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BDCC Emma Ekvall

1870 — 1952

Emma Ekvall

Founded schools for women and children with disabilities during 48 years of service.

  China Inland Mission

  Gansu , Sichuan

BDCC Emma Ekvall 0
In 2020, the Chinese authorities erected a statue including her in front of their new school: She is the figure on the left, with a cross around her neck (pictured along with the author of this article, Ray Smith, holding a new biography published as a centennial memorial of Emma Ekvall's founding of the school in Wuchang in 1919).

It should be added that after Martin died in January 1939 and Emma was evacuated during the Sino-Japanese War, the school for the blind was overseen first by Alliance deaconess Gertrude Stewart and, after Pearl Harbor and during Japanese occupation, by Miss Florence Liu, a graduate of the Perkins Institution. Emma was on one of the first ships to return in early 1946 and carried on until again ordered out in 1948 during the Civil War. In continuing to speak wherever invited, her interest in her beloved China never waned until God called her home at 82.

Sources

All images courtesy of the author.

About the Author

A grandson of Emma Ekvall, Ray Smith was born in Guling on Lushan in 1932. His parents are C&MA missionaries Howard and Gertrude (Ekvall) Smith. Graduate of Wheaton (IL) college and career journalist, he represented the US Telephone Industry at the opening of the American Embassy in Beijing in 1979. He led delegations of US professionals holding telecom workshops in the PRC in 1982, 84, and 86. Smith lives in Carol Stream, Illinois, USA.