EFFIE DONNELSON
1898-1994
Wife of first Mission Director
Approved 1950

Effie (Robb) Donnelson was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, on December 22, 1898. She married Fred Donnelson September 25, 1920, while they were both attending Wheaton College. She worked by her husband’s side while he pastored two churches in the Chicago area. They were at Messiah Baptist Church for eight years and it was there that they began to feel burdened for missions. 

She, together with her husband and two children, went to China in February of 1933. They established many churches as well as maintaining a Bible school for the training of preachers and Christian workers and a small orphanage in Hang Chow. She suffered through two years of Japanese imprisonment and three evacuations from China where it was necessary to leave all of their possessions. 

Mrs. Donnelson served as Dean of Women at Baptist Bible College, Springfield, Missouri, for more than 18 years. Her influence upon the lives of young women, especially missionary women, cannot be measured. She authored two books "They Called Him Mr. Missions" and "Moongate Glimpses of Missionary Life and Work." Effie Donnelson went to be with her Lord on January 6, 1994. She was survived by, her son, Paul and her daughter, Lois; seven grandchildren; nineteen great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.