park, Florida, where they lived out the rest of their lives. John died in 1977, Helen died in 1990.

Marian Warner (1917-2013), Methodist missionary and educational administrator, was born in Fairfield, Iowa, and grew up in Davenport, Iowa. She received her education in the John Fletcher College (1925); State University of Iowa ( B. A. in 1929; M. A. in 1943). She taught in Davenport, Iowa (1926-1928). Miss Warner was sent in October 1929 as a regular missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church to India. She served Queen's Hill School, Darjeeling, India (1930). She was assigned as principal of the Middle School and Hostel in Baihar, India (1931-1950). It is recognized as the coeducational school for Balaghat, Jabalpur and Narsinghpur districts. After 19 years of service, she was appointed vice principal of Hawabagh Women's College, a teacher's training school, in Jabalpur (1951-1967). It is now a part of Saugor University in Jabalpur, India. Warner retired from the Indian Mission field in June 1968.

Dora Amelia Wagner (1888-1980), American Missionary, daughter of John Franklin and Helen Mardora Wagner, was born on October 10, 1888, in LaCygne County, Kansas. Wagner, who became a deaconess in the Methodist Episcopal Church, attended both Baker and Northwestern Universities for her formal education. Upon completing her higher education, the Women's Foreign Missionary Society sent Wagner to Japan and arrived in Tokyo on December 7, 1913. Wagner taught at Aoyama Jogakuin Girl's School (1913-1915), Women's Christian College (1923-1933) in Tokyo as well as Iai Jogakko Girls School in Hakodate (1915-1922, 1933-1941 and 1946-1953). Besides teaching other duties included supervising Sunday School work in the Hakodate area, YMCA, church choir and organist. During World War II, she worked with Japanese churches in Colorado. Because of her commitment to Japanese education, the government awarded her the Fifth Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1953. Wagner left Japan for good on June 30, 1953 and retired to the Robincroft Home in Pasadena, California. She died on September 22, 1980, in Lemon Grove, California

Mellony Turner (1901-1949), Methodist missionary, was born on April 9, 1901 at Erin, New York. Turner graduated in 1919 from the Cazenovia Seminary located in Cazenovia, New York. In 1924, Turner began to teach at the American School for Girls in Lovetch, Bulgaria for the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1930 she had became the principal of the school.

During World War II, Turner was able to continue teaching at the school. Her problems became worse after the war when the Communists took over the country. The official communist paper of Bulgaria, Rabotnichesko Delo, repeatedly mocked Turner and her work in the paper.

Forced out of Bulgaria, Turner relocated to Athens, Greece, and taught at Pierce College. After her departure from Bulgaria, false accusations of espionage were made against her after the torture of fifteen Bulgarian Methodist pastors with whom she had closely worked. Turner never returned to Bulgaria.

On Sunday, November 20, 1949, Mellony was scheduled to give a missionary message at Baldwinsville, New York, Methodist Church. On the way to the church a truck hit her and her father, W. Cleon Turner, a Methodist minister, and both were killed instantly. Turner is buried with her father and mother on a hilltop in Cato, New York.

Zula Terry (1896-1986), American Missionary, was born in 1896. Zula graduated from the University of Texas with her B.A. and graduated from Peabody College with her M.A. Upon graduation Zula entered into missionary service with the Women's Missionary Council through the Texas Branch in 1925 and started work in 1926 as an education and church service organizer to Brazil. Her work centered on the Instituto Gymnasial and Porto Alegre along with other locations. In Porto Alegre Zula concentrated upon evangelism and organizing, training and overseeing indigenous Bible Women along the lines of the successful China Bible Women program. Besides her work mentioned above, other areas of ministries include the following: The Day School at the Institutional Church as superintendent of the Primary Department for Sunday School and part-time work at the Colegio Americano. Reflecting her experience as a missionary, Zula contributed an article to the Missionary Voice concerning the need for the Institutional Church in Porto Alegro in April 1934. Zula departed from the field on December 22, 1961 and died on January 24, 1986.

Sources Consulted A Model Home Base For Missions: Mary Decherd, The University Of Texas Epworth League, And The Brazil Mission by Robert W. Sledge Annual Report Woman's Council - M.E. Church, South, 1934 (p. 179, 181, 246) "Five Dollars and Myself": The History of Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1845-1939 by Robert W. Sledge (p. 272) New World Outlook - March 3, 1986 Woman's Division of Christian Service Minutes - 1961-1964 (Twenty-second Annual Meeting, January 9-14, 1962, p. 62) The Missionary Voice - "A Model Home Base for Missions: Mary Decherd, The University of Texas Epworth League, and the Brazil Mission" by Robert Sledge - October 1927

Ralph T. Templin (1896-1984), an American missionary, educator, publisher, and social activist, married Lila Horton in 1920. Templin was a missionary in India from 1925 to 1940.

While working in India, Templin created a cooperative education method that allowed senior boys to help build various structures for local villages.

Templin was a founding member of the Peacemakers' movement, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. When he returned to the United States, he continued Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence in all areas of his active ministry. Templin was the director of the School for Living, Suffern, New York from 1941 to 1945. Later he became the professor of sociology at Central State University, at Wilberforce, Ohio, from 1948 to 1968. Central State University was historically black, and Templin was the first white faculty member.

In 1954 he was the first white clergyperson to be received in full connection within the Central Jurisdiction. Another expression of his social activism was his fast to protest suppression of Puerto Rican independence nationalist movement.

Other avenues that Templin used to promote his belief in social justice included a refusal to pay taxes, did not register for the draft during World War II, and refused to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the McCarthy era. He published, Democracy and Non-Violence, in 1965. Templin died in 1984.

Ruth Louise Stahl, Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Church Missionary, was born on April 8, 1887 in Somerset, Ohio to Clara W. Stahl. Her father's name is not known at the present time. Ruth is the sister of Minta May Stahl who later married A. W. Nagler. Osie Stahl is her other sibling. Stahl attended Canal Winchester High School, Ohio State University and Mount Union Conservatory where she earned a Bachelor of Music in 1909.

Ruth received her Women's Foreign Missionary Society appointment to China in November 1917. She set sail that same month. Upon arriving in China her assignment was to teach music at North China Women's College in Beijing. Later the college would become part of Yenching University. The school was closed by the Japanese in 1941. For the next two years Ruth was interned by the Japanese until repatriation in December 1943. Ruth then sailed back to the United States but returned to China in 1946 for two more years of service. Her official missionary retirement came in March 1951. Ruth died in July 1959.

Minta May Stahl, and Tirzah Marie Stahl were also missionaries who served in China between 1917 to 1945. They worked in various schools around China with students of all ages. Minta May Stahl worked in Tientsin, China and Tirzah Marie Stahl worked in Taianfu, Shantung, China.