Lynda Carver interviewed by Alfreda Hinn, May 19, 1980.

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    Good morning I'm Lynda Carver,
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    responding to a
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    request by Mrs Alfreda Hinn
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    for an interview for some of the records of
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    the Presbyterian Historical
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    society. I was born in
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    one nine hundred three in May and have just now celebrated my
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    seventy seventh birthday.
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    I was born in Baltimore
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    Maryland. And then when I was
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    nine we moved to Alexandria Virginia where I completed elementary school and high
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    school. My first year in college I went to Randolph Macon
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    Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and then
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    transferred to George Washington
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    University where I
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    received a bachelor's degree in history in education in
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    nineteen twenty four and continued on in summer school receiving an
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    M.A. degree in nineteen thirty-seven in
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    education. My first years of teaching were in the high school that I
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    had attended in Alexandria. Then I had an opportunity
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    to get into private school
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    work. And my first position was at the Shippen School for girls
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    in Lancaster
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    Pennsylvania. Then I moved to the Abingdon
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    Friends
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    School in Jenkintown
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    Pennsylvania. Because of an accident to my
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    mother. And with the feeling that perhaps I would have to assume
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    responsibility for our family home which was now in Washington
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    D.C. I transferred to Silver Spring, Maryland
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    and secured a position in Montgomery Hill Junior High School, which was
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    just opening at that
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    time. And, I was there as a teacher of social studies.
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    After a few years the principal resigned and I was given the opportunity to become
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    principal of the
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    school. This was during the war
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    years. And, it was not an easy time to work
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    with junior high schoolers in the war years.
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    Somehow at this time in my life I seemed to be searching for
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    something, although I had a great many
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    blessings. I had a good position with
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    the idea of a salary raise in the county very soon.
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    I had a car. I was living at home when
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    I had an active church life. But I don't think I realized what I was
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    looking for.
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    Then, much to my surprise, this opening
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    came through a series of circumstances to go to Baghdad,
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    Iraq to be principal of the girls mission school there under the
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    then Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.
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    This seemed like an impossible undertaking. My father was
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    hospitalized and I was helping at home.
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    But my mother was a woman of great
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    faith. And she said, "Well. We'll just leave it in God's hands, and if this is intended.
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    If it is intended that you should go to Baghdad, the way will open
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    up." And it did. There didn't seem to be any obstacle as
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    we tried to work things out for my going to
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    Baghdad. So in August of nineteen forty-six, I sailed on the
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    old Volcania,
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    supposedly for Beirut.
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    I was attended or I went along with thirteen Persian
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    missionaries returning after the war years.
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    We had to land in Haifa.
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    And then we drove to Damascus and took the old Nairn
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    bus across the
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    desert. Anyone who has had that experience, you know what I'm talking about
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    when I talk about the Nairn bus
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    trip. When I first went to Baghdad,
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    I was to do language study for two years but this turned out to be only eighteen months
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    as one of the American teachers left it and before the end of the year. And,
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    I was forced to go into the school to replace her.
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    In the early years of the school, we were quite crowded. We were. We were in a
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    rented building that had been the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad. We had very little playground
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    space, but it was a very happy time. And, we had really many
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    happy times
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    together. In those early days we tried to develop more of
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    the traditions of the
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    school. We adopted school colors blue and
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    white. We chose a motto for the school, "You can,
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    if you think you
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    can." We chose a school hymn,
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    "Joyful,
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    joyful. We adore thee." [Beethoven, "Ode to Joy."] We had a an alma mater
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    song composed.
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    And we set up student government in the
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    school. We made a great deal of Christmas and
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    Easter as two of the
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    religious celebrations in the Christian
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    year. At that time the enrollment in the school was
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    one third Jews, one third Moslems, one third Christians. And, we combined
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    the number of Jews and Christians and that entitled us to teach the
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    Bible because the law was that you could teach the
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    religion of the greater greatest number in your
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    school. At that time too, all the Moslem girls came to the chapel
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    every morning, and all of them attended the Bible classes. Well because of
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    this crowded condition,
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    we made application to the very too they denominations who were supporting
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    our mission. This
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    mission was at one time called the United made a Mission
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    of Mesopotamia.
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    But then it became known as the United Mission of Iraq as Iraq became more
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    familiar to people than the old biblical name of
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    Mesopotamia. We never felt we got very much publicity
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    church wise
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    because we were not strictly any one denomination. We
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    were supported in the early years by the Evangelical and Reformed Board, the
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    Dutch Reformed Board, and the United Presbyterians.
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    later the E and R Board, of
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    course, merged with the Congregational Christian churches
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    to form the United Church of Christ and also the Southern
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    Presbyterian Church came in because they wanted some work in Moslem lands but did not want
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    to initiate any new work.
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    Well through the various women's organizations of the supporting
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    denominations, approximately one hundred thousand dollars was
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    raised. The Reformed Board had a unique
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    idea. They had in their Sunday schoos "Bbags for Baghdad." And, children
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    were encouraged to put in their nickels and dimes and pennies
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    for the girls'
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    school. We went across the river to a developing
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    area in the community and purchased ground and in nineteen
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    fifty- one, we began to break ground for a new
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    building. And, we moved into the building in one nine hundred fifty three.
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    This was a very difficult time as we had to now have school buses and
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    bus routes had to be worked out, drivers
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    employed, and the school really was not
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    finished when we went into the building, so we live with a great deal of mud for a long time.
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    But the school continued to prosper, although now it was in a much more.
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    In a much stronger Muslim
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    area than we had been before. And, because of the emigration of so
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    many Jewish families to Israel, we had lost most of our Jewish
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    students. They were very few now in the
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    building in the school.
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    About this time I came home for a furlough. And, because of my
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    mother's health,
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    I asked for a year's leave of absence
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    because I wanted to be at home with my only sister when my mother passed away.
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    Finally she died in one thousand fifty
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    nine. And I was free then to go abroad if there was an
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    opportunity, but I didn't feel I wanted to take on the responsibility of
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    an administrative
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    job. So it happened that Miss Jane Doolittle [Doolittle, Jane Elizabeth] from Teheran was in
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    Baghdad. And, I met her and told her I might be looking for a position. And, she
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    said they were in need of an English teacher in the Iran Beth and in the Iran Bethel
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    school in Iran. So it turned out then that I accepted that
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    position and went as a short termer to Iran for three
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    years. But when I came back to Baghdad
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    one
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    spring and saw that the playground had been finished, the building was complete,
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    tennis courts had
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    been fixed up. I realized that my heart was still
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    in Baghdad. And so I asked what were the possibilities of coming back.
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    Well the mission in Baghdad was looking for someone to take over the principalship of the school
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    because
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    they present principal at that time was due to go on furlough.
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    So I came back to the school in nineteen sixty-
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    two. And served as principal for two and a half
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    years. But the spirit of the school had changed a great deal in
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    the years that I had been away. In the meantime there had been
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    the revolution in the country in which the young king
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    and the higher officials of the country, many of them had been killed or
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    exiled. And the an entirely different group and different spirit seemed to prevail
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    not only in the country but even in the schools.
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    I found it very different from the days when I knew the school
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    in the years when I served before as
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    principal. So because of this difficult feeling.
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    I asked the
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    mission if I could it be relieved of the
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    principalship and be assigned to teach in the
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    school part time and use the rest of my time to build up
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    the alumni society, which had not become very
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    strong, not as strong as it was in the old school, because the girls felt they didn't know
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    the teachers and it didn't seem school to them. But I seemed to be
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    the connecting link between the old school and the new
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    school. And so, the mission agreed to this
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    arrangement. And ,I taught in the morning English and Bible,
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    and then the afternoons were devoted to visiting and meetings with the alumnae society.
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    We had some very nice times in this in the New School in those days. We
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    had a homecoming day for the girls of the alumnae society. And then, in the school
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    itself we built up a sports day, which was a very happy day given over
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    to various kinds of sports in the
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    school. Well the next big event that happened was the Six-Day War
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    between the Arabs and the Israelis.
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    We were not asked to leave
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    Baghdad. But we felt, for the sake of our own safety when
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    the American embassy was
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    closed and for the sake of our
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    Iraqi nationals, that we should leave the country. So we arranged
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    to
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    travel by bus to Teheran, where the Presbyterian Church
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    had strong mission work.
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    This was in the summer of one thousand nine hundred sixty seven in June.
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    So the question then was where to spend the
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    summer. Well I had done a good bit of traveling while I had been
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    in Teheran in the Iran Bethel School so I didn't feel I wanted to
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    spend the summer in Teheran. So I asked for some extra leave
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    and cabled my sister and came home for two
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    months for a vacation. I was classified as being on
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    vacation. When the time came for me to return
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    to Baghdad because we had anticipated opening the school again in September,
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    it was found that I had to have surgery so instead of going to Baghdad, I went into
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    the
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    hospital. But the time I had convalesced from this operation, it didn't
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    seem worthwhile to return to Baghdad. And also, I had only one more year
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    before
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    retirement. So it seemed better that I just not return to Baghdad
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    although it was with some regret because I felt that I had not completed especially
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    the work with the alumnae
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    society that I would like to have
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    done. Then a position opened
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    up in the personnel office of the Board rooms [Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations] under May Ross Taylor taking care
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    of the concerns of retired missionaries. And I worked there at the Board
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    rooms for three years and
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    a half, first on full time and then on
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    half time. But I knew that little position could not last forever,
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    and although I didn't know the church was going to undergo a tremendous reorganization,
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    I decided to look around to see where I should
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    settle. And when I found that the Board of Pensions was
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    opening a new home in downtown Philadelphia, it seemed to me that was the
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    best place for me because I feel I am an East Coast person. I think if
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    Westminster Gardens had been on the East Coast, I would have chosen
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    it but California seemsed too far
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    away. So I came to Prentice House in nineteen seventy-
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    one in June. And, I have
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    been there all of this time.
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    Since coming to Philadelphia, it has been interesting to try to find places
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    to serve in a big
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    city. For two and a half years I
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    served at the nationalities service center here in Philadelphia which specializes
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    in teaching English to foreign
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    students. Then I was given the opportunity to serve as President
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    of the Women's Guild of Arch Street Church, where I am a member.
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    And, I have served there as president for four years. I've just completed the fourth year.
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    And this was a very fine opportunity because although we have a small number of women who attend
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    meetings we were
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    able to interest the women in the church. All the
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    women of the church in general in various projects. and I think we accomplished quite a bit.
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    Also I had found out that united the the Church Women United had
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    its offices very near where I was living. And so, I became involved in their
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    activities serving as chairman of the Citizen Action
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    Committee which in which capacity I served for a while and
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    then resigned, and now I'm back at that job
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    again serving in that
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    capacity. This is my second
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    year. I would like to say just one thing
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    about retirement. I think it
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    isn't and a stage in life that has to be worked on just
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    like every stage in life has to be worked on. Things don't come
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    automatically, but I find that it is a very rewarding
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    time a time to do things that you didn't have time to do
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    before. And,
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    I especially found a great deal of satisfaction in being able to
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    devote time to Bible study especially Bible prophecy.
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    So I feel
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    that if people will really work at retirement there are many things to
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    do and many rich blessings to be fit to be found at
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    this stage of life.
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    So I feel as
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    I read they are the title of Myra Scovel's book. I
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    really feel I'm living in clover and thank God for all his blessings.
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    [Hinn]Thank you very much. Lynda. This will be filed at the Presbyterian
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    Historical Society in their oral history department. This is Alfreda
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    to
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    Hinn thanking Lynda for
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    her
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    contribution. Lynda you were
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    at the Pension Board home in Newton, New Jersey, weren't you?
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    I think we forgot to mention that before. Will you tell us about your time there.
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    And when you went
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    there? [Carver] Well
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    I did
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    mention that because of my mother's health, I had asked for
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    years leave of absence from the Board [COEMAR]. I didn't want to resign because I
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    felt there was a possibility that after my mother's death, I might be able to return to the field.
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    So I took this year's leave of absence
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    and at that time they were looking for someone to manage the Miriam
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    home in Newton New Jersey which was a Board of Pensions home. So I was given that
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    opportunity and served there for fifteen months and then I returned
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    to Iran for three years rather than going directly back to
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    Baghdad. [Hinn] Will you tell us? Do you remember
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    any special experience of yours at the
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    home?
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    I don't know of any special experience.
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    We had about eighteen people in the home. I enjoyed the years that I spent
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    there, and Newton was is is
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    an interesting little
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    community. I think
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    that the thing I and one of the things I enjoyed
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    most was bringing flowers into the house for the older
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    people.They could not see the flowers out in the garden, and we had lovely grounds around this
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    old home in Newton, which had been
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    willed to the Board by the Miriam
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    family. Many of the treasures of that family had been left in
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    the home and it was really a
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    beautiful situation in which to live. I never thought that I
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    could live, I think, in America in such ease as I was as I
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    was able to live at the Miriam home, but I did enjoy arranging flowers and
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    I think
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    the holiday celebrations were nice times for us
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    too with table decorations, a Christmas tree and so
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    on. That was a very enjoyable
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    time. I think one of the reasons I decided not to stay at Newton was because
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    I had become so attached to the people there that I hated to be there when
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    those folks passed away. And, this was one reason I was glad for an opportunity to get
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    back into active service
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    again. [Hinn] I'm glad we added on
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    this because this was the part that we didn't want to miss.
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    Thanks again.

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