A Missionary Life -- Scrapbook

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: China, Malaysia, Indonesia
Surname/tag: Day

Wesley Day's Biography is presented in four sections:

• Genealogical Record: Jackson Wesley Day
• Autobiography: A Missionary Life -- Biography of Rev. J. Wesley Day
• "Sidetrips" in Wesley's own words: A Missionary Life -- Sidetrips
• "Scrapbook" accounts in the words of others: A Missionary Life -- Scrapbook

Contents 1 Family Album 1.1 Grandparents 1.2 Parents 1.3 Aunts, Uncles, Cousins 1.4 Extended Family 2 Mission Field 2.1 Enroute to China 2.2 A Chinese Table Grace 2.3 Chungking 2.4 The Song We Sang 2.5 The Chengdu Trunk 2.6 Houses 3 Retirement 3.1 Retirement Album 3.2 1975 Dunroven in Retirement 3.3 1998 Medan Trip 3.4 Exploring Web: Seniors Explore World Wide Web 3.5 A Service of Death and Resurrection: June 11, 2005 3.6 Dunroven Passes

Family Album

When Wesley Day was born in 1910, he completed a family of four boys born to Roby and Vivia Day. He stepped into a family that had been in the making since his father Roby Franklin Day (1872-1964) was born to Jackson (1830-1883) and Survila Ann Beall (1831-1882) Day, and his mother Rachel Vivia Cochel Walker (1874-1957) was born to George Washington Wesley (1837-1915) and Rachel Browning Purdum (1835-1910) Walker.

Grandparents

Wesley's maternal grandparents: George Washington Wesley Walker and Rachel Browning Purdum Walker.

Young George Walker, Wesley's grandfather.

George and Rachel Wedding.

George and Rachel. 1860

George and Rachel 1870.

Wesley's paternal grandfather was Jackson Day.

Jackson Day.

Parents

Wesley's father Roby had grown up on the "Silent Valley" farm, bottom land to the north west of Damascus, Maryland, until his parents had died when he was 10. Wesley's mother Vivia had grown up on the Walker Farm in Browningsville, which her father, a farmer, music teacher, and organ seller, had named "Mendelssohn Terrace". Both Wesley's parents had grown up in large families -- each was the second youngest of ten -- and Wesley had over a hundred first cousins. Even though Wesley grew up in Inwood, Long Island, his life was full of visits with his Maryland aunts, uncles, and cousins

Silent Valley

Mendelsson Terrace

On December 4th, 1900, Wesley's parents were married in Browningsville. The church had been decorated, but an enormous rain storm made a church wedding impossible. They had been engaged for seven years, from the time Roby had first entered Western Maryland College, in Westminster, and now he had completed both college and seminary. They had no desire to wait longer, and the minister came to Mendelssohn Terrace to marry them. Hours or perhaps days later, they celebrated with a dinner at Silent Valley. The photo is damaged; another couple on the left is obsucred by a burn mark. Roby and Vivia are in the upper right corner as you view the photo. Scan by James Roby Day, Jr.

Around the time of their wedding, Roby (28) and Vivia (26) had a chance to sit in a carnival booth where you would drop in a coin and sit while the camera took a series of photos. Clearly, they were having a good time. Scan by James Roby Day, Jr.

Playing in a photo booth, 1900.

In 1910, when Wesley was born, 36 year old mother Vivia posed with all four of her boys. From left to right, Stick (Stockton Elderdiced), Chapin (Chapin Walker), Roby (James Roby), and Wesley (Jackson Wesley). Scan by James Roby Day, Jr.

Stick, Chapin, Roby and Wesley with their mother 1910

Wwith grandson Jack, 1942

With granddaughter Vivia, 1945

Roby & Vivia Day

Roby & Vivia Day at Dunroven

Aunts, Uncles, Cousins

Rosabelle Walker sister of Vivia in 1890.

Vivia Day Burdette, sister of Roby in 1895.

Sisters, about 1890. Vivia's sister Rosa Bell (1870-1891), who died when she was 21. Roby's sister Vivia Burdette (1874-1950). Scan by James Roby Day, Jr.

Harry D. Purdum.

Postcard on back of photo.

Harry D. Purdum was Vivia's first cousin; Harry's father William Henry Harrison "Billie" Purdum (1841-1923) was her uncle. This photo, at about the time of the Spanish-American War, was made into a postcard and sent to Vivia in Browningsville in 1898. Scan by James Roby Day, Jr.

Bradley Purdum was a younger brother of H. D. Purdum and thus another of Vivia's first cousins. The notation on back of the photo records his untimely death in an auto accident while visiting in New Jersey. Scan by James Roby Day, Jr.

Bradley Purdum

Postcard on back of photo.

Vivia's closest sister in age was named Parepa -- Parepa Wesley Weed Walker to be complete. Here she poses with her nephew, Wesley's brother, James Roby Day, about 1912. Scan by James Roby Day, Jr.

Parepa and nephew James Roby Day.

Extended Family

In 1939 at the Montgomery Methodist Church in Clagettsville, Maryland, on route 27 north of Damascus, descendants of Wesley's grandfather Jackson Day gathered for a reunion.

The Jackson Day family reunion in 1939.

If you can supply the names for any other people in this photo, please send me an email!

Front row, left of tree: Girl1, g2, g3, g4, g5, Hazel Souder with g6 in lap, g7 with g8 in lap, Wesley Day Front row, right of tree: g1, g2, boy1, man1, woman1, Vivia and Roby Day, Doris Boyer Second row, left of tree: Man1, m2, m3, woman1, w2, w3, w4, w5, w6, w7 Second row, right of tree: Woman1, w2, w3, w4, James Elisha Day, w5, man1, m2 Third row, left of tree: Man1, m2, Woman1, m3, w2, m4, m5, m6, m7, m8 Third row, right of tree: Woman1, w2, w3, m1, w4, m2, m3, m4, w5, w6, m5, m6 Back row, left of tree, Man1, m2, Stockton Day, Roby Day, Chapin Day, woman1, m3 Back row, right of tree: woman1, man1, w2, m2, m3, w3, m4, m5, m6, m7, m8

Mission Field

Enroute to China

Travel to China in 1947 was via the Marine Lynx, an unconverted troop ship quickly pressed into service to carry civilians who needed or wanted to cross the Pacific as soon as possible.

USNS Marine Lynx

Marine Lynx Gangplank, 1947

Vivia walking up gangplank, Marine Lynx, 1947

Marine Lynx: Vivia looking through railing, 1947

Ruthlydia and Jack on the Marine Lynx, 1947

Land stop: Day Family in Honolulu

A Chinese Table Grace

Tien An Mei Fan

The tune for this grace is at page 792, United Methodist Hymnal'
' This table grace was often used in the Day household in China, 1947-1951

Tien an mei fan

Bu nang wan

How shun dah dung

Dah wu liang.

God's Grace: each time we eat

We cannot forget

We greatly receive in abundance

Great physical food.

Shang di shang tse

Wah jien kang.

Gung chieu shang di

Ji ling liang.

God bestows:

We are strong.

Pray to God

to give us spiritual food.

Chungking

Chungking, 1950-1951

• January, 1950, Communists enter Chengtu. See Blosser narrative, item 3 below.
• November 14, 1950, Application to leave China
• December 20, 1950. Dinner with Eugene and Louella Blosser, Mennonite Missionaries. See Blossser narrative, item 3 below.
• December 28, 1950. T. Janet Surdam and Luella G. Koether arrested in Chungking. Writings on Communism in China, item 2 below.
• January 4, 1951. Permission for Day family to leave and beginning of trip home.
• January 29, 1951. Letter from Birdice Lawrence in Hongkong, reporting on contacts with Wesley Day prior to her departure from Chungking. January 8th, item 1 below.

Down to the Waterfront in Chungking, 1951.

Chungking is built on the steep banks of the Yangtze River. Wide steps lead from river up to the motor road level. In 1951 departing missionaries made daily trips down these steps to the riverboat office to check on whether one's number had come up. If it came up and one missed the chance, one had to re-register and start again from the beginning. Photo source: Surdam and Koether, p. 2

Birdice Lawrence letter from Hong Kong, 1-29-1951. Confidential [At the Time]: Please Do Not Let This Get Into Print

I (Birdice) left Chungking January 8th by boat, having registered last November. It took seven days to Hankow, then here to Hong Kong by train. Helen Desjardins was also registered but could not get her permit. Helen taught until early December at Su Deh School in Chungking, when the school hired a Chinese teacher for English classes, as the governmenet wanted; but they begged her to stay until mid-term exams are over. It was during those few days that the storm of anti-foreign propaganda broke in every school and institution, odered from higher up. If there was no foreigner, some Chinese person becamde the target. Helen, though, made a screen for the principal who escaped direct attack, suffered no physical hardship...

Janet and Luella arrived in Chungking December 14 and were arrested at 10 P.M. December 28. The arrest warrant came from Suining, but we do not know who is accusing them, nor for what. I begged for the privilege of sending food to them, since both were leaving China on health grounds. This was refused, except for powderedf milk and medicines they were allowed to take with them. They had left Suining with nothing but good relations with local authorities. My only guess is that someone in the school, who had already made trouble in petty ways, accused them of something. Also there was jealousy over mission funds which had been turned over to the principal.

When your cable [cable from Louise Robinson, Executive Secretary for China, Women's Division, Methodist Board of Missions] came, I went to the Foreign Affairs Office, and asked if the girls were in Chungking or Suining. After a long converswation, they replied: "You have no business to ask such a question." But they asked ME plenty: Who was this person who sent the cable? Her full name and address and official title? My relationship to her? How much and how often did I report to her? Did I report about conditions in China? I said only as these affeted our work, very little in recent months because my work had been diminishing.

Wesley Day, who accompanied me, thinks the man was scared by this cable, and that it might affect future actions. But it accomplished nothing, except to give them more information. They said that any reply I made to the cable was my own responsibility, with a delicate threat that if I replied anything "unlawful" I should be held fully responsible. When I asked, "Is it against your law to state facts," they answered, "you have no right to ask questions." Some missionaries felt it would be unwise to wire or write you at that time, and I felt there was nothing worth the cost of a cable. Since our funds were frozen, I was afraid to spend much money, so waited until I got to Hong Kong before sending yesterday's cable.

The British Consul in Chungking took down all the data I had regarding this arrest, and is relaying it to Mr. Gillett in Peking. There are four missionaries in Chungking under arrest; one is a British subject, Dr. Stuart Allen, janet and Luella's doctor, for many years with the Canadian Hospital. The Consul hopes that their Foreign Department can do something about these prisoners. Olin Stockwell was arrested Novembr 28. Another foreign prisoner is a non-missionary from Tibeet. All but Olin are held incommunicado. Esther Stockwell, still in Chungking, has sent garments, reading matter, and soap to Olin, receving an acknowledgement each time in Olin's handwriting. I sent some clothing once to Janet and Luella, things in the laundry when they were arrested. Before I left, no reply had come.

Dr. Marion Manly, now waiting in Chungking for a boat, probably a month or two, is helping the Wesley Days take care of the Dai Jia Hang house. Knettlers and Alma Eriksen were expected soon from Chengtu.

--Letter of Birdice Lawrence to Louise Robinson, Executive Secretary for China, Women's Division, Methodist Board of Missions, in T. Janet Surdam and Luella G. Koether, Janella Journal: Our China Experience, 1981, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, pp 365-366.

Experiences under Communism, 1950

Journal entries by T. Janet Surdam and Luella G. Koether, Methodist Missionaries stationed in Suining, which is about halfway between Chengtu and Chungking.

Suining, 12-5-1948. Some of you are wondering about the Communist situation, People in Chungking have no plan to leave. Our Boards in America are not paying travel for people to leave China because of Communists. Those who evacuate the north can go to other areas; ours is considered safe. The Communists can cut off Szechuan from sea and river, but we lived for years that way during the 8-year Japanese-Chinese war. The Communists do not have much of any air force. U. S. planes could come from India for us if necessary. The Embassy states that people in threatened places who expect to go should leave right away. We do not feel threatened yet. Don't worry, and don't go by what American papers say.

Suining, 4-23-1949. Prices are soaring, postage terrific, money hard to exchange. It is rumored that Nanking has fallen or been liberated, depending on your viewpoint. Prices tripled overnight. Everyone is jittery and uncertain. Chungking and Chengtu missiionaries are keeping in touch with us, since we have no radios or English newspapers; Chinese news is scanty and local. We are trying to send our Christian Education materials home, so that if it becomes illegal to have Christian literature, there will be copies in America. We proceed as usual, doing all we can, with little thought for what may come. Reports out of Peking and Tientsin vary, but at least foreigners are still allowed to write freely from those occupied places, and most are being treated all right. The only requirement is that they live simply and share with others. That we have always done and will continue.

Suining, 5-30-1949. This sounds mercenary, but we hope you can see the funny side of it. We reckon vegetables in the millions of dollars per bunch of beans. If you have something to trade, you get better exchange: so many beans for so many onions; rice for pictures; thread for wheat.

Suining, 12-29-1949. "Liberation" came the first week in December...There were tense moments, but unlike nearby places, Suining had no lawless soldiery of retreating Nationalists , no looting, no gun crossfire, bombing, or explosions. Durng the quiet three days between when local officials left, and Communist soldiers came in, blessed silence; the innate decensy of the people was never better shown than when no government or rule existed.

Suining, 5-8-1950. "A Red Letter Day: the last of our thirteen Monday morning trips to police headquarters, to "share our thinking." By smiling and politeness, even at certain remarks about our homeland, refusing to argue, being peaceable, and by our deeds, we tried to show we are here only to help people. For three weeks, we took flowers, tomato and mum plants, much appreciated. Today, the Chief said, "It is hard to change old women's thinking. You need not come unless we send for you." Music to our ears!...Our clinic grows as more people come, so grateful for a little help, so patient.

Suining, 6-29-1950. If our departure is sudden, you should know what caused it. Not the government, though they will use any church people who will work against other Christians. The troubles come from the YW and YM who noticeably no longer include the "C" in their name. Their leaders, at meetings, worked our an "ultimatum": what should be the future course of Christianity in China. We will not write the heart-breaking terms they use, but in summary they are stating: That Missions and missionaries are the spearhead fo foreign, especially American, imperialism in China. That they have retarded China's progress. That no foreigner or foreign money should be tolerated. That they, the "Y" will Be the Christian church, and that THEY shall be the true Christians, following Jesus and Mao Tse Dung.

--From Journal entries on the dates specified, by T. Janet Surdam and Luella G. Koether, Janella Journal: Our China Experience, 1981, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, pp 365-366.

3. Eugene Blosser Narratives, 1949 and 1950

Sound of War. It was late November in the year, 1949, and after we had only been in Chengtu a little more than a month, when the sounds of the big guns of the Communist Armies could be heard in the distance, especially in the otherwise quiet of the night. This made us all too aware that a war was going on, and that the fighting was not far away. The sounds did not seem to move much closer for some time, but they continued to be heard throughout the month of December. Everyone harbored fears of what might happen when the battle for the City of Chengtu would take place. One morning around mid December, Louella and I awoke to the sound of machine gun fire not too far in the distance. We could hear the bullets cutting through the leaves of the trees, but, thankfully, none of them hit our house. However, one bullet entered the house of our neighbors and slightly wounded the wife. We heard later that two Generals of Chiang Kai Shek had gotten into an argument about whether or not to turn the City over peacefully. So, the two Generals and their forces had to fight their way to a decision. Fortunately, the battle did not last long, and nothing more came of the situation. On December 30th, 1949, the City of Chengtu was turned over peaceably to the Communist Forces. Everyone, including the foreigners, were told to stay inside and not be seen on the streets.

Preparing to leave Chengtu, 1950 We then prepared our luggage for travel. We had one trunk each for Louella and me, plus two foot lockers to give to China Travel Service to handle. We lived out of two brief cases for ten days while waiting for a plane. Our Sunday before Christmas was spent with Wesley Day and his family, and on Christmas day, we stayed with the Knettlers. Both families were good friends of ours from the Methodist Mission.

Stories of our Lives, by Eugene and Luella Blosser, Mennonite missionaries who were in Chengtu in 1949

The Song We Sang

Children learn to sing the songs that are popular around them. After the Communists arrived, the songs were about Mao Ze-dung. Years later a Chinese delegate to a Conference on Aging in Madrid wrote the words down:

ATTACH COPY OF HOTEL STATIONERY WITH TRANSLATIONS!

The Chengdu Trunk

When we left Chengdu in 1951, many things were left behind.

In 2012 I received an email and a photograph from an American who was then teaching in Chengdu. He had been to a local museum with his daughter. They had spotted one of our trunks on display and taken a picture. Since the name J. W. Day was on it, he searched the internet and found me.

2012: A trunk in Chengdu.

Houses

Palembang

One of the major challenges in Palembang was building a new high school facility to replace the congested downtown quarters. Land had been purchased, but squatters had occupied it, and reclaiming use of it was a delicate problem. Finally the school was built on Djalan Djenderal Sudirman, and with it a new house, which the family moved into in 1960.

Vivia writes, "Two houses were built in conjunction with the school for the missionary families. We lived in the second one. It was a nice ranch house fenced in with chain link. It had an office with outside entrance and two bedrooms. There was a living room, dining room, living room, kitchen and two or three rooms in the back for storage or servants. We didnt' have running water at first. There was a huge drum in the bathroom for water. The outside was all red mud - not too good for the white uniforms.

Tandjung Karang

At the beginning of 1962 Dad was transferred to Tandjung Karang, on the southern tip of Sumatra. Vivia writes, "During my vacation from Dec. 1961 - Feb. 1962 we moved to Tandjung Karang. They had just bought a house in town - two bedrooms, living room, dining room and an Indonesian kitchen (cement counter with hole for fire). We had no furniture so slept on air mattresses and used suitcases for dressers. Mom supervised the creation of a kitchen suited to her needs and tastes. I returned in [from Woodstock School in India] in June to find the house furnished with furniture from Palembang. We left the house in the hands of a Chinese pastor who had lived in Palembang and moved down there to continue the work started by our parents.

Retirement

Retirement Album

1990, Walker-Scanlan Reunion at Three Churches, West Virginia

1992 Baptism of great-nephew Richard Roby Day

1994 With great-granddaughter Drew Rotolo

1996 at United Methodist General Conference in Denver, listening to the choir from the Indonesian Methodist Church. Almost 86, Wesley Day was there as a translator for the Indonesian delegation.

1975 Dunroven in Retirement

In 1974 Wesley and Ruthlydia Day returned from Indonesia looking forward to retirement in the farmhouse called "Dunroven" in Allenwood, New Jersey that had already been the Day home for several decades.

The death of Ruthlydia in 1975 thwarted those plans. Nevertheless, Dunroven was Wesley Day's residence for more than the next 20 years, until he moved to Francis Asbury Manor in Ocean Grove in 1997.

Several milestones that took place at Dunroven have been captured on camera:

Visitors from Indonesia

Visitors from Malaysia

The breezeway afforded extra space and pleasant breezes for meals with guests. In this family gathering,

Lunch with family.

Lunch with family in 1995. The breezeway afforded extra space and pleasant breezes for meals with guests. Around the table from left: Carolyn Miller, Martha Dzioba, James Day, Wesley Day, Edward Dzioba, Vivia Tatum, Jim Tatum.

In 1977 Wesley described life at Dunroven in a letter to Gusta Robinett, who had been treasurer in Medan:

Fred and Polly should be coming to Dunroven Saturday...

While the weather was good sometime ago I got a man to prune my grape vines and also the blackberries. Then we put some of the garden brush through a mulcher. So I hope there will be some grapes and berries this year. I finally decided to get a riding mower, so I won't spend quite as much time mowing the lawn as last year and the year before. I held out for the little push mower because I wanted the exercise but it looks like I'll get plenty of that anyway. Seeds are heer and ready to plant, but the garden is not. I'll be away most of April, so it looks like the planting will be done in May....

It's a good thing for Dunroven I have company once in a while. Today Vivia came over, scrubbed and polished the kitchen-dining room floor, and began to vacuum and polish the rest of the house. She will come again tomorrow. By the time she gets here I hope to have my study picked up enough that you can get a vacuum cleaner into it.

1998 Medan Trip

(Click on above line to be directed to page)

Exploring Web: Seniors Explore World Wide Web

By Karen Hamerdorfer Lancey, Correspondent

Seniors explore world on Web (1998) Class provides Internet access,

OCEAN GROVE - Since his missionary past in Indonesia 30 years ago, the Rev. J. Wesley Day's friends haven't seemed as close, as fast, as they do now.

"It's a new world," said Day, 88, referring to the speed at which he can write to friends in Indonesia via e-mail.

About three months ago, Day entered that new world. It is, Day said, a far cry from the old days.

When the Francis Asbury Manor resident was a Methodist missionary in Indonesia, news about a death in the family back in the States took nearly a week to reach him. Now, e-mail takes seconds to deliver, which means he and his friends halfway around the world can keep with their news without waiting.

Day recently learned how to email family and friends through a computer education program at his Stockton Avenue home.

Wesley Day at Computer

"The computer class is a surprise and a delight," said Day, 88. "The challenge is to remember all I need to know in order to use it. I'm not a good computer man, but I love it for its communication possibilities."

In the "Seniors in Cyber Space Program," five volunteers are giving residents, ages 76 to 98, one-on-one computer lessons in how to send e-mail and gain access to the Internet.

A genealogy course has just begun and a program on graphics arts will soon kick in., "The fact that people can correspond with. their family is a popular incentive," said activities director Joanne, Goldberg. At present the computer lab has four terminals which were donated by residents' family Members. One computer is hooked up to the Internet. Sometime this summer, the facility will receive four new computers at a cost of approxmately $3,000. Two of the computers will be online.

Francis Asbury Manor residents can use the lab 24 hours a day. And if they encounter a computer related program when a teacher volunteer is not present, they can ask the receptionist, whois located next to the lab, to assist.

Laurie Loughney, administrator at Francis Asbury Manor, said the long-range goal is to open the computer lab to area senior citizens at no charge.

The administrator emphasized that a computer can serve as occupational therapy for stroke victims, people afflicted with Parkinson's disease, or those in, the early stages of dementia or cognitive decline.

"It's a life-enhancing program. The mind is a muscle; just like an arm or leg it needs to be exercised," said Loughney.

Ethel Gillespie, 85, said she can remember when telephones were considered a luxury rather than a necessity and a party line had nothing to do with, a crowded gettogether.

"I'm interested in learning the, lingo associated with computers When I hear a commercial say, 'Look for us on the Internet at www-dot something,' I don't know what they're talking about," she said.

"I want to know everything there is to know," said Lillian Thompson, 85, who has grown fond of playing solitaire and e-mailing a granddaughter in Willingboro. "If I can learn this, anyone can."

"It's fun seeing the residents learn how to e-mail, send a greeting card. The ultimate goal is to get them to eventually do these things on their own," said volunteer Phyllis Truran, Ocean Grove, who sometimes sends her new friends an e-mail as a surprise. Officials at Francis Asbury Manor credited Tech-Connections of Family Resources Associates, a non-profit group in Shrewsbury, with upgrading their current computers and assessing the needs of senior citizens. For example, because some seniors were having difficulity clicking the mouse button twice in succession, an augmented device will be added to some new computers.

A Service of Death and Resurrection: June 11, 2005

Thanks to John Tandana for photos.

John & Rebecca Tandana

Entrance to St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Ocean Grove, New Jersey

St. Paul's Sanctuary during the Service

Service Bulletin

After the Service: Son Jack Day with guest.

Leonora Tatum and Martha Dzioba.

Rev. Henry Leono and wife talk with Rev. Diane W. Koob, District Superintendant of the Northern Shore District, Greater New Jersey Annual Conference.

James Roby Day Jr., and sister Bonnie Day Ambruso, look at the display of photos.

Son Jack Day, grandson James Day, fiancee Bridget Quinn, and Bonnie Day Ambruso look at photo display.

The St. Paul's United Methodist Women prepared a superb lunch.

John and Rebecca Tandana, Jack Day and Fran Irvin, Vivia and Jim Tatum, Rev. & Mrs. Henry Leono

Dunroven Passes

(Click on above line to be directed to page)