The "Vass" Continent of Africa: a Love Story: The Life and Times of Winifred K. Vass and Lachlan C. Vass Iii

By Elizabeth "Lilibet" Vass Wilkerson

This book is the story of the lives of Winifred Kellersberger Vass and Lachlan Cumming Vass -- how they met, fell in love and became missionaries in the Belgian Congo as told in letters they wrote to their friends, family, and supporting churches back in the United States. There are many exciting adventures and Winnie Vass is a story teller par excellence!! From heartbreak to thrills -- you will find it all in this book!!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664291645

Elizabeth "Lilibet" Vass Wilkerson

The author is the 3rd daughter of the missionaries who are the main characters in this biography. She was born, reared, and educated primarily in the Congo, later attended Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC, taught school in Laurens, SC for 36 years, married to Tim Guerin of Atlanta, GA (3 yrs) and Reggie Wilkerson of Ware Shoals, SC (41 yrs) . She has one daughter by her first husband Cora Elizabeth Guerin Small (Michael) of Black Mountain, NC and two step children by her second husband: Lorrie Lee Wilkerson Hudson (Jimmy) of Coward, SC and James Wilkerson (Korin) of Laurens, SC, and seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She is presently enjoying her retirement with her husband Reggie at their home in Laurens. She is active in her church at West Main Street Church of God in Ware Shoals, SC and in the Presbyterian College Alumni Association.

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The Vass

Continent of Africa:

A Love Story

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF

WINIFRED K. VASS AND

LACHLAN C. VASS III

EDITED BY

ELIZABETH LILIBET VASS WILKERSON

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Copyright © 2023 Elizabeth Lilibet Vass Wilkerson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9165-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9164-5 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/28/2023

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE (1915 - 1940)

Winifred’s Story; Lachlan’s Story

Chapter 1 – FIRST TERM (1940 – 1945)

1st Voyage to Africa via South Pacific; Kasha; Luebo; 1st Furlough – Biloxi, MS/Richmond, VA

Chapter 2 – SECOND TERM (1946-1951)

Luebo; Trip back to US via Egypt & Europe; 2nd Furlough – Richmond, VA (Mission Court)

Chapter 3 – THIRD TERM (1952-1956)

Luebo; Lubondai; 3rd Furlough – Decatur, GA (Arcadia Ave.)

Chapter 4 – FOURTH TERM (1957-1961)

Mutoto; Ndesha; Evacution; 4th Furlough – Decatur, GA (Church St.)

Chapter 5 – 5th TERM – (1961-1965)

Separation -6mos-Luluabourg; Ndesha – family reunited; Luebo; 5th Furlough – Gainesville,FL

Chapter 6 – THE FINAL YEARS IN CONGO – (1966 – 1970)

Kananga/Centre Protestant; 6th Furlough (3mos); Luebo (1968)

EPILOGUE – TRANSITION & RETIREMENT (1970-2010) –DALLAS,TEXAS

Dallas, TX - The Silent Years; Highland Park Presbyterian Church; Presbyterian Village North

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PHOTOGRAPHS

DEDICATION

First of all, of course, I dedicate this book to my beloved parents, Lach and Winnie Vass because this is their story. The places are real, the people are real and the situations and the stories are real and true! This is NOT a drama with made-up characters or a made-up plot and out-come! Thank you for your wonderful example of lives dedicated to God. I am who I am today because of you. Although you both met at the feet of Jesus in Heaven in 2010, the torch has been passed, and I claim your cloak of service, teaching ministry and writing. The wooden plaque used on the cover and as the title of this book was created by my mother Winnie herself while living in Dallas, TX after having used the same epithet in many of her letters and newsletters throughout her missionary career -- as you will see in a number of the letters in this book.

Secondly, I dedicate this book to my beloved sisters Edna, Julia Lake and Winifred and our sister Sophie who is buried in the Congo - because this is our story, too. Thanks for all your help in encouraging me and answering questions as I transcribed the letters.

Thirdly, I dedicate this to all of our dear grandparents, aunts, uncles and precious cousins – many have passed on but some dear ones are still here with us and are also a part of this story.

Finally, but definitely not the least, I also dedicate this book to all of our blessed, God-given friends around the world and especially in Congo, because without you our lives would have had less joy, meaning and purpose. You all are a part of this love story as well!

Eu udi lusuminu lua mioyi ya Mamu Misenga wa Ngangabuka Bukitu ne Mamu Munanga ne Mamu Musankisha ne wa Muambi Mukungilayi wa Muambi Malu Malu, baledi bananga ba Munanga, Musankisha, Mbuyi Elisabeta ne Kankalongo, ne mudimu wa Nzambi wakenzabo munkatshi mua bena Kasai mu ditungu dia Congo 1941-1970. Nzambi atumbishibue!

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Lach and Winnie Vass – taken by Reggie Wilkerson

A plaque that hung in Lach and Winnie’s home

for many years that reveals to whom they owed

their allegiance, trust, faith, and love reads:

YESU UDI MUKELENGE

(Jesus is King/Lord!)

*********************

Mama’s favorite quote:

"Send me anywhere, only go with me.

Lay any burden on me, only sustain me.

Sever any tie but the tie that binds me to

Thy service and to Thy heart."

- David Livingston

HERE STAND I

by Winifred K.Vass – Sept. 25, 1955

1. God is Love.

2. I am Love’s, kept by Love. I am not my own. Love contains no fear- indeed fully-developed love expels every particle of fear, for fear always contains some of the torture of feeling guilty. This means that the man who lives in fear has not yet had his love perfected. HIS LOVE GROWS IN US TOWARDS PERFECTION.

3. Love created my life for His purposes in this land of Africa, for which I was destined before my birth. My work is not finished. I have a contribution to make, which I have not yet even begun.

4. Lach’s love for me and mine for him are Love’s inimitable basis for our life together. I am not my own. I am Lach’s.

5. Our children’s lives are my responsibility. Their love is my joy. I am not my own. I am my Edna’s and my Julia Lake’s and my Lilibet’s and my Winited’s who need me.

6. By quiet, steady dependence on the Christ Who has said He is always with me and in me, I can conquer my Self and can discipline my mind to a basic attitude of serenity, childlike trust and imperturbable cheerfulness. He has not given me the spirit of fear, but of POWER and of LOVE and a SOUND MIND(II Tim. 1:7) KJV. By quiet, steady committal of each of my human relationships to the Christ Who has called to Himself all who labour and are heavy laden, I can love each one rightly, with purity, understanding and freedom, being completely and joyously myself, as He means for me to be at my best in Him without pride in utter humility.

"Sufficient for thee is My Grace; it is in the forge of infirmity that strength is wrought to perfection. Most cheerfully, then will I boast of my frailty, rather than murmur, so that over me, as a tent, may be spread the might of Messiah. And so I am contented in the midst of frailty, outrages, sore straits, persecutions, privations (- these may be of the spirit and the mind, as well as actually physical -) ALL FOR MESSIAH’S SAKE, for it is just when I am frail that I am truly strong. (II Cor.12:9) KJV

Rest upon God to do more for you than you can ever understand.

FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. (Deuteronomy 7:9) KJV

Everyone likes a love story and this odyssey will be one with no less romance plus all the excitement of life in Africa, as well as inspiration from lives dedicated to living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here is a love story about love for God, love for Africa, love for people, and the love of a man and a woman for each other and their family. This epic will come primarily from the letters of my father and mother, Lachlan C. (III) and Winifred K. Vass, and continues the sagas told in their previous books of Dr. Not Afraid about the life and work of Dr. Eugene R. Kellersberger, and The Lapsley Saga, which includes the life and work of Rev. Lachlan C. Vass II – my grandparents who were also missionaries to the Belgian Congo in the heart of Africa.

One inspiration for my putting this story together comes from Justin Glenn of Florida State who has written a series of books on the descendants of George Washington – of whom our family is a part through the Comyn clan on my father’s side. He urged me to get The Diary of L.C. Vass, Chaplain Stonewall Brigade into print and to write my parents’ story as well. All along the way, he encouraged me when I became discouraged and overwhelmed by the task.

Another inspiration for editing the letters of my parents came from the writings of the Rev. Lachlan C. Vass I, D.D. of Newbern, NC - my great grandfather – whose diary mentioned above I transcribed and edited. On both sides of our family, there have been preachers and Christian leaders who have been truly dedicated to serving Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and the blessings and love of God have flowed throughout their stories and lives. I want to show how God’s guidance, protection and blessings continued in my parents’ lives and how they serve as an inspiration to me and to following generations, and in doing so, I want to share our godly heritage with the world.

Perhaps the most important inspiration for collecting and editing the material for this story surfaced in my dreams and visions during the night as in stories found in the Bible. Throughout the Bible and history God has revealed His will and plans in dreams and visions to those who seek Him and wait on Him - Joseph, Samuel, David, Solomon, Daniel, Mary and Joseph, Peter, John, and Paul to name a few - and I, too, feel I am being led by such visions in this great undertaking. For such a time as this was said of Esther and I, too, feel I was saved from death as a baby and have been kept in my life for such a job as this. When I came across the story of how I came through almost dying from inhaling the quinine tablet at 16 months of age (see June 28, 1949), I know I why I was kept alive – so I could share my parents’ life with the world in this saga!!

I have chosen to simply edit this odyssey and allow my parents to tell their own story in their own words through the letters they wrote over the years as well as through other letters written to them or about them. Among my mother’s many talents was her masterful and anointed ability to express things in words in both writing and speaking. She could speak Tshiluba and French like a native born speaker. She sang like an angel and taught the Congolese children and choirs and translated many hymns into Tshiluba. We sisters even sang them at both hers and Daddy’s funerals!

My daddy’s talents centered primarily in his ability to fix any kind of machinery and cars and radios for the Mission. He was also the Mission Treasurer for many years. The printing press at Luebo in the Kasai and at IMPROKA in Kananga are evidence of his projects and life’s work.

Both of my parents always had the God-given ability to make people feel special, loved and appreciated!

A few years before Mama’s death, I asked her to give me her blessing and leave me her mantle of teaching and writing, and I believe she did so. My task has been to collect and share my parents’ thoughts with the world, and help others get to know and appreciate them in the special way their many friends, co-workers, and my sisters and I have. Their story revealed in their own letters and words is permeated with their love for God, dedication to His service, and their deep love for and devotion to each other, their family, and the Congolese people.

I cannot complete my acknowledgements without mentioning the support and help my dear husband Reggie has given me as I typed these letters and put this book together – especially all the times I needed help working the computer. I love you and truly appreciate you, My Long-Suffering, Patient, Beloved Darling Companion!

NOTE: I WILL BE SENDING ALL PROCEEDS FROM THIS BOOK TO THE CONGO TO LIPROKA/IMPROKA TO BE USED IN THE PRINTING OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE - ESPECIALLY MATERIALS MAMA WROTE OR TRANSLATED.

– The Editor

PROLOGUE

1915 - 1940

This love story begins in Montreat, NC in the summer of 1938; however, the lives of this couple, Lachlan Cumming Vass III and Winifred Helena Kellersberger, were truly unique leading up to this encounter. Their early lives can actually only be described as a prelude to the love they would find in each other, in the Congolese people and in service to their Lord.

WINIFRED’S STORY

Winifred’s Story; Lachlan’s Story

Winifred was born August 30, 1917 at Lusambo in the Belgian Congo during the time her parents Edna and Eugene Kellersberger were missionaries there. Her recollections of that early life are told explicitly in Dr. Not Afraid, including the circumstances that led to her returning to America with her mother and sister Cornelia due to her mother’s bout with sleeping sickness. It was while they were staying in Texas with her mother’s father Phillip Bosche that her mother was fatally shot. Winifred was only six years old and was the primary witness to the horrible shooting by her grandfather’s estranged second wife. Dr. Kellersberger was in Africa and did not receive word of his wife’s death until six weeks later. In time arrangements were made for Winifred and her sister to go live in Kansas City, Mo. with Uncle Hermann and Aunt Lue Mattern. Several entries from letters to and from her father in Africa show the hardship wrought by this tragedy including the ensuing separation of Winifred from her beloved medical missionary father as he continued his work there alone 1923-1928. These letters show once again how God uses our experiences to prepare us for life, to develop character, and to shape our future. Nomatter how sad and lonely Winifred was, somehow she knew her father loved her deeply and that he was doing God’s work in Africa.

While Dr. Kellersberger continued his work in Africa, Winifred would often sit by the mailbox of the Kansas City home, just waiting to hear from her beloved father. School kept her busy, and time sometimes seemed to crawl by and other times, it appeared to almost fly by - as Winifred noted in a letter to her daddy on November 7, 1925:

How are you? Just think, it is November. We have been in Kansas City almost two years. The years are flying by.

A letter from Winifred to her father on May 28, 1927 shows her understanding of her father’s important work for God:

We are having a missionary program. I am going to say, Daddy says to be a missionary we must get a vision of our own need of Christ and his love for the world. That we should never feel sorry for a missionary, but rather everyday pray for him for he is a person with consciousness of a world task, living a full useful life, doing a great work for God and the world. But he needs our prayers and our money. Winifred Kellersberger. Daddy, did you really say that? Didn’t you?…Please don’t be unhappy. I’m not. You, Cornelia and I will see mother again.

On June 4, 1927, Winifred wrote her father:

I got your letter of April 10. It tells about you putting up a stone in front of the hospital that said Edna Kellersberger Memorial Hospital. You said our names were Misenga and Mibanga. Witch (sic) is mine and witch(sic) is Babe’s (Cornelia’s)?

Winifred’s developing faith is seen in her letter of June 18, 1927 when she was almost 10 years old :

Yesterday Hilda (the Materns’ Swedish cook) was peeling the peel of an orange. She peeled it long so that it curled up. She said if you threw it on the floor it would make the first letter of your sweetheart’s name. It formed a J. I know it was Jesus. Today one orange peel formed G. I know it was for God. The orange peel formed an S. I’m sure it was for Savior. I’m sure it meant Jesus was my friend always.

On September 12, 1927, Winifred again wrote very significantly:

Last Sunday I went into all the Sunday School rooms and wrote on the blackboards Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. Daddy, you are doing what it said. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I’m going to do what it says too.

Even though Dr. Kellersberger was very busy, Winifred was constantly assured of her father’s deep love and he lived for her letters, too, as is seen in a letter written to her November 13, 1927:

Dearest Daughter,

This time just a word of love to you and Cornelia. I’m writing on my knee and in the next room is a very sick woman – a white woman – and I haven’t had time to write. Too many white and native sick people.

I got no mail from you again this week and I hope next week to get a big one. I am very tired tonight and when Miss Fontaine comes back I’ll go to bed.

This is just a love scratch and these are XXOOXXOO for you and for our darling Cornelia.

Your loving Daddy

Also on December 25, 1927, her daddy wrote:

Darling, Daddy had so much to do that he couldn’t write anymore. Now I’ll just say I love you and Cornelia very, very much. Be my sweet, wonderful girl and a dear, dear child of God, to make your Daddy happy and your mother in heaven. Next week I’ll write more.

Always lovingly, Daddy

Winifred looked for news of her father and wrote to him on December 31, 1927:

I saw an article in that Congo Mission News by you – In the Footsteps of the Great Physician. I can hardly believe tomorrow will be 1928, and 1927 will never come again. It seems as though 1927 has just begun. Just think maybe you will be here this year.

Winifred already knew she was meant to return to Africa someday herself and wrote to her father on January 28, 1928:

My first aid kit has some adhesive now. I am going to get some mucuracrome (sic), too. It has now: bandages, sling, cold cream, adhesive, soap powder, scissors, apron. I expect to get a cantine (sic), gauze, more mucuracrome (sic), and watch. I have been obeying the health rules so I can go to Africa. I can hardly wait till we study Africa in Geography. I can help them a lot. I hope you can come home soon. Give Mukeba Moyo.

The wait for her daddy to come home was very painful as seen in this letter from Eugene to Winifred on April 22, 1928. This letter also shows how he often wrote to her of her mother, and how he encouraged her to begin keeping a prayer diary – a habit she carried through life and passed on to at least one of her daughters.

You mustn’t cry if I don’t come home in May. Mrs. Garrison, whoever she is, hasn’t any business telling you that I was coming home in May. I’ve never told you that in any of my letters either, and you know that it’s toward the end of the year that I hope to come to you. I even said it might be till after New Year, but I am not sure. You are my big girl, and I know you are brave, and know that the moment Daddy can leave this work, he is coming. You ask, Are you coming home? OF COURSE I am, you sweet rascal. I’ve told you and I am, and in God’s own time, and because He is the pilot of the ship, I expect to see you sure. When? I can’t say, but you must be patient, and Cornelia, too, for some day DADDY will be there, and that will be a wonderful day. Till that time comes I want you to be Aunt Lue and Uncle Hermann’s wonderfully sweet children. I hope you both are unselfish, and sweet, and considerate of others. Ask God each day to make you sweeter and more like Christ. Do you read in your Bible regularly each day, and have time for your prayer? Maybe you can start a little book where you put things down, like mother and your daddy do, to ask God, and then when He has answered you write that down, too.

You and Cornelia must pray hard that Daddy will come home well and safe, and that God will use him at home, too, to tell the people about the needs out here. So many people love their automobiles and their clothes more than they do God and these poor Africans out here. I want you and Cornelia to love Jesus MORE than all else on earth, and I am praying everyday that God will guide you, and train you, so that your two lives will be a blessing to many, many others here on earth who don’t know Jesus. So many lives are a curse. The life of mother was so sweet and so pure and wonderful, and I want you both to be as sweet as mother was. She will be happy in heaven when her two daughters are the finest women on earth. That is my ideal for you both, and I pray and pray about it every day.

I am looking forward to your diary letter, Sweet Child, and always love to hear from poor little me.

Love from your very own Daddy

Back in June of 1924, while in the States setting in order the affairs of his wife and daughters, Dr. Kellersberger had met Julia Lake Skinner, and had been writing to her during the five years he was back in Africa. In 1930, they were married, and thus Winifred and Cornelia were able to join their father and new mother in Africa. Julia Lake taught both girls at home until the time when Winifred returned to the States to attend Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Ga. in 1934. She kept busy with her classes and extracurricular activities - primarily in drama and music, teaching children at a colored mission, speaking about Africa to churches and to young people, and always with a heart open to God’s leading her into Christian service. In a letter to her parents May 3, 1936, she wrote:

I have just come back from North Avenue Presbyterian Church where I talked twice, once to the intermediates and once to the seniors, about Africa, of course. It is the first time that I have talked for a long time, and so I enjoyed it a lot. I might as well tell you about the talks which are in store for me right now while I am thinking about them! I am giving the inspirational at the Young People’s Conference or Rally at Jackson, Georgia, this next Sunday afternoon. That is going to be a real opportunity, because it is made up of just the young people who are leaders in this presbytery of Atlanta. I’m praying that He will use me a lot.

While in college, Winifred met and became engaged to a young man from Atlanta who was going into the ministry; however, things did not work out for them. The engagement was broken in 1938. She went to Montreat, NC and although this was a trying time for Winifred, in August of 1938, following her graduation from Agnes Scott, she showed her determination to return to Africa in this letter to her grandfather Bosche:

It is all finished now and I am interested in finding where I am going to school this year for one more year, so that I can be more ready to return to Africa in two or three years with mother and dad. …… I thought for a while that I was going to go back to Africa this fall, but I think now that it is best to stay in this country where I can be with folks.

Strange as it may seem, I can see that if I married (), I could never go back to Africa, and I have always felt that I should go back, and now I am free to go, and the way is opening up to go.

Truly, God was guiding Winifred’s footsteps and preparing her for a life that would definitely be an odyssey of true love and adventure as only He can do.

*******************************

LACHLAN’S STORY

Born in Germantown, TN. on September 13, 1915 while his father was the pastor of the Germantown Presbyterian Church, Lachlan was the second son of Lachlan Cumming Vass II and his wife Frances Stedman Sharp. He, along with his older brother John and younger sister Sophie, spent their early years in Cartersville, Ga. during their father’s pastorate in that city. Lachlan was known as a prankster from his earliest years, and one story is told of how he pushed his baby sister Sophie’s buggy down the steep hill near their house. The family moved next to Dalton, Ga. when Lachlan was in the 4th and 5th grades. His paternal grandmother, Mary Eliza Jones Vass, known affectionately as Dear Ma, came to live with them. Lachlan admits to tormenting his grandmother by constantly playing tricks on her. Finally the Vass family moved to Chattanooga, TN where Rev. Vass was the pastor of the St. Elmo Presbyterian Church. It was there that Lachlan spent his teenage years with many hours spent climbing both Signal and Lookout Mountains and in Boys Scouting activities. He achieved the Eagle Scout award in addition to recognition in sports – wrestling and football in particular - and began his hobby of photography.

Because of Rev. Vass’s early work in the Congo, the Vass home was filled with artifacts from Africa including two African Grey parrots (one of which was given them by Aunt Sadie Greene); consequently, Lachlan was exposed to the idea of Africa and missionary work from childhood. Lachlan’s tender heart is reflected in this letter to his mother in 1935:

I certainly was sorry to hear that my parrot died. I read Sophie’s note down at the post office and then came straight to my room. After reading about the parrot’s death again I cried for about five minutes, but I haven’t worried any since. Maybe it’s because the exams are on my mind and are worrying me. I guess I will have to get chummy with the other bird now or I won’t have any pet. I wish Sophie had told me more about the parrot, but I suppose that I can wait until Saturday to hear.

A letter from Lach’s sister Sophie in 2010 relates random memories about Lach as a child and their family:

When our family moved from Dalton, Ga. to Chattanooga (St. Elmo), we lived we lived in a rented house two doors from the St. Elmo Elementary School until the church could buy a manse. Dear Ma (grandmother) lived with us in the only downstairs bedroom. She kept sugar squares in her dresser drawer and I used to go in there and ask for one and I took several. She was bedfast and Mother had to wait on her all day. Mother had a miscarriage so we never had another brother or sister. I was 5 years old and Lachlan was 11 and John was 13. Lachlan teased me all the time. He was swinging a rope around and hit me and Daddy gave him a spanking with a belt. Lach and John used a pulley and pulled me up in a tree once in the front yard.

We moved to the manse on Tennessee Ave. four blocks from the St. Elmo Ave. house and lived there until we three children finished high school and college (Lookout Jr. High and City High School).

Our life in Chattanooga was a happy one. Daddy was pastor of the St. Elmo Presbyterian Church which was a mission church of the First Presbyterian Church downtown. It became self-supporting some years later. (The church now belongs to another Presbyterian Church denomination. Their college is in the old hotel on Lookout Mt. and they support it). We used to hike up Lookout Mt. many times. John and Lach were boy Scouts and they camped at their camps. There was a lake on top of Lookout Mt. called Lula Lake. In Lach’s teenage years he dived into it and hit bottom and almost broke his neck. John and Lach used to play on the rocks that are Rock City now (on top of the mt.)

Lachlan liked to go barefooted not only because he had sore toes but often he went to Jr. High (Lookout Jr. High – 7th, 8th, 9th grades) barefooted to school. John and Lach liked to jump on their beds. Dad and Mother would call up the stairs to stop it, but it didn’t last long. Because their bed began to sag in the middle, Dad and Mother told them they had to sleep on it anyway. Lachlan loved bananas and he ate one almost everyday. He would go out on the back porch and lean out the window and drop the peeling down to the garbage can below. We took turns washing the dishes. Lach loved to blow bubbles from the dishwater out the window over the sink. Lach was a picky eater and so was I but John ate everything. We would sneak food onto John’s plate.

Since Lach and John were 6 and 8 years older than me, we weren’t together except as a family. They had their friends and I had mine. Every August we went on a vacation together. John usually worked jobs in the summer and didn’t go with us on vacations so the four of us travelled all over the eastern US visiting relatives and sightseeing. Poole’s Rock was Mother’s family summer home. I visited once but none of us stayed there. Mother was the youngest of 8 children. She played with the servants’ little black children and loved it. She had typhoid fever when she was 7 years old and lost all her hair.

In Lach’s teens, he fell in love with a lovely young girl and she with him. They dated several years in high school and he in college and wanted to marry sometime but Dad forbid it – even though the church members approved. Why? Because she grew up in a very poor, humble family with not much ambition, except this Ruby who was very attractive and had pulled herself up above her family. Anyway Lach obeyed Dad and went to Montreat to find himself a wife. He found your mother. Everyone was happy. I was your mother’s maid of honor in their wedding.

In spite of everything Lachlan did growing up, he turned out to be a handsome, good-looking young man in high school and college – and well mannered and had good behavior. He was smart and always made good grades. He was truly a good brother and I was always proud of him.

Lachlan’s college years were spent at Davidson College, Davidson, NC with many of his summers and breaks spent at Montreat, NC – the conference grounds of the Presbyterian Church and home to missionaries on furlough as well as summer home to missionaries’ children from all over the world, including Africa. In Montreat, he worked primarily as a lifeguard on Lake Susan and lived in various boarding homes where he rubbed shoulders with the many missionary kid. Good-looking, fun-loving and known as a big tease, Lachlan was popular with all – especially the young ladies.

It is only fitting then that Montreat, the Presbyterian Conference Center in the Blue Ridge Mountains east of Asheville, NC, should be the place where Lachlan first met Winifred Kellersberger. As it happened, Rev. Vass was eager to see his old colleague from the Congo, Dr. Eugene Kellersberger who was on furlough and attending the annual mission conference in Montreat in the summer of 1935. The doctor was not at home, and the Vasses were met instead by Dr. Kellersberger’s charming daughter Winifred. Rumor has it that Mrs. Vass immediately began to match-make the two; however, at that time, Lachlan was involved with the other young lady Sophie mentioned, and Winifred did not like this big teaser at all – besides, she was still engaged to the other man in Atlanta.

Lachlan’s mother succeeded in arranging a date for Lachlan and Winifred at the home of Mrs. Vass’ sister Aunt Floy in Decatur, Ga. during the Christmas season, 1936. Lachlan hitch-hiked down from Davidson and then, with his cousin Ed, Jr., rented a car in which to drive to Agnes Scott to pick up Winifred and take her to Aunt Floy’s for an evening of playing games.Winifred again decided she was not impressed by this big teaser and was only too eager to get back to the college. The vehicle, however, was rented for only a specific amount of mileage and when another guest asked for a ride home, Lachlan refused, angering Winifred.

Lachlan was always mindful of his father’s legacy, and in a note to his mother in 1937, he said:

My job this summer is life guard……I am trying – rather I have written about it – to get in at the Collegiate Home on the grounds that my father was once a missionary.

I am to report to Montreat July 1st, but please do not make any plans for me.

Lachlan again ran into Winifred while attending a missions conference in Atlanta at which she was the registrar. He commented to her, I heard you are not going back to Africa. To which Winifred, who at the time was engaged to be married, replied, That’s true. God had other plans for the two because that marriage was not meant to be, and by the summer of 1938, the two were dating. Love was blossoming as can be seen in this letter Lach wrote to Winnie while he was on a trip to Gatlinburg with a group of young boys from Montreat:

Dearest Winifred,

I certainly did think about you all during my bus ride. I got over to Black Mt. at 7:05 – ate breakfast in Asheville – and lunch in Knoxville. You know, Winnie, I had the strangest feeling – and still have somewhat around my heart. It kind of burns and yet is the happiest feeling. – There are so many things that I would like to tell you – and I mean tell, not write. Everything came so suddenly that it startled me and frightened me and yet makes me strangely happy. There are so many things that I want us to do together – to hike up on Lookout Mountain (Chattanooga) in the moonlight and look at the lights of the city below – to just sit and talk.

Winifred, I simply must see you again and talk with you. Everything that you have said to me lingers in my mind – and regardless of how you couldn’t picture what I looked like as you were on the train, I can see your face smiling at me just as clearly. I could see it better though if I had a picture of you. (Hint, hint.) No, if you don’t want to give me even a small one, OK, but I have a secret place I can keep it.

Stay sweet as you are and remember that I want you.

All my love, Lach

One story of an early date by the creek near the Montreat gate is one I loved to hear over and over growing up. It seems that Lach and Winnie began a habit of going off to various spots along the creek in Montreat to have a time of Bible reading and prayer together. This particular time near the Montreat gate, after they had read from the Bible for awhile, Lach stood up. Winifred said, Haven’t you forgotten something? According to her, she meant they had not yet prayed together; however, Lach took it to mean he had forgotten to kiss her. Lach always commented that Winnie never mentioned the prayer again! That’s just like my teasing, loving Daddy to think that!

First cousin pretty Margie Graves Lonergan tells how Lach invited her to come down from Baboursville, VA to his graduation from Davidson College. She took the train to Charlotte and all the Vasses were there. She spent the following week with them in Chattanooga and, of course, Lach took lots of pictures – his hobby.

After his graduation from Davidson, Lach had entered seminary in Louisville, Ky. and Winnie, although she had planned to go to California after her graduation from Agnes Scott, decided to take a job in Bowling Green, Ky. – keeping her at least in the same state as Lachlan. She worked with the young people under the care of Dr. Groves. A letter from Winnie to her family on October 17, 1938 tells more about their lives as they got to know each other better during this period:

Lach is deep in his work at Seminary. He is working in the big colored mission at Louisville with Dr. Little, and is really getting a wealth of experience there. This is his hardest year of work at the Seminary, and he really has to keep his nose to the grindstone. But in two weeks he is going to come down here just overnight. You knew, I guess, that he is one of the Patterson scholars, and from what I’ve hard he’s one of the best!

Mother and Dad, Windows came a few weeks ago, and I never can tell you what it has meant to me. It is exactly the kind of missionary book that I want to write if I ever do write one! It’s beautiful and spiritual and attractive and interesting. Lach especially enjoyed the pictures. His hobby is picture-taking and developing etc. and I think one of the things that he is looking forward to in Africa is the chance to take real photographs and character studies of Africa and her folks to bring back and show the home church.

Winnie took voice lessons on the side at Western Kentucky State Teachers College as she worked that year, and Lach came to one of her recitals on December 6, 1938. On the program he wrote comments about the various singers and the songs, and his comment beside Winnie’s song was:

Dessert. Gorgeous creature. Score: 14 to 0.

Soon after that, on December 17, 1938, Winnie wrote to Lach:

Very dearest, darling, precious angel, lovely Man of my Heart,

Wheeee! Isn’t that a successful start?! If only I can keep up this rate, you ought to be the reassuredestest man in the whole, wide world! But I am afraid I can’t say everything as nice as the first things I’ve said!

Although the couple hoped to spend Christmas together in Chattanooga that year, it looked doubtful due to Winnie’s schedule at the church with the young people’s Christmas pageant as well as her lack of funds. She continued in that previous letter to Lach:

But, like you, I have faith to believe that if it is right for us to be together at Christmas, the way will open up. A Christmas has never passes but that I haven’t received several checks from Mom’s and Dad’s friends who are interested in me…. Grandad sent me a check for ten and another lady for two, and with the tithe out, I made it do for sending a package to Cornelia, Miss Britt, her brother, her mother (who have been so wonderful to her), My Aunt Lue, Aunt Ted, Uncle Earl, Grandad Bosche, and Grandad Kellersberger, Aunt Sally Reid, and Jimmie, Aunt Annie and Aunt Julia in Texas, and the three girl cousins, and the girls circle here!…You say, Well, why all those relatives? Well, every single last one of them had several years of me – and when you are divided between all the relatives and they all have a claim on you, then there’s no such thing as a small Christmas!… But, if some time during the next week, the money does come, I’ll let you know first pop out of the box – or had I better let your family know?…But, I do want to be with you and with them – and if it’s at all possible, you know I’ll do anything to get there!…If I don’t get down there, maybe you can stop here an extra day or two on your way back to Louisville, and we can celebrate it really then, together! After all, it isn’t a question of time – it’s just happiest when it’s you and me together, and that’s Christmas, even though it’s July 4th!

YOU’ve really got me guessing as to what on earth it is for my Christmas gift!! I know what I’m going to do for you – but I ain’t gonna tel’ ya’ now!

It just seems like more and more the thrill of belonging completely to you is coming, and I’m happier about you all the time! Today when your dear note came – as all your notes are so filled with dearness and love – I just flopped down on the bed and called all kinds of pet names and wiggled my toes hard because – I love you so much! You know when I’m conscious of how much you are getting to mean to me, I feel like turning handsprings or rabbit-curves or squirrel-turns, just to let some of the extra energy it seems to pour into me – OUT!

This letter Lachlan wrote his mother showed that it was definitely God’s will for the couple to be together for Christmas.

Dearest Mother,

A special delivery just arrived from Winnie saying that she will be with us on the day after Christmas. You see, she is just getting $25 a month and her board and room there at Bowling Green so she has no money to spare. Well, I had told her what I was going to give her for Christmas, but I was giving her a round trip ticket to Chattanooga on the train - $6.85 with the Christmas rate. Now that Dr. Groves has presented her with that gift, I will have to rack my brain to find something to give her. Whew! And I thought I had solved the whole problem. I probably will wait until I get to Chattanooga and then give her a Yardley toilet water set, etc. You can get them from $1.50 up to $20 or more. Anyway, we will have each other! And we will be with our home folks – so! Winnie sent me the letter you wrote to her and it certainly was a sweet one. I think it is about the best I have ever seen from your hand.

I am bringing home quite a few books to study on – and I mean I am going to take some time each day in studying, except perhaps when Winnie intervenes.

It was a waiting game for Lach and Winnie with lots of decisions to be made while they prepared for their life’s work. They each had job offers and work they wanted and needed to do. It must have seemed interminable as seen in Lach’s letter of February 23, 1939 to his mother:

So, now it is a waiting game.

I suppose Winnie will have to be in Montreat this summer as much as I hate it. Not that I don’t trust Winnie, but there will be any number of eligibles running around in search of someone just like Winnie.

Circumstances changed for Winnie and she decided to go to live in Dillon, S.C. with her mother’s sister Winifred Brown. Lach tells about this in a letter to his mother:

Well, Winnie is leaving Bowling Green next Monday and she will be headed for South Carolina to live with her aunt at Dillon for a while. She is going to stop in Chattanooga on Monday night and please let her stay there for several nights. Just go ahead like we always live there and let her have a little while to think things over in the finest home that a boy ever had. I know you will understand all. That isn’t all of the story though. The Groves have been sick all winter off and on and Winnie alone has been able to stand up through it all. But for the past two weeks she has had this cough and has needed to have a doctor, but not Winnie. She was sick when she arrived here. This morning she had temperature of 102.6 and was not feeling well.

And Frances Vass did take care of Winnie – taking her to their doctor and nursing her back to health.

Lach wanted Winnie’s parents to get to know the man their daughter was spending time with and to inform them of his plans. He wrote this letter to the Kellersbergers in the Congo on July 24, 1939, again showing his deep interest in the mission field:

Every now and then Winnie sends me a letter from you – and I certainly do enjoy them all. Especially did I enjoy your account of the vacation you took. It makes me thrill to think that someday Winnie and I will be taking the same trip. No doubt, you have received my first letter by this time, which I sent via regular mail. I guess it’s the Scotch in me that made me send it that way instead of by airmail. No, you want to know the real reason? Well, I’ll tell you because I don’t think that you can give the secret away now. I have been saving every cent that I could possibly do so, with the hope of giving Winnie a diamond for her birthday. She thinks that I will not be able to get it for her and is expecting it at Christmas-time – hence, a big surprise is in store for her. I intend to leave Hawesville (Ky.) on August 21st for a brief vacation, going via train to Louisville, and from thence to Lexington, Va., by bus arriving there at 5 o’clock Tuesday morning (August 22nd). Winnie will meet there in Virginia Creeper, the old Model-T, and take me back to Raphine. We will stay with Aunt Sally Reid until Thursday morning when we will travel by bus to Montreat for a short visit. From there we will go to Chattanooga for several days – and then Winnie and I will part, she going to Dillon to prepare for her teaching, and I for Hawesville to preach the first Sunday in September. A ten or twelve day vacation together, but we have not seen each other since the first of May, (It seems like an eternity!) and we will not see each other again until Christmas. We will be together on Winnie’s birthday, so sometime when the occasion presents itself, Winnie will find a diamond on her hand. Want to know the kind I have about decided to get? It is a yellow gold ring having the finest blue white stone one can get. It will be ½ carat – and probably no side diamonds. Winnie and I both hope that everything will work out so that you both will be here in the States for our wedding. It will probably be at Montreat the last of June. Naturally, the Committee has said nothing definite about my appointment, but a letter from Dr. Fulton said that the Committee in its June meeting recommended that I continue my preparation for the foreign field with the expectation of being appointed. I hope to go before Knoxville Presbytery at its spring meeting to be ordained and have already gotten my Presbytery parts from Dr. Campbell of Chattanooga. – This year at Seminary will probably be my hardest one. Not only will my course be stiffer, but I will have these churches around Hawesville to preach in every weekend.

With best wishes and kindest regards to you both – and may God guide you in the decision which you may make ‘er this reaches you. My prayers are with you –and my love is with you because you a part of Winnie – and we are members in Him.

February 14, 1939 Lach received the letter from Darby Fulton that he had been waiting for – the announcement that he had been appointed to the mission field in Africa! Due to World War II, Dr. Fulton wrote:

In view of the impossibility of stopping in Belgium for French study under war conditions, our Committee is recommending that for the present arrangements be made for all new missionaries to do their special study after their arrival on the field, probably at Leopoldville.

The couple’s anticipation of their wedding and their trip to Africa grew! Lach wrote to Winnie on May 24, 1940:

If you don’t get this in Dillon, then it will be in Chattanooga – so if you are in Chattanooga as you read this – just lean over and kiss me and tell me that you love me. I adore you, Darling. Every waking moment I think of you.

And I am just as thrilled over seeing you on Monday/Tuesday as I was the first time I kissed you. May God always keep our love as beautiful and lovely as it is now!

I love you, Precious! -- Your lover – hubby, Lach

Lachlan and Winifred were married in Gaither Chapel at Montreat on June 16, 1940.The Kellersbergers were unable to attend the wedding due to their missionary responsibilities. In the wedding party, Lach’s best man was his friend Winston Fowler and groomsmen included his Davidson classmate Watson Street, his brother John, and Dr. Hugh Wilds, a missionary to the Congo and long time friend of Winnie’s on furlough at Montreat, who filled in at the last minute. Bridesmaids were Lach’s sister Sophie and Laura Coit, Winnie’s Agnes Scott classmate and the daughter of missionaries to Korea. Winnie’s Grandfather Phillip Bosche gave her away. The minister was, of course, Rev. Lachlan C. Vass, Lach’s father. Being short of stature, he wanted to be at eye level with the couple, and tottered on a stack of hymnbooks during the whole ceremony in order to do so. Winnie chose as the processional Ancient of Days and as the recessional Lead on, O, King Eternal. Several songs were sung by another girl whose parents were missionaries in Korea.

When the couple was ready to leave on their honeymoon after the ceremony, Rev. Vass informed his son that some of his prankster friends had pulled the coil off the distributor of his car. Lach and Winnie got in the car and coasted all the way down to the Montreat gate (several miles!), where he got out and put the car back in order. This gave the pursuing cars full of friends time to catch up with them, and they proceeded to block both the entry and exit lanes of the gate – getting out of their cars and sitting on the hoods hassling the newly weds. Lach surprised them all by simply going around the gate on the service road and coolly heading to Black Mountain – driving in the middle of the road in order not to let any of the pursuing cars get past him. Unfortunately, Winnie had been in such a hurry to get into the car and away from the church, she had left her bag of toilet articles on the sidewalk; consequently, the first purchase made by the new groom for his bride was a toothbrush and some toilet articles at a drugstore in Old Fort. The first night of the couple’s honeymoon was spent in Marion, NC before they drove to Washington, D.C.

On their way to Washington, DC, Lach and Winnie stopped in Barbersville, VA to visit Lach’s cousins. They invited cousin Margie (14-15 at the time) and cousin Ed Irby (16) to go with them on their honeymoon to see the sights in Washington, DC. Winnie also wanted to visit her college friend Catherine Marshall there in the capital. Margie said they all had a wonderful time together sightseeing everything! Imagine a newly married couple taking two teenagers with them on their honeymoon – Lach and Winnie were like that! After several days. Margie and Ed were to take the train back to Barbersville so Winnie and Lach let them off at the train station about 5 PM. There turned out to be, however, no train to Barboursville, so they bought tickets to Charlottesville (about 16 miles south of Barboursville). When the train stopped to get water in a stop near Barboursville, the two got off the train and decided to walk the three miles home – it was dark by then. She says a man stopped in a car and asked them why they were out so late, and after hearing their story, gave them a ride the rest of the way home.

Shortly thereafter, Lach and Winnie returned to Atlanta and Chattanooga and prepared for their departure for Africa on July 8, 1940.

CHAPTER 1

First Term (1940 – 1945)

After Lach and Winnie’s wedding in Montreat, NC and honeymoon in Washington, D.C., on July 8, 1940, they boarded a ship and finally began their trip bound for the Congo, the land of their destiny. It must be noted here that most of the following letters were written to Lach and Winnie’s family back in the States; however, some of the letters were MCD (Missionary Correspondence) letters written to their home churches and supporters.Winnie’s letter of October 15, 1940 from Lorenco Marques, Portuguese East Africa begins to tell of the events of that memorable trip.

Hurrah! This morning as we came into the harbor here, safe at last, and on our own continent of Africa, we saw two American freight steamers at the docks, and got the marvelous inspiration of asking them to take mail back to America for us, for it will not censored. They were only too glad to agree, and since the ship which is going straight to New York (a 40 day trip) leaves at three o’clock, I must get busy to tell you all that I can while I can, for this is the very last chance we will have to tell you all that has happened without feat of the letter being destroyed because of the strict censorship imposed in all African countries. We have not been able t tell you everything, but we can now, so here are some of the facts we have had to keep back!

Our first stop on the Noordam, after leaving Los Angeles was Balik-papan, Borneo. We were told not tell any of our ports of call. That is a key point, for Borneo is rich in oil and Balik-papan is the oiling station for the Dutch navy, merchant marine, etc. From there, we set out for Singapore, and were told by our captain that while at Balik-papan he had sent a wireless to the captain of this ship, the Swartenhondt, asking him to meet us at a certain point at sea. Our captain had found out that the S. was on its way from Singapore to Batavia and that we might be able to meet it. The point we were to meet at was at the northern end of the island of Banka, just off the coast of Sumatra. Look it up on the map. The sea forms a long, protected channel there sheltered on either side by the land, so since all Dutch ships use that passage because it is so protected, we knew we could not miss our ship there. We did not see it for a long time, but just before sundown, when were opposite the town of Mundok, on the northern tip-end, we saw a tiny, gray wraith of a boat lying at anchor, waiting for us. It was The Black Dog, as the name means in Dutch. About an hour after dark it steamed toward us, just as we all finished eating supper. It was something unparalleled in sea fare for two ships to exchange passengers at sea, but we all truly believe that God put it into the hearts of the captains to be willing to do that for us. If we had stayed on the Noordam, we would have had two or three more weeks at sea before getting to Batavia, and would have missed this ship, with no means of getting another. There have been about thirty Portuguese passengers on board from Macao, a Portuguese-run city in China. They have been Batavia for weeks and weeks waiting for a chance to get shipping to Africa, so no telling what would have become of us if this miracle hadn’t happened, of allowing us to change ships in the middle of the ocean. We had several lovely days in Batavia, taking a flying trip to Bandoeng, the resort of the island of Java. We have had to keep rather quiet that in Batavia the American Consul warned us that the United States was on the verge of war with Japan, and that we had better be on our way as quickly as possible. You see, God arranged everything so wonderfully, for we were no sooner than a few days out to sea than the news came through the Americans were ordered out of the Far East. He has taken care of us in such a way that we call marvel at it. But the most exciting thing of all is that after we were a few hours out of Batavia, we suddenly sighted a Dutch submarine waiting for us. We stopped and drew alongside it and its officers came aboard our ship for a consultation. We then went on, and that submarine was our escort for a full week. It was truly thrilling to get into a little motor launch at night across from one lighted ship to another, but it was even more thrilling when we were told that there is definitely an Italian raider in the Indian Ocean, and that this submarine was using us for a decoy to catch it. All went smoothly, and our little companion rode silently behind us for several days, when one afternoon, we were sitting on the back of the ship, and suddenly noticed that we were veering form our course and swerving from one side to the other as fast as we could. We knew that was the danger signal, and so we ran to see what we could. On the other side we saw another submarine coming toward us. We continued to swerve and put on extra steam while our escort turned and the two submarines faced each other. We all expected the torpedo tubes to go into action, but nothing happened and were we relieved when we learned that it was an English craft on the same mission as our escort. At the end of a week the Dutch one came up to us and