Page 41 - History of Arabian Mission 1926-1957

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V. PERSONNEL i
Dr. Stanley Mylrea, who had retired with hlo wife In 1941 to Kodai-
kanol, South India., returned to the Mission after her death in 1942. He was
"Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular* in charge of woman's hospital in Bahrain for several years, thus com­
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, pleting hie- active sax-vice in the same station where he began it nearly forty
secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, years before. After hio second retirement, he continued to spend much time :
then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversity of in the various miss ton stations, and it was while on a visit to Kuwait in 1952
tongues." that h.ifr life ended* The tributes of the whole population, from the ruling
1 Cor. 121 p 7-28 family toto the lowliest coolie in the bazaar, were heartfelt, and he was « :
referred to the uafeer of modern Kuwait. I
The generation of the pioneers is gone. The founders of the Arabian
Mission, James Cantlne and Samuel Zweraer, have passed away, full of years and took foivc missionaries in active service. Rev. Henry Bilkerb
honors. Their wives and most of their contemporaries have died. Since 1926^ was killed % tvibal raid on the desert between Basrah and Kuwait early in
Rev. Frederick Barny, Miss Jane Scardefield, Mies Fanny Button, Mrse Sharon 1929. i
Thoms, Rev. and Mrs. Dirk Dykstra, and Mrs. Gerrit Penning!/, have cied in '
America after retirement. Mrs. Mylrea died in India. One of tho tribes from Central Arabia, the AJman, were disputing graz- • ;
ing rights and boundaries with a tribe near the Iraq border. The frontier
James Moerdyk, John Van Ess, and Dr. Stanley Mylrea ell ended their post in Iraq did not give o.ny warning that the road was unsafe for travellers,
days in the Arab lands to which they had devoted their live© - in Amarah, and a bullet intended for Iraqi Bedu struck the car in which Mr. Bilkert wan
Basrah, and Kuwait respectively. travelling. Kc was escorting Mr. Charles H. Crane, a well-known American
philanthropist and former diplomat. Mr. Bilkert was fatally wounded, and a
Dr. Cantine, after his wife's death in 1927# responded to a request young wife and four small children were left to mourn his loss. !
from the United Mission in Iraq (then still called Mesopotamia) to return to
the field for a few years. This veteran missionary was of inestimable help Regina Harrison died in 1930, on her way home on furlough, leaving
to his young colleagues, who valued his advice and companionship as much as her husband and four young children.
his help in the work. On his return to America he was active in speaking and
writing up to the time of his death in 1940. Raymond De Young, a short termer in the Basrah boys' school, died at 1
the end of 1930, in hio second year of service.
Dr. Zwemer was connected with the United Presbyterian Mission during
the years he spent in Cairo, Egypt, - 1912 to 1930. He taught in the Theologi­ Victoria Storm died in 1931# after the birth of her second child,
cal Seminary there, engaged in literary work in connection with the Nile leaving the two-weeks-old daughter and a tiny boy and their father. 1
Mission Press, and promoted with energy the cause of missions to Muslims by
journeys to all parts of the world. In 1930 he went to Princeton, New Jersey, Three former members of the Mission died during these three decades -
to become Professor of History of Religion and Christian Missions in the Dr. and Mrs. Worrall, both pioneer doctors in Basrah and other of our !
Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church. He held this post until stations, and Dr. Louis Dame, who was one of the founders of our medical
his retirement in 1938* He was editor of The Muslim World for many years,, touring.
honorary secretary of the American Christian Literary Society for Muslims,
and chairman of the World Dominion Movement in America. In 1949 He was an Dr. Worrall, after serving the Mission from 1894 to 1917# remained
honored guest at the 60th Anniversary meeting of' the Arabian Mission held in in America with his wife for family reasons, but some years later he re­
Kuwait. sponded to a call for medical service in a difficult unattractive field on
the West Coast of Africa. The last few years of his life were spent in
During his entire lifetime, Dr. Zwemer's indefatigable zeal for work America.
among Muslims advanced the cause throughout the Christian world, and the \
Arabian Mission and Reformed Church are Justly proud of this great pioneer. Dr. Dame, after leaving the Mission in 193^, spent some time in Saudi
Arabia with his wife, as medical adviser to the oil company In their pioneer
James Moerdyk died in Amarah in 1941, alone but for faithful Arab days in the Kingdom of Ibn Saud, and eventually settled in Rockford, Illinois. :
helpers, who nursed him like devoted sons and mourned him as a father. He !
had stayed on after retirement age, because war conditions had necessitated Two mission families were obliged to leave the field because of seri- I
the evacuation of the other missionaries, and replacements were impossible ous illness. ;
to secure. 1
Rev. E. E. Calverley, on his way home on furlough in 1930, suffered
J John Van E68, within a few days of departure and retirement, died in a severe illness In Egypt caused by a virus Infection, Upon recovery he
Basrah while still on the active list. He was borne to his grave by his settled at the Hartford Seminary Foundation in Hartford, Connecticut, in
pupils, who said, "It was never meant that he should leave us." Former mem­ September, 1930. He become professor of Arabic and Islamics in the Kennedy
bers of the Basrah boys' school paid their tributes of love and sorrow from School of Missions, and trained many students for work in Muslim lands. He
all over Iraq and the Near East. was editor of the Muslim World from 1947 to 1952. Upon retirement, he was
asked to go to Dhahran, Saudi ^Arabia^ as a consulting Arabist to the