Page 42 - History of Arabian Mission 1926-1957

Institute in 195**. He was in Egypt for two years, 1954-1956* ao a vialting
professor at the Cairo School of Oriental Studies. The Mission has both gained and lost members by marriaG^- The union
of Dr. Paul. Harrison ond Ann Monteith Bilkert in 1931 brought two valuable I
HiB wife, Dr. Eleanor T. Calverley, became a lecturer at the Kennedy missionaries beck to the field. A new member was gained when in 1936 Hr.
School of Missions in 1931, also preparing future missionaries for life over­ Harold Storm married Ida Paterson, who had been an educational worker in
seas. She also established a private medical practice. China, and likewise) when Rev. Jay Kapenga married Marjorie Underwood, of the
Presbyterian Mission in Teheran, Iran, in 1947.
The Calverleys paid a visit to Kuwait in 1955, no honored guests of
one of the Arab sheikhs who is a member of the ruling family. Svaatisw. Da Young married Rev. Idris Jones of the Keith Falconer
Miseloo 3 a AdftU X930->
Dr. William J. Moerdyk, who with his family left, Amnxah on furlough
in 1946, was discovered to be suffering from tuberculosis. It took several Three «r;j3rv*» Oovtova and two career nurses married husbands in the oil :
years to effect and complete his cure, and it was advised that he should not companyo Scoe. of tV.isa continued to serve the Mission for a time in local
return to the mission field. He became college physician at Pope College, in connection, Mary Bruins Allison, has returned to service as a
Holland, Michigan, and his wife co-operated with him there as nurse, They career miasic-Ziaxy o Esther Bamy Ames is now one of the consultants in !
have had many opportunities to be of service to their colleagues and to the the Aeeceiattr& Medical Office.
Arabian Mission.
Several of the oil nurses also married men in the oil companies.
:
Five children of the Mission have returned to the field - Dr. Hello
Thoms, Dr. Esther Bamy Ames, Dr. Alfred Pennings; and as short termers, A recant short term nurse, Margaret Schuppe, is now married to Dr.
Elizabeth Calverley to the American School for Girls, Baghdad and John Van Ess, Alfred Penning ftad yrVUi him is assigned to permanent service in the Mission.
Jr., to the Basrah Boys' School.
The serious illness of Dr. and Mrs. Gerald Nykerk, and their sudden
and unexpected departure from the Mission in 1950 was a heavy blow. Their
Mission families have suffered bereavement in the loss of children.
) Gerrit Van Peursem, fifteen-year-old son of Rev. and Mrs. G. D. Van Pcursem, restoration to health and subsequent return to the field in 1955 was a cause
died in 1930 while a student in the Kbdaikanal School. Rev. and Mrs. G. E. for heartfelt thanksgiving. To fill the gap created by the withdrawal of
De Jong lost an infant daughter, Marjorie Beth, in 1931 * and. a baby boy, John Dr. Nykerk, the Mission sent a Macedonian call, to Dr. Paul Harrison and his
Norman, ten years later. Ernest Anthony Pennings, the elder son of Rev. and wife, who came out of their retirement and returned to Bahrain for another
Mrs. G. J. Pennings, died at the age of nineteen in 1940, while an under­ short assignment of active service.
graduate at Hope College. John Van Ess, Jr., the only son of Rev. and Mrs.
John Van Ess, died in Basrah in 1943, at the age of twenty-six, while serving Co-operation with the United Mission in Iraq involved at the begin­
with the American Military Mission. Rev. and Mrs. James Dunham have lost two ning- the loan of the Cantines, Bilkerts and Barays; and later the loan and
infant daughters at birth during their first term. eventual permanent transfer of Mrs. Sharon Thoms and Rev. and Mrs. B. D.
Hakken.
Eleven short termers have been sent out to the Basrah boys' school by
the Board. (Names will be found in the Appendix.) Two of then, Rev. George Visits to the field of official deputations from the Board and the
Gosselink and Rev. G. J. Holler have returned to permanent service In the home church have been frequent. In 1929 Dr. F. M. Potter, Dr. W. J. Van
Mission. Rev. Harry Almond returned to the Mission with his wife after his Kersen, Rev. George Hulst, and Miss Gertrude Dodd paid ah official visit to i
ordination, but resigned after one term to work with the Moral Re-Armament I the Mission and were present at a full annual meeting in Bahrain. Dr. Potter
organization. and Miss Dodd represented the Men's and Women's Boards (as they still were at
that time), Dr. Van Kersen the mission office in the west, and Mr. Hulst, the
Church. Mies Sue Weddell, then Secretary for the Woman's Board of Foreign
Ten short term nurses have been 6ent to the field, eight to Bahrain
and two to Kuwait. (Names in Appendix.) The earlier of these were financed Missions, come to see the field in 1939*
by the oil companies, during the period while company personnel was und.r t
Mission's medical care. Dr. Potter made two more visits to the field, in 1938 and 1947-19**8.
His death in 1952 was a loss and sorrow to everyone'in the Mission.
Two nurses from the Amoy Mission in China, Jeannette Veldman and Anne
In 1949, when a full annual meeting at Kuwait commemorated the 60th
De Young, Joined the Arabian Mission when unable to return to their osm ficlfl • anniversary of the Mission, Miss Ruth Ransom, one of the executive secre­
Their special qualifications for organizing staff training programs in on** taries of the Board, was present, and likewise Mr. William Hakken, then the
mission hospitals have already been put to use, and will be valuable in president of the Board of Foreign Missions, One of the founders, Dr. Seun**
future as a school of nursing is developed.
Zwcmer, was an honored guest.
Three new posts have been filled in recent years - a laboratory teov The year 1950 marked the first official visit of Dr. B. M. Luben,
nician, by Wilbur Dekker; a hospital administrator by Madeline Holmes, «• and he came again in 1953* with the president of the Board, Rev. Harvey
mission and station accountant, by Douglas Begg. Hofftnan, and Miss Marion Van Horne, of the Department of Young People's W'
- *

u* •