23 Apr On This Day in UB History: April 23 (Honduras)

The Sambo Creek church in Honduras.

We became involved in Honduras in 1945. For the first eight years, the work focused around several English-speaking churches comprised mostly of persons who had immigrated from Caribbean islands. Those churches separated from us in 1953 (it was very contentious), and we pretty much started over.

This time, we focused on the largely unreached Spanish-speaking population. Leading the way was missionary Archie Cameron, who had come to Honduras in 1952. He was joined by fellow missionaries Don and Leora Ackerman and Betty Brown.

Archie and a growing team of zealous young Christians took the Gospel from village to village. There were many new Christians. By June 1953, three Spanish congregations had been established, and another three were on the way. Some very capable Hondurans began leading alongside the missionaries–Eudaldo Mejia, Rufina Cruz, Manuel Flores, Andres Castillo, and others.

By 1956, the Spanish outreach had touched many places–Jutiapa, Sambo Creek, Nueva Armenia, San Francisco, Santa Ana, five parts of La Ceiba, and various mountain villages. There had been over 300 conversions. There were three ordained ministers, and several future pastors were enrolled in Bible school or seminary.

Seven churches and preaching points had been established, and in many other places, it was just a matter of time. Seven churches was enough to organize a conference. Which is what Bishop Ezra Funk did on April 23, 1956.

22 Apr On This Day in UB History: April 22 (Baker Hall)

Baker Hall

Many changes in denominational leadership occurred in 1981. Among them was the inauguration of Dr. Eugene Habecker as president of Huntington College. He had been hired in 1979 as executive vice president–sort of a president-in-waiting. Upon the retirement of DeWitt Baker in 1981, after 16 years as the president, Habecker would take his place.

As executive vice president, Habecker spent eight months developing a long-range, 17-year plan for the college. This “Quest for Quality” program, which would lead up to the college’s centennial in 1997, called for advances in curriculum, plus the addition of various buildings, including a new residence hall. That part happened even before Baker left office.

On April 22, 1981, ground was broken for what became Baker Hall, named in honor of DeWitt Baker. It was built behind the original Wright Hall, which was later torn down and replaced with Roush Hall.

Baker Hall was the first residence hall built around suites; there were 3-4 suites per floor with a shared lounge, plus kitchen and laundry facilities. Today, female students occupy the first floor and male students occupy the second and third floors.

20 Apr On This Day in UB History: April 20 (DeWitt Baker)

Lt. DeWitt Baker

DeWitt Baker graduated from Huntington College in 1940, taught school in Michigan for two years, and then volunteered for duty in the Naval Reserves Air Force, where he learned to fly. While on furlough in 1942, he married a UB preacher’s daughter, Evelyn Middaugh, whom he had met at Huntington College. The Navy then sent him to Brazil to help guard the naval shipping lanes to Africa. He spent most of the war flying patrols over the Atlantic searching for German submarines, with some stints as a test pilot.

In 1944, Evelyn read in the denominational magazine about five United Brethren missionaries who were on their way to Sierra Leone, and would be stopping in Natal, Brazil. (See the April 9 post.) She clipped the article and sent it to her husband, who received the letter just as he arrived in Natal on temporary assignment. Natal was located on the eastern point of Brazil, the closest point to Africa.

Three young women arrived on April 20–Bernadine Hoffman, Oneta Sewell, and Erma Funk. DeWitt and Bernadine had been classmates at Huntington College, and he also knew Erma Funk. Several days later, Lloyd and Eula Eby joined them.

The missionaries were stuck in Natal for six weeks. Lt. Baker was able to spend three weeks with them before being transferred. In the company of a naval officer, the missionaries could eat at the naval base and attend English church services there. One day, he took them up a river for a picnic, with American hotdogs. Another time, 19 missionaries gathered at the hotel for an indoor picnic supplied by the mess sergeant at the base.

Altogether, up to 40 Africa-bound missionaries, representing many denominations, were stranded in Natal. They met at the hotel each morning, 8-10 am, for devotions. DeWitt Baker met with them every other morning; the alternate days found him flying patrols over the Atlantic. One time they had special prayer for one of Baker’s fellow pilots who, while far out in the ocean, had an engine die. There was much rejoicing when he made it back.

Planes were constantly making the flight across the Atlantic, but military people had priority. Finally, on June 4, Pan Am had a plane for them. A few seats would be filled by the wives of Firestone workers. All the rest would go to missionaries. On June 5, after a 14-hour flight, their seaplane landed in Liberia. From there, the five United Brethren missionaries made their way by boat to Sierra Leone. They reached Sierra Leone on June 9, exactly two months after leaving Indiana.

Lloyd Eby was impressed with young Lieutenant Baker, and sent him a letter later that summer. After leaving the military, would he be interested in going to Sierra Leone to start a secondary school? DeWitt’s reply was that God hadn’t called him to become a missionary, and besides, he wasn’t a United Brethren member. But Eby followed up in 1948 after returning to the States. In August 1949, DeWitt and Evelyn Baker began their own journey to Sierra Leone, where they would spend the next 16 years, followed by 16 years in the Huntington College presidency.

19 Apr On This Day in UB History: April 19 (Ellen Rush)

On April 19, 1929, Ellen Rush (right) concluded six years as a missionary in Sierra Leone.

She traveled to Sierra Leone in August 1923 with Mable Shultz, both of them to serve in Bonthe at the Minnie Mill girls’ school. Illness forced Mable to return home after about six months, but Ellen remained. She was house mother to the 50 resident students, and sometimes taught in the school, which had an additional 40 students.

Her mother’s illness and subsequent death caused Ellen to cancel plans for a third term. Back in Alma, Mich., she became a Registered Nurse in 1937.

19 Apr On This Day in UB History: April 19

Throughout 2017, as we celebrate the United Brethren denomination’s 250th anniversary, we are looking at events from our history. You can see all posts here.

Judith Eby, the oldest daughter of Bishop Lloyd and Eula Eby, died on April 19, 1952. She was just 26 years old.

On April 9, 1944, two months before the D-Day landing, Lloyd and Eula Eby departed for Sierra Leone as missionaries. They had served one term in Sierra Leone in the early 1920s after graduating from Huntington College. Next came 18 years in the Detroit area, during which they started six churches. Now, they were again needed in Africa.

This time, they had two teenage daughters–Judith, 18, and Shirley, 15. Though the girls were still in high school, Huntington College allowed them to move into the girls’ dormitory, which would have been Livingston Hall. Livingston, which started out as a house, was enlarged that year to the size most people remember, with more rooms and a prayer chapel on the lower level.

This being war-time, the trip to Africa was dangerous and nobody knew how long the war would last. But Huntington College was able to assure the Ebys, “Don’t worry about your girls. We’ll take care of them.”

The Eby family was reunited in 1947. Lloyd served as bishop 1949-1957. In 1950, Shirley graduated from HC and Lloyd was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.

Judith attended HC 1945-1946, but never graduated. She struggled for many years with a brain tumor, to which she finally succumbed on April 19, 1952.

18 Apr On This Day in UB History: April 18 (Clarence Carlson)

On April 18, 1925, Clarence Carlson boarded a ship for Sierra Leone. He would go on to serve five terms as a missionary, pastor UB churches in three different states, and spend eight years as bishop. But at this point, he was just a 28-year-old Huntington College drop-out embarking on his first ministry assignment.

Clarence E. Carlson was born August 9, 1897, the son of Swedish immigrants who settled in Illinois. He grew up in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, spoke both English and Swedish, and could play a variety of instruments—guitar, violin, accordion. He joined the US Navy during World War I, but was never assigned to a ship.

In 1921, Carlson’s parents bought a farm in Michigan across from the Jackson Street UB church (now called Countryside) in Breckenridge. He landed a job with an insurance company in Grand Rapids, and attended the UB church on Sundays. One Sunday afternoon in 1923, alone in his room, he yielded his life to Christ. The next year, he entered Huntington College with the sense that God wanted him in the ministry.

When Carlson became aware of the need for a missionary in Sierra Leone, he offered himself. College would have to wait.

Carlson landed in Freetown on May 9 and hitched a ride to Bonthe with an American delivering a load of Texaco gas. From there, field superintendent George Fleming took him to Gbangbaia, where he was to replace Lloyd Eby. The missionary novice found himself supervising a school, a boys’ boarding home, a church, and a medical dispensary. Fortunately, he had a good national staff at the school, and a fine pastor for the church.

George Fleming said Carlson drew up for himself a daily schedule of 16-17 hour days. “A busy man, and fortunately, a very capable one. His work was well planned, and he held religiously to his schedule.”

Carlson focused a lot of attention on the boys at the school, constantly watching for “opportunities to present the claims of Christ on the life of individual students, gently pressing them towards a personal decision to receive Christ as Savior and Lord.” Some of those boys became United Brethren ministers.

Carlson returned to the States in 1928, and in 1929, while continuing his previously interrupted studies at Huntington College, became pastor of College Park UB church. But in 1931, education again got trumped by needs in Africa. We’ll continue his story in July.