Papers of Ruth Margaret Mellis - Collection 363

[Note: What follows is a description of the documents in this collection which are available for use at BGC Archives in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. The actual documents are not, in most cases, available online, only this description of them. Nor are they available for sale or rent. Some or all of this collection can be borrowed through interlibrary loan. ]

Table of Contents

Brief Description of This Collection

Title Page and Restrictions

Biography of Ruth Margaret Mellis

An Essay on the Contents of the Collection (Scope and Content)

Lists of Audio Tapes, Books, and Photographs in This Collection (Location Records)

Audio Tapes
Books
Photographs

List of the Contents of Boxes of Paper Records in This Collection (Container List)

2 Boxes (DC, .7 cu ft), 4 Reels and 7 Cassettes of Audio Tape, Photographs

Restrictions

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Biography

Ruth Mellis was born and brought up in St. John, MO, a suburb of St. Louis. She was the oldest of four children. Her younger brother, Charles Mellis, later became a co-founder of Mission Aviation Fellowship (see Collection 136). The Mellis family was of Scottish background and nominally Presbyterian. They began attending the interdenominational Hope Church, and became active supporters of mission work.

Mellis graduated from Harris Teachers College in 1926. During a graduation trip to the British Isles and Greece, she learned of the work of Near East Relief with Greek orphans following the League of Nations' exchange of Greek and Turkish populations in 1922-23. Attracted to the work, she asked her parents to let her stay to work as a teacher in an orphanage on the Greek island of Siros (also spelled Syros). She remained there until 1928, when she returned to the U.S. at her parents' request. She taught in a public school in the St. Louis area for a year and then in 1929 enrolled in Wheaton College, where she was influenced by several teachers, particularly Miss Edith Torrey and the College president, J. Oliver Buswell, Jr. Following her graduation from Wheaton, she returned to St. Louis to teach once more in the public schools.

In 1946 she went to Ethiopia to teach in the Queen's School in Addis Ababa, where she also had contact with some of the Greek orphans she had taught years before in Siros, who were now grown and settled in Ethiopia or Egypt. Following the expiration of her teaching contract in 1949, she again returned to the U.S. Encouraged by her pastor, J. B. Thornton, she returned to Greece in the early 1950's as a "faith missionary," earning her keep by giving private English lessons. She also worked in Macedonia with the Greek Evangelical Church. She continued her efforts on behalf of the Greek orphans, helping to find displaced families in Greece and throughout Europe and northern Africa in cooperation with the Lost Persons Bureau of the Greek Red Cross.

In 1956 she returned to the U. S. once again, due to her parents' ill health; her father died in 1956, and her mother in 1957. While she was in the United States during that time, she worked as a counselor at the Billy Graham Crusade in New York City. After returning to Greece from 1957 to 1959, she came back to the States again, and from 1959 to 1962 taught and then, during the last few months of that period, worked as Dean of Women at the Midwest Bible Institute in St. Louis, MO.

Mellis traveled to and from Greece between 1963 and 1971, when she with an American woman who had married and then separated from a Greek man. Mellis tutored the woman's daughters and guided their adjustment to American schools and the English language. For the involvement with this family, the Greek husband brought suit against Mellis and she was prevented from returning to Greece again until a visit in 1985-86.

From 1973 to 1977, she served as a teacher of missionary children and librarian at the CAM International school in Puebla, Mexico, following which she retired in the St. Louis, MO, area and remained active in the affairs of Hope Church. She died January 15, 2007, three months short of her hundredth birthday.

[NOTE: In the Scope and Content description, the notation "Folder 2-5" means Box 2, Folder 5.]

Scope and Content

This collection consists of two boxes of correspondence, prayer letters, and newspaper and magazine clippings; four audio tapes of oral history interviews with Mellis (T1-T4); four audio tape cassettes (T5-T8) dealing with a missionary conference at Hope Church, a report to Hope Church on a trip to Mexico to attend the 1981 Billy Graham Mexico Crusade, a report on a trip to Greece in 1983, and a personal letter to a friend in Mexico urging her to follow Christ; and three audio tape cassettes which have to do with her brother, Charles Mellis, Jr. (T9-T11). The folder arrangement and folder titles, in the instances where there were none, were provided by the archivist.

The correspondence found in this collection includes personal letters, newsletters, and prayer letters written and received by Mellis. See the Container List for the names of her correspondents. Some documents in folder 1-5 mention the work Mellis did, in collaboration with the Hellenic Red Cross, to help her former pupils from the Orphans Home of Syros Island to locate lost relatives. Mellis taught for several years in the Bible School operated by the Greek Evangelical Church in Katerini, Greece, and information about the school and church, as well as the church's pastor, Argos Zodhiates, may be found in folder 2-2.

There are newsletters of the Society of Biblical Studies of the Greek Bible Institute, Athens, Greece, in folder 1-17. This was a missionary program under the auspices of Greater Europe Mission. Mellis was involved with seeking evangelical Greek language radio programming, both that was meant to be heard in Greece and that for Greek-speaking people in the United States (folders 1-9, 10). In connection with her interest in Greek-language radio programs, Mellis attend the Third World Conference on Christian Communications held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 12-15, 1961 (see folder 2-4). Correspondence and photographs documenting work Mellis did at the CAM International School in Puebla, Mexico, may be found in the Photo File and in folder 2-2.

The oral history interviews of Ruth Mellis were conducted by Robert Shuster on June 20 and 22, 1987. In the interviews, Miss Mellis discusses her childhood, attendance at Wheaton College, work with Near East Relief in Siros, teaching in public schools in the St. Louis, Missouri, area, teaching at the Queen's School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and work in Greece as a faith missionary. She also discusses the various cultures she encountered in the countries she lived in, and the situation of the Christian churches there. The time period of events discussed is 1907 to 1977.

Time elapsed in minutes and seconds is noted in the margin to the left of the topics discussed. The index is keyed to a cassette copy of the interview, not to the reel-to-reel original. The boldfaced entries correspond with the Cross Reference List at the end of this guide and are intended to highlight the topics covered in the interview.

Tape T1 - side 1
00:00 Beginning of tape
01:30 Introduction to interview on June 20, 1987
01:45 Family background in St. Louis; religious background; Presbyterians; evangelistic services with Norman B. Harrison
08:15 Interest in Christian service, early influences
10:00 Mellis family switches to independent Hope Church, 1929
10:30 Vague impression left by R. A. Torrey's speech--"The Love of God"; Ruth taught by Miss Edith Torrey at Wheaton College
11:15 First trip to Europe at age 19; family tradition to return to Scotland for visit
11:40 Exchange of Greek and Turkish populations by League of Nations, 1922-23
12:00 Extermination of men and older boys by Turks
12:15 Formation of Near East Relief organization by Americans in Turkey
12:30 Acceptance of Turkish and Armenian orphans in Greece
13:00 Learning about Near East plight through Duncan S. Comrie, District Director of Near East Relief
13:30 Graduation trip to British Isles and Greece; requested to stay in Siros and teach English to the orphans
14:15 Saw working in Greece was full-time service to God, service in U.S. as only part-time; appeal to idea of "salvation through works"
14:30 Orphanage staff living conditions; training orphan girls as servants; sponsors wish to educate orphans as well as train them for service
17:00 Decision to accept position based mostly on selfish reasons; family reaction to decision; Dave Hoagland's missionary involvement and his influence for Ruth to be born again
18:15 Emotional toll on mother having to leave Ruth behind in Greece; aunt's visit in Greece with her family and Rev. Hoover family; trip to Holy Land
19:15 Family's return to Greece to travel in Europe with Ruth; sentiments regarding Near East Relief organization
20:15 Chapel services at orphanage; children given New Testament in own language upon leaving orphanage; distribution of Sunday school papers to orphans from evangelical church in Rockford
21:15 Spiritual ministry of Hoagland; comments on personnel at orphanage
22:30 Orphans witnessed persecution of families; programs run within the orphanage
25:15 Ruth's teaching assignments; preschoolers through sixth grade
26:00 Description of Island of Siros; location of Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches; religious mixture, practices, and faculty in orphanage
29:45 Ruth's feelings toward Hoagland; his dedication to God; spirituality of orphanage staff
35:00 Hoover's intolerance of modernism in St. Louis Synod (PCUSA); Tom Hoover's staying with Mellis family influences their shift to Hope Church
35:45 Initial impression of Greek culture minimized by Americanized environment of orphanage; boat trip to Island of Siros; reluctance of natives to bathe before taking sea trips for fear of "catching a breeze"
37:00 Rapid acquisition of Greek language with help of children; Greek children; generosity of Greeks; meaning of Greek term "oreste"; ability to address orphanage in Greek upon leaving after two years
39:00 Wrapping bandages with Greek unit of the Red Cross during the war to practice speaking Greek; visit to International Institute to contact Greeks; put in contact with blind woman, Mrs. Strousser, to help write letters
39:45 Meeting Greek Orthodox priest from Istanbul in need of English lessons; learning to read Greek by attending classes with fourth, fifth and sixth graders
41:30 Plans about returning to U. S. in 1928 with Dave Hoagland; Hoagland's back infection and subsequent death; taking books and papers to children in the hospital after Hoagland's death
43:00 Letter from parents urging her return for trip to Alaska; returning and teaching in St. Louis public schools
43:50 Decision to return to school for further education; attending Wheaton College in footsteps of Rev. Hoover's children; influence of Rev. Hoover, Rev. Heineke, Norman B. Harrison, and R.A. Torrey not enough conversion in Ruth; going forward to rededicate life at Norman B. Harrison lecture; working for salvation without any assurance
45:10 Miss Edith Torrey's "Life of Christ" class highly influential
45:33 End of tape T1 - side 1

Tape T1 - side 2
00:00 Beginning of tape
00:15 Shifting of her beliefs similar to experience of her uncle at YMCA College in Chicago; spiritual encouragement and understanding from Edith Torrey
02:00 Criticism by orphanage personnel of orphanage director's buying a home; Ruth's role in spreading criticism; conviction of sharp-tonguedness upon hearing Miss Torrey's words; change in schedule to Alice Spaulding's "Life of Christ" class
03:00 Struggling with the concept of the blood of Christ during William B. Newell's group meetings after having accepted the Lord through an evangelist; discussing struggle with Edith Torrey; thinking back over talk with evangelist; recognition of need to be saved from power of sin
06:30 Responses from people in Greece; Lee Meyer's spirituality and Mennonite background; consideration of Dave Hoagland's Christianity and Rev. Hoover's
07:45 Desire to serve as a missionary; difficulty finding missionary position as a single woman; decision to write to American Board (ABCFM) serving Greece
09:15 Rev. Thornton on the board of European Christian Mission; trip to New York to apply with European Christian Mission
10:45 Disputes between missions boards; positive impact from missions disputes
11:45 Desire to return to Greece; decision to remain in the U.S. a little longer; realization that most important decision is accepting the Lord; second most important decision is a life mate; third most important decision for missionaries is selecting a mission under which to work; discovery of mission infighting a difficult position for a new Christian
13:30 Involvement in Mrs. Shapleigh's Sunday school class at Wheaton
13:45 Biggest problems on mission field--other missionaries and oneself; difficulty of living with oneself on mission field; annoyance with a missionary in Mexico; anger for a missionary over a skit; realization of impact of own attitudes in interpersonal relations
16:30 Joy of being at Wheaton College and coming to know the Lord; influential aspects of curriculum at Wheaton; philosophy with Elsie Dow; ethics and theism with J. Oliver Buswell; "Life of Christ" with Alice Spaulding; Hebrews class Spaulding; personal concerns about Intro to Old and New Testament class; story of student challenging Dr. Buswell with Scofield commentary
18:30 End of tape T1

Tape T2 - side 1
00:00 Beginning of tape
00:45 Introduction to continuation of interview on June 20, 1987
01:00 Comments on Buswell as a teacher; challenge by Buswell to examine Scriptures more closely; Dow's attitude toward life in philosophy class
02:30 Chaucer class with Effie Jean Wheeler; relationship with Wheeler outside of classroom developed by Pearl Lowenstein; invitation to Wheeler to attend Open Gate with Ruth; visiting Wheeler at her home; correspondence with her
05:15 Spiritual life on Wheaton campus; Tuesday night prayer meetings
06:45 Groups of students sent to girls' home in Geneva; visit to DuPage County poor farm for religious services; Scripture distribution headed by Will Aldrich; fellowship and ministry during summer school; street ministry; early morning prayer meetings held by Don Hillis
09:30 Opportunities to witness during poor farm visits; people's reactions to visits at poor farm; taking holiday treats to poor farm. Need to be careful building one-to-one relationships on trips to girls' home; letter from Wheaton friend involved with girls' home after Ruth had left; struggles of girls' in the home; salvation of some of the girls; evangelistic motives curbed by restrictions at the girls' home
12:30 Wheaton College social life centered around literary societies; dislike of planned activity and desire for more participation; dates taking form of walks; being caught dating two boys at the same time; breaking up with one boy to date the other; word given to boyfriend as a pre-engagement gesture; word taken back; final breakup
17:00 Utility of being single for mission work in Greece; difficulty of breaking up with boyfriend; differences between Ruth and her boyfriend
18:30 Smallness of Wheaton College community; roommate's reaction to Ruth's date for Washington Banquet
19:45 Lasting influences from Wheaton College helpful on mission field; living at the Spaulding's house the second year of college; roommates first year; Pearl Lowenstein, Emily Mixter, Dorothy Erickson; trip to Black Hills with the Russell Mixter family; majoring in teaching failed to adequately prepare for the mission field
23:00 Working as a maid; Father's charitable giving; Depression at Wheaton College
25:00 Project to distribute YMCA camp literature and tracts on South Side of Chicago; curiosity over chapel in Chicago; appointment to meet with a man to see the chapel; mysterious appearance by the man in charge of the chapel cult; Dorothy Erickson's response to Ruth's going to chapel cult; later appearance of expose article regarding cult and man with whom Ruth had met; thoughts of not having been cautious in South Chicago
31:30 Closing comments
31:45 End of tape

Tape T3 - Side 1
00:34 Introduction
01:00 Teaching in St. Louis public schools; resignation from teaching position in 1945
02:00 Interest in Ethiopia and Sudan Interior Mission; need for teachers willing to teach missionary children; interest in SIM school in West Africa; difficulty in finding a way to go to Greece as a missionary; request by SIM representative to teach in Ethiopia; decision to go to Ethiopia; signing of agreement in 1945
05:15 Assignment to Queen's School for Girls (Empress Menan School); description of school; diversity of students' backgrounds; process of selecting students; teaching assignments within the school
07:00 Travelling to Ethiopia by boat; restrictions and difficulties of sailing during World War II; waiting for passage in New York; arranging to sail on ship carrying dynamite; assistance offered by missionary doctor in making sailing arrangements; captain's assurances of ship's safety; captain's concerns over sailing through mined waters near Malta and Gibraltar; changing ships at the Suez Canal
10:45 Many Armenian ex-orphans from Greece relocated in Egypt; travelling to Cairo to visit former orphans; warnings to ex-orphans in Alexandria against returning to Armenia with the assistance of Russian Bolsheviks; ex-orphan's hopes in returning to Armenia; history of Armenian exiles; friend Koharig's change of plan regarding return to Armenia; signals from first group of returnees indicating poor conditions
13:30 First impressions of Ethiopia; description of Ethiopians carrying baskets of bread; method of eating Ethiopian food; description of having tasted Ethiopian bread for the first time; spices used in Ethiopian food preparation; mountainous scenery; learning to "put things off 'til tomorrow"
16:30 Problems of getting permits to leave Addis Ababa; lack of educated people in Ethiopia and hardship for emperor; hesitancy of poorly educated permit writers to write passes
18:00 Italian aggressions against Ethiopians prior to the return of the emperor; incapacitation of educated peoples; hiding educated people during the Italian occupation; Italian castration of Ethiopian leaders to prevent procreation
19:30 Remembrances of Italian occupation; construction of buildings by Italians to improve conditions during war; Italian plan to take over rather than to destroy; uncertainty regarding extent of Ethiopian resistance movement
20:45 Working under the Ethiopian Minister of Education; general difficulties of young missionaries working under less expert superiors; resistance to Minister of Education's directions
22:45 Christian community in Addis Ababa; SIM, BCS, American Mission, Swedish teachers; joint fellowship meetings held in English; use of fellowship group to reach Greek ex-orphans in the area
24:45 Description of spiritual daughter and her husband; materialist philosophy of the husband; leading her to the Lord in Canada 20 years later
25:45 Traveling by Greyhound Bus to visit people in U.S. and Canada; searching for lost Greeks in U.S. as reason to minister to them; eagerness of students to learn; injury to leg in car accident; use of injury to lead student to Christ; student's marriage to head of Swedish church and move to Sweden
28:30 Visit to Ethiopia by Donald G. Barnhouse, who had a conference with Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie
29:15 Coptic Christianity in Egypt and Ethiopia
29:35 Christian teacher fellowship with Americans, Indians, Egyptians, Mennonites, and Canadians; limitations within school for sharing the Gospel; after school Bible study group for students
31:45 Sending of Ethiopia students to foreign universities in Soviet Union, England, America, and Beirut due to a lack of universities in Ethiopia; demands by mountain people for education; rapid opening of schools by Minister of Education and Haile Selassie; denouncement of Selassie by students returning form international education; personal respect for Selassie's work and financial management
34:30 Slight awareness of governmental unrest; man claiming to be an American holding Soviet passport; sowing seeds of discord; Russian takeover of hospital; Russian intermingling with Ethiopians; awareness of Soviet threat to Ethiopia by Christian community
36:15 Time spent at Sudan Interior Mission; never attended Coptic Church service
37:45 Filling housemother's shift at the school from time to time
38:45 Traveling to other parts of Ethiopia; Dr. Homer Wilson, Miriam Wilson; transportation by salt trucks to the Wilsons'; accompanied to Wilson's by two servants; guide getting lost; visiting with former cannibals at church in route to Wilsons'; communication with people at the church; offer of protection for the night by people at church; eating cracked wheat and salted coffee; need to respect ways of the natives; communications sent ahead to the Wilsons' by the natives
43:45 End of T3, side 1

Tape T3 - side 2
00:05 Repeat from side 1
00:15 Thankfulness for breakfast with natives; amazement over protectiveness of natives
01:00 Change in length of stay in Ethiopia; inefficiency of the Ethiopian government; expiration of teaching contract in June of 1949; departure suspended by rail strike; French Somaliland rail; delays in placement of teachers by government
03:30 Slight nervous illness before returning to U.S. due to spiritual matters; re-establishment of contact with Greek ex-orphans through visits to Greece in 1947 and 1948; interruptions of Greek contacts due to German occupation of Greece; desperate needs of Greeks
06:00 Saving money for assistance trip to Greece; teaching English in Greece for income; encouragement by pastor, J. B. Thornton, to go to Greece as a faith missionary; Mellis' opinions of missions organizations and missionaries going out on their own; decision to go to Greece as a faith missionary
09:00 Refusal of offers to teach English; work as a private tutor for children; arrangements to give lessons in exchange for meals; purchasing canned foods; finding housing at a friend's relative's home; receiving money from friends in other countries; reassurances of God's will for Ruth to remain in Greece
12:45 First year spent in Macedonia; request by Church Consul to lead religious direction of Greek Evangelical camps; desire to assist Greek Evangelical Church; Dr. Hadjcantoniou; making arrangements with Greek Evangelical Church
14:15 Preparation in St. Louis for camp work; request for Ruth to teach Child Evangelism Bible study in St. Louis; start of development of camp work; organizing a library at Hope Church
18:15 Attempt to win orphans for the Lord; plans to bring used clothing to Greeks as evangelical inroad; illegality of proselytizing in Greece; evangelizing in spite of restrictions
19:45 End of T3

Tape T4 - side 1
00:00 Beginning of tape
01:15 Introduction to the continuation of interview on June 22, 1987
01:30 Re-establishment of ties in Greece; distribution of clothing to needy Greeks; visiting friends in villages; advantage of popularity of Americans; delivering the Gospel; use of Dave Hoagland's exemplary life as evangelical tool; personal testimony shared with ex-orphans; danger of clothing distribution
05:00 Called in for questioning by Greek police; foreigners watched carefully by police; strategy of staying in villages for only one night at a time; law regarding evangelism of Greek Orthodox people; legal protection of Greek Orthodox religion
07:00 Youth With a Mission (YWAM) evangelism ship docked in Greece for repairs (1983?); story of evangelism of young Greek boy by YWAM workers; recommendation of Kostas Macris as a fellowship source for the boy; reaction of Greek boy's mother to his conversion; development of incident into a court case (the Athens Three); sentencing of YWAM workers and Kostas Macris to prison; world response to sentencing
10:10 Difficulty of conducting evangelical religious activities in Greece; young pastor asked to go to Evangelical group on Corfu for communion, 1951; refusal of permit to bury regular pastor of Evangelical group; arrangements to obtain permit; examples of permit refusals based on Orthodox animosity towards Evangelicals
12:45 Circumstances surrounding Ruth's questioning by police; explanations given to police for her activities in Greece; police questions regarding required teaching permits to tutor English; police questioning of friends and neighbors
15:30 Receiving Greek refugees at home for evangelistic gatherings; use of Bible recordings at refugee meetings; use of English lessons as evangelistic tool; strategy of combining Christian English students with non-believing students; police informed of teaching activities; explanation to police satisfactory
17:45 Story of man looking for family thought to have formerly lived at orphanage; disbanding of Near East Relief organization in 1931; changes in Near East relief function; searching old Near East Relief records; use of Near East Relief to bring clothing into Greece; surviving records given up by Near East Relief; former records burned
20:00 Misuse of orphans' records for material gain; exchange of population between Greece and Turkey arranged by League of Nations; inequitable exchange of land rectified; property redistributed unequally; decision to find property for landless Greeks; division of ownerless land outside Athens for orphans use thwarted; participation in ministry of housing; assistance by a Christian official; work towards passage of Housing Bill in Greek Supreme Court; visit to Supreme Court official in former palace; plea for division of land outside of Athens; obtaining property for orphans
26:15 Inability to find man's family opens opportunity to find other refugee's families; Red Cross assistance sought for advice and cooperation in finding displaced people; stories of Ruth's work finding lost persons in Greece, Turkey, and France; use of people-relocating activity as excuse to travel widely in Greece without question of the authorities
34:15 Opportunities to locate Greeks in U.S; frequency of return trips to U.S.; her parents' poor health and death in 1956 and 1957
37:30 Inability to return to Greece until money could be earned
37:45 Work as Dean of Women at Midwest Bible Institute
38:45 Participation in Billy Graham's 1957 New York Crusade as a counselor; discussing crusade with Dan Piatt; investigation of credentials to counsel; counseling Puerto Ricans at the crusade; reactions to Crusade; counseling of woman in the choir about difficulties with her daughter; keeping contacts with those counseled
43:15 Working with Central American Mission (CAM International) as a teacher of missionary kids
44:00 End of T4 - side 1

Tape T4 - side 2
00:08 Repeat from side 1
00:11 Appreciation for CAM International
00:43 End of tape T4

Provenance

These materials were given to the Billy Graham Center Archives on June 20 and 22, 1987.

The following items are located in the Audio Tape file.

T1 - Reel-to-reel, 3-3/4 i.p.s., approximately 65 minutes. Interview with Ruth Mellis, conducted by Robert Shuster on June 20, 1987, at the Graham Center Archives. Discussion includes family background, work with orphans and the Red Cross in Greece, attendance at Wheaton College, influence of pastors and teachers, other kinds of missionary work, and problems on mission field.

T2 - Reel-to-reel, 3-3/4 i.p.s., approximately 30 minutes. Continuation of interview with Ruth Mellis, conducted by Robert Shuster on June 20, 1987, at the Graham Center Archives. Includes further discussion about professors, social life, and influence of Wheaton College.

T3 - Reel-to-reel, 3-3/4 i.p.s., approximately 65 minutes. Interview with Ruth Mellis, conducted by Robert Shuster on June 22, 1987, at the Graham Center Archives. Discussion includes teaching in Ethiopia, Christian community in Addis Ababa, Italian occupation of Ethiopia, contact with Greek ex-orphans, teaching English in Greece, and the Greek Evangelical church.

T4 - Reel-to-reel, 3-3/4 i.p.s., approximately 44 minutes. Continuation of interview with Ruth Mellis, conducted by Robert Shuster on June 22, 1987, at the Graham Center Archives. Discussion includes distribution of clothing to needy Greeks, legal protection of Greek Orthodox Church, refugee work in Greece, Turkey, and France, and working with CAM International in a Christian school in Puebla, Mexico.

T5 - Cassette, 3-3/4 ips. Side 1: Approximately 25 minutes. Personal messages to Ruth Mellis, serving in Puebla Mexico, from participants in a missionary conference at Hope Church. Most of the tape features June Ettinger concerning a trip to Puebla being planned with a group of teens from the church. 1977. Side 2: Approximately 15 minutes. Continuation of above.

T6 - Cassette, 3-3/4 ips. Side 1: Approximately 30 minutes. Report from Mellis to Hope Church on her trip to Mexico to attend, with her friends from Puebla, the Billy Graham Mexico City Crusade. March 22, 1981. Side 2: Approximately 25 minutes. Taped copy of Hour of Decision radio broadcast from Mexico. Begins with Cliff Barrows introducing Graham's interpreter and then there is a message by Graham and the interpreter. Sound quality is very poor. No date.

T7 - Cassette, 3-3/4 ips. Side 1: Approximately 25 minutes. Mellis reporting on her trip to Greece sent from Thessolonica to a Bible study group. Sep 1, 1983. Side 2: Approximately 30 minutes. Mellis reporting to the Costas Macris prayer group. Mentions Amsterdam '83, answers to prayer in Greece. Sep 3, 1983.

T8 - Cassette, 3-3/4 ips. Side 1: Approximately 25 minutes. A verbal letter, which contains an evangelistic message from Mellis to her German-speaking friend Liz in Puebla, Mexico; n.d. Side 2: Approximately 15 minutes. Additional taped message from Mellis to her friend Liz. Dec 21, 19??.

T9 - Cassette, 3-3/4 ips. Side 1: Approximately 17 minutes. Introduction of Charles Mellis, Jr. in a service at Hope Church and a ten-minute report on his involvement in Missionary Internship. Sep 24, 1978. Side 2: Blank.

T10 - Cassette, 3-3/4 ips. Side 1: Approximately 45 minutes. Memorial service for Charles Mellis, Jr. at LaHabra Hills Presbyterian Church featuring unidentified speakers. Dec 28, 1981. Side 2: Approximately 30 minutes. Continuation of side 1 (long lead).

T11 - Cassette, 3-3/4 ips. Side 1: Approximately 40 minutes. Memorial service for Charles Mellis, Jr. at Hope Church, St. Louis, MO, with meditation given by John F. "Jack" Robinson of Missionary Internship. Jan 4, 1982. Side 2: Approximately 15 minutes. Continuation of side 1.

The following items have been given to the BGC LIBRARY:

Mellis, Claire Scholland. More Than A Pilot: A Pioneer in Mission Aviation. (Privately printed,, 1985).

The following items are located in the PHOTO FILE; request by folder title (in bold) at the beginning of each entry below.

ETHIOPIA. Photographs include scenes from Ethiopia, the Empress Menan School (Queen's School for Girls) where Mellis taught and which include photos of Haile Selassie and Empress Menan as well as Mellis' co-workers. 1946-48, 1985, n.d. 16 b/w.

GREECE. Photos of a ship in the Corinth Canal and of the stained glass window and cross in a church in Athens which was used by German and American Congregations. N.d. 2 b/w.

HAILE SELASSIE (EMPEROR). N.d. 1 b/w.

MELLIS, RUTH MARGARET. Photos include Mellis teaching in Greece, Mexico, and the U.S. and with various friends and co-workers; Puebla Christian School in Mexico where Mellis taught; Central American Mission workers (including Al Platt, Director of CAM). 1964-1985, n.d. 32 color, 29 b/w.

MISSIONS--GREECE. Photos of a church group in Corfu, Greece; Greek Christians at the Lion of Amphipolis; a gypsy congregation in Tragana, Greece; the Greek Evangelical Church, Bible School, and Orphanage in Katerini, Macedonia; Pastor Argos Zodhiates from the Greek Evangelical Church; Costas and Alky Macris of the Hellenic Missionary Union; and Mellis with Robert and Marie Hill, missionaries with Greater Europe Mission. 1960-1982, n.d. 4 color, 9 b/w.

ORPHANS. Photos of activities of Greek and Armenian orphans supported by Near East Relief; Mellis with Armenian ex-orphans living in Egypt; and ex-orphans from a home for the "incurable." 1925-1950s. 1 color, 5 b/w.

CONTAINER LIST

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Last Revised: 12/14/00
Expiration: indefinite