First Ordained Latino Methodist and Missionary to Mexico In 1873, the first train on the new line out of Vera Cruz carried a Methodist bishop and Alejo Hernandez, the first Latino to be ordained in Methodism, who was the bishop’s choice to establish a mission in Mexico City. But the throbbing power in the locomotive’s...
Leader in Settlement Work When the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS), began its foray into settlement work at the turn of the twentieth century, it asked Sara Estelle Haskin to take up the post in Dallas. With no equipment and no real pattern to follow, she plunged into the work and began a very successful...
Advocate for Peace and Justice Deats grew up in a Methodist family in Texas and attended McMurry College in Abilene, Texas, in the early 1950s. There he became active in the Methodist Student Movement which was beginning to voice concerns about civil rights and racial justice, holding its first interracial meeting at McMurry. A visit...
Methodist Missionary to Gbarnga, Liberia The Rev. Ulysses Samuel Gray served as a missionary with the Methodist Board of Missions at the Gbarnga Mission Station in Bong County, Liberia, for nearly 27 years (1948-1974). His wife, Vivienne Newton Gray, also served the station as a teacher and administrator (see her biography https://methodistmission200.org/gray-vivienne-newton-1917/). Ulysses, known as...
Missionary to Mexico and among Mexican-Americans Onderdonk was born in Mission Valley, Texas, in 1871. He received his higher education at Southwestern University and then joined the West Texas Conference. From the beginning of his ministerial career, he felt a call to Spanish-language ministry. He served congregations along the Rio Grande. In 1897, Board of...
MECS Mission Board Leader Pinson was born in Cheathan County, Tennessee, in 1854. He joined the Tennessee Conference in 1878. After serving pastorates in Tennessee with great success, he transferred to the Texas Conference to serve pastorates in Gonzales and Austin. Just before the turn of the century, he went to the largest church in...
Educational Missionary in Liberia and Beyond Vivienne Newton Gray has been a public school teacher, religious social worker, Field Secretary with the Woman’s Division (1945-48), educational missionary in Liberia, West Africa (1948-74), and director of admissions and director of alumni affairs, Wiley College, Marshall, Texas. Working as a religious social worker with migrant families, Vivienne...
The Face of Jesus 2005 – It was dusty, windy and about 98 degrees. We were delivering New Testaments, Christmas toys and candy to about 400 families that were living in shacks along the railroad tracks in Mexico. No electricity, no running water, no bathrooms, blankets for doors, little furniture if any. Dozens of kids...
Mission and Hymn Translator Elida García de Falcón was orphaned at the age of ten in Guerrero, Tamaulipas, Mexico. She made her home with her only sister, Rosaura, who had married one of the first Mexican Methodist ministers, Pedro Grado. With them she itinerated and attended mission schools, including Holding Institute at Laredo, Texas. She...
Tireless Fundraiser for MECS Mission to Brazil Mary Decherd was born in Bastrop, Texas in 1874. Her devout mother, Kate Decherd, developed a strong interest in missions. She was active in the local chapters of the Woman’s Home Missions and Parsonage Society, and the Women’s Foreign Missions Society. Additionally, she was “Lady Manager” of the...
