70 years of good works

Today our group headed to Reiser Heights for a day with the school children. 

View of beautiful Haiti from the Baptist Mission

Welcome sign at zoo

Baby goat at zoo

It’s a 2-hour ride so on the way we stopped about 10:30AM at the Baptist Mission for a quick rest.  There is a restaurant and souvenir shop, and even a small zoo!  While part of the group was looking at souvenirs, a group of us sat in the restaurant, a few eating French fries and having coffees.  As I sat there, an older white lady came toward us, wearing a dress looking like she was going to a business meeting, and commented to me that “the early bird gets the worm” but she had showed up a little late.  I thought I detected a slight southern accent so I asked her where she was from, assuming she was from the U. S.?  She took me by the hand with a feigned anger and told me she was Haitian as she brought me to the front counter.  On the front of the counter was a timeline with pictures that I had glanced at but not really examined in any detail.  She took me to the first picture, one of a young girl named Eleanor Turnbull in 1947.  I asked if that was her, though she didn’t look like she could be that old.  Her response was yes, that was her when she married her husband and became Eleanor Wallace and came with him to Haiti.  She was now 93 years old and had spent the past 70 years working in Haiti with her husband. 

Eleanor Turnbull Wallace

Eleanor knew of Minnesota because one of her sons was married in Stillwater.  I complimented her on how much good she had done for the people of Haiti.  She told us how her father, a doctor, had moved his family from Tennessee to rural Mississippi during the depression.  He was the only doctor for a huge area and was for a long time during the difficult era of America’s history.  I commented on how great it was that she followed in her father’s footsteps in serving people.  Her response was that it wasn’t her father’s example she followed, but her other Father as she pointed to heaven.  She is a remarkable lady who has lived the word of God her whole life.  A great example for people to follow.  We all felt fortunate to have met her. Eleanor has written a book of her life entitled, “Those Who Passed By”. 

Author Mark Loahr exchanging digits with Mrs. Wallace

One last story about Eleanor’s father that she related to us.  One night her father was called to deliver a set of twins.  They were early and were seemingly in distress.  It was indeed a difficult delivery and sadly, one of the twins died at birth. The parents named the surviving boy, Elvis Aron Presley.

Mark Loahr