Collection 255 Oral History Interview of Helen Frame

Collection

Identifier: CN 255

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Oral history interviews with Helen Nowack Frame (1908-1999) in which she discusses her childdhood growing up in China, decision to become a missionary for Overseas Missionary Fellowship, education at Wheaton College, years of service in China, culture and political events in China; leaving China in 1951 with her husband Raymond and their children and resettlement in the Philippines, teaching at Faith Academy, development of the Bible Institute, return and activities in Wheaton. The time period covered by the interview is 1905 to 1983.

Helen Nowack Frame was interviewed by Paul A. Ericksen on September 9 and 13, 1983 at her home in Chicago.

Dates

Created: 1983

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Biographical Information

Helen Grace Nowack Frame was born on February 25, 1908, in Honan, China. Her father, William Henry Nowack, and mother, Katherine Plantz Nowack, were independent missionaries to China. After her mother's death, William Nowack married Alice Broughton. Helen studied at the American School, Kukung, Honan, and the family's church background was interdenominational.

In 1926 Helen returned to the states to enroll in Wheaton College, where she graduated in 1930 as a math major. Following graduation she enrolled at Moody Bible Institute, where she made the decision to become a missionary for China Inland Mission in the same year as Raymond Frame, the man who was to become her husband. They met in China and were married in 1936.

After a furlough in 1946, the Frames returned to take charge of a language school near Shanghai, later moved to Shanghai, but they were evacuated with other CIM missionaries in 1950 from the mainland. They made the decision to work with Chinese living in Manila and were stationed at the Bible Institute of the Philippines, founded in 1957, later to become Bible Seminary of the Philippines as the enrollment enlarged. The Frames remained in the Philippines until 1977, during which time Raymond Frame also pastored a Chinese church in Manila. The Frames had two children, born in 1941 and 1944 in Canada and Pennsylvania respectively. They retired to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1983. Mrs. Frame died in Lancaster on November 29, 1999.

Extent

2.00 Audio Tapes

220 Minutes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Accruals and Additions

The materials in this collection were given to the Billy Graham Center Archives in September 1983.

Accession 83-97

August 13,1986

Frances L. Brocker

J. Nasgowitz

Revised, January 28, 1997

Janyce H. Nasgowitz