American Missionary Fellowship

I lived near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh, and in 1957 received a letter from Reverend Warren Cleveland of Knoxville, Tennessee.  He was the superintendent of the American Sunday School Union (now AMF), and he asked if I would be interested in becoming a missionary nurse in the Appalachian Mountains of northeastern Tennessee.  He sent an application for me to fill out.  All I knew about the ASSU was what I had studied in missions class, and all I knew about Tennessee was that it was a state somewhere south of Pennsylvania.  But I filled out the application and sent it in.

I was a registered nurse and had finished three years at Practical Bible Training School (now Davis College) in Binghamton, New York.  I had been in the Child Evangelism Fellowship office in Pittsburgh for a year of training to be a CEF missionary in a Pennsylvania county, but at that time I was working in the local hospital to take care of the funeral expenses of my parents, who had just passed away.  I had just paid the last of the bills and was wondering what the Lord had for me next. 

After sending in my application, I didn’t hear again from Mr. Cleveland for several months.  I didn’t know what was happening “behind the scenes.”  The ASSU was a “man’s organization,” with only very few women, mostly wives of deceased missionaries.  The men organized Sunday schools, preached, etc.  Commissioning a single nurse was a new venture, and I understand there was much discussion among the board members. 

Mr. Cleveland had visited in the mountains with missionary J.W. Wright and had become very burdened for the children and families who were literally starving because of the closing of the coal mines. (There was no government aid at that time.)  The men who could read and write went north or elsewhere to find work, but most of our men were illiterate and had moved farther back into the mountains.  They had large families and no income.  I am sure these facts were presented to the board, because in April 1958, I was notified that I was to be on the field by May 1.  Mr. Cleveland found me a place to live in LaFollette, and he and Mr. Wright took me all over the mountains showing me the unbelievable conditions.

In June Mildred Clarke, the school nurse at Practical Bible Training School, came to help for the summer.  Mr. Cleveland saw that she had many abilities I did not have, so he asked her if she would be willing to work here also.  She was commissioned January 1959.

A banker from New York City supplied a $200 monthly salary for each of us and also funds so we could buy groceries to give to families as we visited.  For the first few years that we were here, we had many visitors from the Home Office.  They were very supportive, and soon other nurses were commissioned for the coal fields of Kentucky and Virginia.

When I arrived in 1958, Mr. Wright was to have his first camp in Tennessee. (He had been taking young folks to Kentucky.)  Camp Galilee at that time was very primitive.  The ladies who were to cook took one look and went home.  Mildred, though not yet a missionary, took over and cooked for around 50-60 adults and children on a portable stove outside.  (I cook only for myself – the Lord knew and sent the needed one!)

At that time there was only one public-health nurse for Campbell, Scott, and Anderson Counties, so she spent one day a week in each of the three counties. We could have spent all our time as midwives or visiting nurses, but we felt we were missionaries first. 

What did we do medically?  We gave out gallons of worm medicine and thousands of vitamins.  We took children to the Shrine Hospital for Crippled Children, The School for the Deaf, the dentist, the doctor, and the hospital, and we tried to help and advise in any way we could.  No, we didn’t have to deliver any babies, but we did provide for newborn twins.

Mr. Wright had started several Sunday schools, which we inherited.  We visited on Sundays and then asked about having Vacation Bible Schools.  No one knew what they were, so we explained that they were Bible classes for all age groups.  We had almost as many adults as children. 

Later, we organized AFC (Ambassadors for Christ) clubs.  We started in Genesis, assigned chapters for them to read (most of our ladies could read), and asked questions the next week.  In the spring all the groups would come to camp to see who could answer the most questions and take home a banner for their age group.

The Home Office sent us all over the country, showing slides of the extreme poverty in this area.  Soon, we began receiving large boxes and even truckloads of used clothes and other needed items.  Each time we went out, we would pack the car with clothes, groceries, etc. for the families and schools. 

We visited as many of the forty one-room schools in Scott County as we could, telling Bible stories via flannelgraph.  When the schools consolidated, we were still permitted to continue.  We could not pray aloud or give an invitation, but otherwise we had complete freedom.  Later, we got into the schools in Campbell County.  We, at one time, reached approximately 3,000 children a month.  The Lord kept the schools open for us for forty years. 

Besides giving clothing to schools and families, when we had camp we would outfit the children for the week.  One reason that we had our camps late in the season was so the children would have clothes to start school.  Many would come with only the ragged clothes they had on their back and no shoes. 

In those first years, when the children were presented with the Gospel, most of them accepted the Lord before leaving camp.  It was such a joy to see the change in their expressions and lives.  The parents so appreciated the material things we could provide, but their hunger for and acceptance of The Word also made it all worthwhile.

The author, Betty Glover, is a retired AMF missionary who is an inspiration and mentor to many current missionaries.