Mary J. Hawthorne Oral History Interviews

Collection

Identifier: CN 651

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Oral history interviews with Mary J. Hawthorne in which she describes her experiences working in community development, education, evangelism, and medical missions among the Quechua people in Bolivia with SIM International for over 20 years, beginning in 1989. Topics discussed include her family background and spiritual development; education at Wheaton College; impressions of various mission agencies; including SIM, Medical Assistance Program (MAP), and the Moravians; challenges of cross-cultural communication; medical missions; impressions of various regions of Bolivia, including Cochabamba, Sucre, and Yawisla; missions in urban and rural settings; the Quechua people and language; and the benefits of cross-cultural training for missionary candidates. The time period covered by the interviews is 1958-2010.

Mary Hawthorne was interviewed by Bob Shuster on September 30 and November 16, 2009, and January 13, 2010 at the Billy Graham Center Archives offices in Wheaton, IL.

Dates

2009-2010

Creator

Hawthorne, Mary J. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Conditions Governing Use

The copyright to the sound recordings in this collection is held by the Billy Graham Center Archives.

Biographical Information

Full name: Mary Jeanne Muehleisen Hawthorne

Birth: April 23, 1958 in Baltimore, MD

Family:

Parents: Erwin Winston and Sally Irene Muehleisen

Siblings: Older brother and sister

Marital Status: Married Stephen Hawthorne in 1982

Children: Daniel (b.1987), Anne Marie (b.1990), Andrew (b. 1993)

Conversion: 8th grade

Education

1972-1976 - Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield, IL

1976-1980 - Wheaton College, BA, French, Wheaton, IL

2006-2010 - Wheaton College, MA, Intercultural Studies, Wheaton, IL

Career

1980-1982 - Taught French at Wheaton Academy, West Chicago, IL

1982-1983 - Teacher at Glenbard North High School, Carol Stream, IL

1983-1987 - Driscoll Catholic High School, Addison, IL

1984 - Short term mission with Honduras with Moravian missions

1989-1997 - Moved to Cochabamba, Bolivia under the auspices of SIM, but worked on secondment to MAP International for three years. Later transferred to Chilimarca and Sucre.

1998 - Transferred to Yawisla, Boliiva, where Steve served in local medical clinic and Steve and Mary together contributed together to community, leadership, and church development among rural Quechua population. Mary developed a ministry to middle school girls, called “Amigas de Dorcas.”

Other significant information

Dedicated herself to international mission work at age 16 after hearing about the death of single woman missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators who died in a plane crash in Papua, New Guinea.

Extent

3 Sound Recordings

325 Minutes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Additions and Accruals

The materials in this collection were given to the Billy Graham Center Archives by Mary Hawthorne in September and November 2009 and January 2010.

Accession: 09-53, 09-59, 10-01

March 2020

Katherine Graber