News at ABWE
In Memory of Elsie Bertha Miller
Elsie B. Miller, age ninety-five, went home to Jesus on Monday evening, March 10, 2008.
Elsie B. Miller was born in Philadelphia on March 22, 1912, the daughter of Fred P. and Bertha K. Miller. At a very early age, she was aware of God and her need to be saved from sin. To the dismay of her Presbyterian/Lutheran parents, she began to attend Burholme Baptist Church where she grew in the Lord. At a Percy Crawford Bible Conference, Elsie determined to yield to the Lord and be baptized by immersion. Following graduation from Frankford High School, she attended evening school at Philadelphia College of the Bible and graduated in 1942.
Ill health prevented Elsie from volunteering to become a missionary for ten years. However, because of her interest in foreign lands, Elsie eventually took a secretarial position with the army and was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany, for nine happy years. She volunteered in three army chapels, and she has said, “After the chaplain gave a ten-minute character guidance lecture, we brought in a missionary and had a real gospel service.”
Family needs brought her back to the United States, and she served in the Pentagon just long enough for the glamour to wear off. In 1965, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Burns contacted her about a job with ABWE. “I never wanted to work for a Christian organization. I liked efficiency, and I liked the business world. However, I had an interview with Mr. Bomm, and he must have persuaded me that I should come.” Elsie accepted an administrative assistant position working for Dr. Commons, Mr. Bomm, and Dr. Ebersole. It was a hard adjustment, but she served two presidents during seventeen years, and then stayed on as a volunteer in the president’s office until age ninety-three.
As she typed correspondence to the missionaries, Elsie’s heart was moved and encouraged to stay the course with ABWE. After Dr. Kempton became president, she was able to travel to many mission fields—a definite highlight in her life. But she had a longing to be “a missionary out on the front lines.” God provided that opportunity when Elsie was invited to serve in Iquitos, Peru, for four months. During her stay, the Lord taught her many lessons, strengthened and stretched her faith, and as she said “He has shown me that I make a better secretary than I would a missionary.” Dr. Kempton had always assured her that she was at the hub of the wheel, right where she belonged. But her time in Iquitos settled that for her.
Elsie was active in Burholme Baptist Church while in Philadelphia, and later in Emmanuel Baptist Church in Mechanicsburg. She faithfully participated in visitation, and attended as many special functions as she could, often inviting others to join her. She loved to pray for the needs of the church family as well as the missionaries, and took a personal interest in caring for missionaries.
She will be missed by many loving friends and coworkers, but she is in the presence of the Lord she loved and served so faithfully.