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Mellis, Ruth.

 Person

Biographical Statement

Ruth Margaret Mellis was born April 19, 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri to Charles J. and Selina M. (Vollmer) Mellis. She attended Ritenour High School (Overland, MO) and graduated in 1931 with a B.S. in Elementary Education. She was a member of the Philalethean Literary Society, and volunteered with the Y.M.C.A. In 1945 she left the city school system and volunteered to teach missionaries' children in Africa as a non-professional at the Empress School in Ethiopia. During this 3 year short-term she assisted in the formation of the Wheaton Alumni Association of Ethiopia where many grads worked in that country. In August 1954 she sailed to Greece to be a teacher where she served alongside Worldwide Prayer and Missionary Union as an independent missionary ministering to grown ex-orphans around Athens. In a 1967 prayer letter she began to direct funds to ELWA Greek programs with Sudan Interior Mission. The ELWA Ministries Association traces its roots back to 1952 when SIM (then known as the Sudan Interior Mission) joined with the West Africa Broadcasting Association that was attempting to start the first Christian radio station in Africa. Radio ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa), located in the Paynesville area east of central Monrovia, started to broadcast in January 1954. By 1973 she had moved to Puebla, Mexico with the Central Ameican Mission as a church planter among internationals. In 1977 she "retired" after 33 years of foreign service to St. Louis. For many years afterward she made many short-term trips to Mexico and Greece. She died on January 15, 2007 in Saint Ann, MO, three months prior to her 100th birthday.

Citation:
Student File (Mellis, Miss Ruth Margaret)

Found in 6 Collections and/or Records:

Collection 363 Papers of Ruth M. Mellis

 Collection
Identifier: CN 363
Scope and Contents Correspondence, prayer letters, clippings, photographs, oral history interviews and audio tapes of missionary conference relating to the missionary career of Ruth M. Mellis. Materials document her work among orphans and students in Greece, the Greek Bible Institute, the Greek language, and Greater Europe Mission; oral history interviews describe her childhood, attendance at Wheaton College, work with Near East Relief in Siros, teaching public schools in the St. Louis area, teaching at the...
Dates: Created: 1928-1987

Ruth Mellis papers.

 Unprocessed Material — Box: 1
Identifier: 2000-023
Dates: 1955-2000

Ruth Mellis papers.

 Unprocessed Material — Box: 1
Identifier: 2001-025
Dates: 1928-2001

Ruth Mellis papers.

 Unprocessed Material — Box: 2
Identifier: 1999-022
Dates: 1926-1998

Ruth Mellis papers.

 Unprocessed Material — Folder: 1
Identifier: 1992-108
Dates: 1927-1992

Ruth Mellis Scrapbook

 Collection — Box: 1
Identifier: SC-138
Scope and Contents

The Ruth Mellis material is contained in a 7 X 11 photo album. The first section is occupied with photos of Wheaton College campus and persons. Interspersed throughout are paste-ins of invitations to campus social events such as Student Volunteers, banquets, Annual Spring Concert, Recital and Homecoming. Tucked into the back are newspaper clippings, commencement programs and jacket patches.

Dates: Created: 1927-1931; Other: Majority of material found in 1927-1931

Additional filters:

Type
Unprocessed Material 4
Collection 2
 
Subject
Missions -- Greece. 4
Christian education -- Greece. 3
Evangelistic work -- Greece. 3
Missions -- Ethiopia. 3
Church work with refugees -- Greece. 2
∨ more
Education -- Ethiopia. 2
Armenians. 1
Bible colleges -- Greece. 1
Bible colleges. 1
Christian education -- United States. 1
Christian education. 1
Church and social problems. 1
Church and state -- Greece. 1
Church and state. 1
Church work with refugees. 1
College students -- Recreation -- Illinois. 1
College students -- Religious life. 1
College students. 1
Conversion -- Christianity. 1
Depressions -- 1929 -- United States. 1
Education -- Greece. 1
Education -- United States. 1
Education, Higher -- United States. 1
Education, Higher. 1
Education. 1
English language -- Foreign speakers. 1
English language. 1
Ethiopia 1
Ethiopia -- Description and travel. 1
Ethiopia -- History -- 1889-1974. 1
Ethiopia -- History. 1
Ethiopia -- Religion. 1
Ethiopia -- Social life and customs. 1
Evangelicalism -- Greece. 1
Evangelicalism. 1
Evangelistic work -- United States. 1
Evangelistic work. 1
Greece -- History -- 1917-1944. 1
Greece -- History. 1
Greece -- Social life and customs. 1
Greece. 1
Huao Indians. 1
International relief -- Greece. 1
International relief. 1
Interpersonal conflict. 1
Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935-1936. 1
Language in missionary work. 1
Liberalism (Religion) 1
Mass media in missionary work. 1
Missionaries -- Training of. 1
Missionaries -- Appointment, call, and election. 1
Missionaries. 1
Missions -- Educational work. 1
Missions. 1
Orphans 1
Orphans -- Greece. 1
Orthodox Eastern Church -- Relations -- Christianity. 1
Persecution -- Ethiopia. 1
Persecution -- Greece. 1
Persecution -- Turkey. 1
Persecution. 1
Photographs. 1
Presbyterians. 1
Radio in missionary work. 1
Refugees 1
Refugees -- Greece. 1
Refugees -- Turkey. 1
Scrapbooks. 1
Sunday schools. 1
Turkey -- History -- 1918-1960. 1
Turkey -- History. 1
Turkey. 1
Wheaton College (Ill.) -- Alumni. 1
Wheaton College (Ill.) -- Faculty. 1
Wheaton College (Ill.) -- Religious life and customs. 1
Wheaton College (Ill.) -- Social life and customs. 1
Wheaton College (Ill.) -- Students -- Social life and customs. 1
Wheaton College (Ill.) -- Students. 1
Women 1
Women -- Religious life. 1
Women missionaries. 1
World War, 1939-1945. 1
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