Page 61 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
P. 61
GFA – A Different Drumbeat 61
Chefoo staff and later became CIM Secretary for Scotland, all sailed to China
together.
Bernard remembers GFA lecturing to the school on the Lamasery of Kumbum and
on the earthquake in Kansu. His memories of the children are more of Aileen and
Mervyn than of Leslie who was older. He told me Aileen was a very attractive girl
and the boys all enjoyed looking at her but stood rather in awe of her! Mervyn was
nearer Bernard's age. He had a tremor in his hands so was teased by the other
boys, and the doctor told him not to drink tea, only water, because of it.
Apart from teaching Latin, Geography and various other duties as a staff member, he was
able to carry on a ministry within and outside the school. He baptized Leslie and others at a
service on the beach. Sadly both his parents died while he was in Chefoo, his mother in
1927 and his father in 1930. They were buried in the “foreign cemetery” not far from the
school.16
David Bentley-Taylor whose unpublished manuscript I have used extensively in this story,
comments at this stage:
It was not easy for the CIM to know how to make use of GFA, whose exceptional
abilities hardly fitted into the normal pattern of evangelism and the nurturing of the
Chinese Christian Church.
The positive result of this situation is that the family was able to enjoy family life, a rare
experience for missionary families with teenagers at that time. Maida Contento, who was
on the Chefoo staff at the same time as GFA, said:
"He was a very good teacher but it was a role which used up only a fraction of his
capacity as an innovator and adventurer."
This was the situation until March 1929, when GFA’s drum started to beat loudly again.
Return to Table of Contents
16 I visited the site of the cemetery in 2001. The gravestones had been removed and it was now a park. A
group of elderly men showed us a line of trees that had been part of the cemetery and had been planted by
children from the Chefoo School. RM
Chefoo staff and later became CIM Secretary for Scotland, all sailed to China
together.
Bernard remembers GFA lecturing to the school on the Lamasery of Kumbum and
on the earthquake in Kansu. His memories of the children are more of Aileen and
Mervyn than of Leslie who was older. He told me Aileen was a very attractive girl
and the boys all enjoyed looking at her but stood rather in awe of her! Mervyn was
nearer Bernard's age. He had a tremor in his hands so was teased by the other
boys, and the doctor told him not to drink tea, only water, because of it.
Apart from teaching Latin, Geography and various other duties as a staff member, he was
able to carry on a ministry within and outside the school. He baptized Leslie and others at a
service on the beach. Sadly both his parents died while he was in Chefoo, his mother in
1927 and his father in 1930. They were buried in the “foreign cemetery” not far from the
school.16
David Bentley-Taylor whose unpublished manuscript I have used extensively in this story,
comments at this stage:
It was not easy for the CIM to know how to make use of GFA, whose exceptional
abilities hardly fitted into the normal pattern of evangelism and the nurturing of the
Chinese Christian Church.
The positive result of this situation is that the family was able to enjoy family life, a rare
experience for missionary families with teenagers at that time. Maida Contento, who was
on the Chefoo staff at the same time as GFA, said:
"He was a very good teacher but it was a role which used up only a fraction of his
capacity as an innovator and adventurer."
This was the situation until March 1929, when GFA’s drum started to beat loudly again.
Return to Table of Contents
16 I visited the site of the cemetery in 2001. The gravestones had been removed and it was now a park. A
group of elderly men showed us a line of trees that had been part of the cemetery and had been planted by
children from the Chefoo School. RM
