Lowry, Willis Gentry (1908–2003), and Helen (Meleen) (1912–2007)

Willis and Helen Lowry served in India as pioneer missionaries, church administrators, and Division departmental directors.

Early Life and Education

Willis Gentry Lowry was born on March 1, 1908, in Halsboro, North Carolina, U.S.A., where he spent the first six years of his life.¹ He was adopted by Gentry and Bertha Lowry, missionaries to India,² and spent his later childhood in Coimbatore and Bangalore, South India.

At the age of 14, Willis returned to the United States and studied at the Berean Academy in Texas in 1923,³ Southern Junior College in Tennessee in 1923,⁴ and Jefferson Academy in Mississippi.⁵ There, Willis joined the colporteur training institute⁶ and went canvassing the following summer, exceeding his goal of 50 hours.⁷ He returned for the next school year,⁸ but left after three terms.⁹ Willis then attended the Pisgah Industrial Institute (Mount Pisgah Academy), which had been established by Adventist lay members. School expenses for students there were covered by work in the school’s dairy, kitchen, or laundry.¹⁰ Willis Lowry drifted away from the church for a few years. He records 1929 as the year of his conversion and credits his parents for bringing him back. In 1930, he was baptized by L. B. Schick in Detroit.¹¹

Helen was the eldest daughter of Eric Meleen and his first wife, Wilhelmina Ringdahl, who had been born in Sweden.¹² She was born on March 9, 1912, in Chicago. The Meleens were also missionaries working together with the Gentry and Bertha Lowry in South India, and at the Training School in Coimbatore and Bangalore.¹³ Helen was baptized at Union Springs Academy in New York at the age of 10 by Elder Chapman.¹⁴

Early Work, Further Education, and Marriage

For a few years, Willis worked as a sculptor, industrial designer, painter and carpenter, and production manager.¹⁵ In 1936, Willis Lowry joined the University of Pennsylvania School of Design and Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.¹⁶

Helen had studied at Vincent Hill School in Mussoorie, India, and went to the Adventist College in Collonges, France, where she earned a certificate in French. She then spent some time canvassing in New York to save for her study at Atlantic Union College, which started in 1933. She received an invitation to teach French at Walla Walla, so she moved there for her final year, graduating in 1937 with a B.A. in Modern Languages and History. She had also trained as a practical nurse.¹⁷

In 1937, Willis proposed to Helen. There was no courtship since they had been friends from childhood. Willis made plans to attend her graduation and wrote to her parents. However, Helen hesitated because she had been aware of his backsliding and worldly life.¹⁸ Anxious to follow God’s will for her life, she asked for several signs from God, all of which were answered in the affirmative: (1) That the person she should marry should state that together they would serve the Lord. The very next letter from Willis mentioned this. (2) That there should be a dust storm on the day of his arrival. There was one, and Willis was quite upset to arrive covered with dust. (3) That there should be an earthquake that night. There was one at 1:00 a.m. that night.¹⁹ They had an outdoor wedding at Walla Walla on July 9, 1937.

Willis and Helen had two children: Gentry Eric was born on July 8, 1939, at High Point North Carolina, and Carolyn Burney was born on August 13, 1941, at Clinton, Massachusetts.²⁰

In 1942, Willis joined the SDA Theological Seminary which had been established in Takoma Park, Washington D.C., and then transferred in 1944 to the Washington Missionary College and Takoma Academy, finishing in 1948.

Before Willis Lowry graduated from WMC, the Southern Asia Division placed a call for the Lowrys to connect with the work in the Lushai Hills (Mizoram)²¹ and followed it with a grant of US$400 to purchase evangelistic equipment.²² (This included Willis Twentieth Century filmstrips, a kerosene projector, a portable petrol-operated dynamo to produce electricity and a large screen.)²³ The Lowrys found just one book in the library about Lushais, and what they read would have discouraged most missionaries. The tribal people were described as savages and headhunters. National Geographic had no information on the people. Nevertheless, they Lowrys accepted the call willingly.

Pioneering the Work in the Mizo Hills

For many years, Mizoram had been closed to foreigners.²⁴ The first Mizo to be baptized was in 1941. Zuala had studied at Assam Training School, attended a colporteur institute, and in 1946 was appointed the teacher-evangelist in Mizoram.²⁵ After the country gained independence in 1947, few missionaries had made brief visits.

The Lowrys arrived in India in August 1949 as the first missionaries to be appointed to the Lushai (Mizo) Hills.²⁶ The Northeast Union asked them to locate at Aijal, the main city, and tasked them with learning the Lushai (Mizo) language.²⁷ After obtaining their permit to enter Mizoram in Calcutta, they arrived in Aizawl on December 13, 1949.²⁸ They found the government superintendent there quite unfriendly. However, when he heard that Helen Lowry intended to start a school to teach their own two children, he was so interested that he asked if his children could also join the school and offered a room in his house for the school. When that became inadequate, he offered the Lowrys a whole hill on which to build their headquarters.²⁹ The four acres on Shri Mantilla Hill³⁰ is today known as the Seventh-day Tlang (Hill) and houses the offices, a church, a college and Helen Lowry College and School, a hospital and a media center, and the house constructed by Willis Lowry. For that bungalow, Willis had all the building material transported from Calcutta on foot for the final journey. He devised a system that collected rainwater, pumped it up to a tank, and then piped it into the house. It was the first home in the Mizo Hills to have running water, and people came from all over to marvel at this wonder. All others trekked down to the valleys to fetch their water. By the time the Lowrys moved away from Aizawl in 1963, the school had over 300 students.³¹

The Lowrys studied the Mizo with Pasena and soon became fluent in the language.³²

Since there were few roads, Willis Lowry travelled on foot from village to village over paths that took him through valleys and high ranges of hills. Some visits lasted three months and covered 300 miles. In the first year, 185 were baptized. Willis Lowry was ordained in 1952 at Assam Training School by Elder Osborn.

By 1953, there were nearly 800 members. Sometimes it took an hour to climb down to the valley and up the next hill. It was so steep they had to hang on to bushes to reach the villages which were always perched on the top of hilly ranges. They used porters to carry literature for distribution, food, water, and their portable stove. Within three years, they had seven organized churches, five companies, and four schools. The Lowrys paid the teachers from their own pockets.³³ Another trip reported in 1962 covered 70 miles and included 84 baptisms.³⁴

As Church Administrators

The Lowrys had taken their first furlough in 1959 after spending nearly 10 years among the Mizos. In 1963, they took a second furlough. When they returned, Willis was elected president of the East India Section that had its headquarters in Ranchi. Pastor Lowry trained the local workers, supplying them with audio visual aids for the health message and for revival in interest in the Spirit of Prophecy.³⁵ Six years later, the Lowrys went on furlough for eight months, and when they returned, Willis was elected president of the North India Section with headquarters in Jullundur.

In December 1972, Willis Lowry accepted a call to the Division to serve as associate in the ministerial association. Their understanding was that he would be primarily involved in the development of visual aids to be used by pastors in public evangelism, health evangelism, and Spirit of Prophecy promotion.³⁶ In 1973, he was voted as a member of the Division committee and also tasked with the additional responsibility of being assistant director of the Communication Department.³⁷ Helen had been called to serve as Home and Parent educator and Elementary Education supervisor.³⁸ In 1974, she was voted associate secretary of the Education Department and made a member of the Division committee.³⁹

In 1976, Willis was voted Ministerial Department/Association advisor/secretary,⁴⁰ a position he occupied until 1980. During these years, Willis Lowry travelled extensively, holding institutes and seminars for pastors. He also had Spirit of Prophecy books translated and promoted.⁴¹ For the last few months of their service in India, Willis was asked to focus on the production of audio-visual material for pastors.⁴² The Lowrys returned to the United States permanently in 1981 and settled in Coalmont, Tennessee.

Willis Lowry died January 30, 2003. Helen Lowry died February 3, 2007.⁴³

Sources

Audio Recording of Willis and Helen Lowry narrating their experiences. SUD Heritage Center.

“Biographical Information Blank,” Southern Asia Division Secretariat Records.

Edwards, J. E. “Pioneering.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, March 22, 1954.

“Farewell to Pastor and Mrs. Lowry.” Southern Asia Tidings, January 1982.

Fernandez, Nelson. “Mount Pisgah Academy.” Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 30, 2023. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=F9TY&highlight=Mount|Pisgah|.

Fernando, R. S. “Assam.” Eastern Tidings, June 1, 1944.

Field Tidings, July 18, 1923; April 1924; August 21, 1924; November 26, 1924; April 29, 1925.

Howson, Cheryl Christo. “Meelen, Eric Morton (1887-1980).” Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DGU9&highlight=Meleen.

Howson, Cheryl Christo. “Lowry, Gentry G. (1884-1982) and Bertha (Borrow) (1886-1975.” Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=9I3D&highlight=Lowry,|Gentry|.

Lalkamlova, S. History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mizoram. Exercise Book Making Industry cum Printing Press. (Aizawl: 1988).

Lowry, W. G. “Pastor W. G. Lowry Tours in the Lushai Hills.” Southern Asia Tidings, March 1, 1962.

Minutes of the Northeast Union Committee. July 20, 1949.

Minutes of the Southern Asia Division Committee. July 23, 1947; February 8, 1948; December 4, 1972; November 29, 1973; June 19, 1974; December 10, 1976; April 24, 1980.

Schutt, C. A. “Missionary Volunteers.” Eastern Tidings, September 15, 1949.

Skau, O. A. “Share-Your-Faith in the Lushai Hills, Assam.” Church Officers Gazette, August 1950.

Southwestern Union Record, July 1, 1964.

“Worker Record,” Southern Asia Division Secretariat Records.

Notes