McClintock, Wilfred (1925–1993) and Melva Joyce (Colwill) (1926–2020)

Wilfred McClintock was an Adventist educator. Wilfred McClintock and his wife Melva spent 26 years as missionaries in Papua New Guinea.

Early Life and Education

Wilfred McClintock was born on October 15, 1925, in Timaru, South New Zealand,¹ the ninth of Andrew and Annie McClintock’s ten children. Andrew McClintock had lost his first wife with whom he had six children. His second wife, Annie, was less than half his age and bore four boys and six girls.² The McClintocks lived on a farm just out of Timaru.

McClintock grew up in a Christian home but it was a colporteur selling the book, The Great Controversy, to one of his older siblings that brought the rest of the family into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. McClintock was 15 when he was baptized in the Timaru Church.³

McClintock attended Longburn Missionary College in 1943 and 1944 and then transferred to the Australasian Missionary College (Avondale College) in 1945 and 1946. After graduating from the theological normal course, he was appointed to Papanui Central School in Christchurch where he taught during 1947 and 1948.⁴

Melva Joyce Colwill was born to Richard (Ernie) and Alice Colwill in Timaru on January 30, 1926. She too grew up on a farm. Her family were ardent Methodists but when Melva was two, a Seventh-day Adventist carpenter built a new cowshed for them, and graciously refused the offer of a drink of tea. That discussion sparked an interest in health, and then doctrines. The Methodist minister came to their home and gave them a tongue lashing for inquiring into the Adventist church, but then could not answer a question on the seventh day Sabbath and stormed out of the house. As Ernie Colwill said, “That finalizes it, I could not go back to his church any more if that is the kind of Christianity he is promoting.”⁵

Melva Colwill had no idea that McClintock was interested in her as they rode their bicycles home from a Young People’s meeting one Sabbath. Instead of turning off at his normal road, he continued on for the extra five miles to her place, handed her an envelope at her gate and promptly took off home. Inside was a poem he had written and a handkerchief.⁶

They both enjoyed one year together at Longburn Missionary College in 1944, treasuring the one hour per term supervised visit they were allowed to nourish their relationship.⁷ After a two-year separation while McClintock attended Australasian Missionary College, he returned to teach at Papanui in Christchurch from 1947 to 1948. At least twice, he cycled the 160 kilometers to Timaru to see Colwill⁸ before they were married on May 10, 1949, in the Timaru Church,⁹ a freezing, wet, but incredibly happy day.¹⁰

McClintock taught at the Timaru Central School at two different times, 1949 to 1950 and 1957 to 1961. Four children were born McClintocks in Timaru, Beverley, the twins David and Kelvin, and Lynette. In Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, the three oldest children grew up speaking Melanesian Pigin and had to learn English on their return to New Zealand.¹¹

Years of Service

Wilfred and Melva McClintock spent 26 years as missionaries in Papua New Guinea.¹² While McClintock was busy running Rumba Central School from 1951 to 1956, he was also heavily involved in providing teaching materials to the various teachers in the remote villages of Bougainville. At each end of term, he would have the village teachers come in and fill their notebooks with the lessons for the next term from the blackboard. This exercise took several days during which he refilled the blackboards again and again. Chalk dust was blamed when he later contracted life-ending emphysema in his mid 50s.¹³ Melva McClintock, although untrained, was heavily involved in the medical needs of the community, delivering babies, and providing basic medical attention.¹⁴

The sad reality of the sacrifice missionaries make was seen in the middle of 1952 when Wilfred McClintock lost his mother¹⁵ and Melva McClintock her father¹⁶, scarcely a month apart. They did not receive the news for some weeks as the mail was delivered by boat, and communication was slow. The McClintocks returned to New Zealand at the end of 1956 when Melva McClintock nearly lost her eye-sight due to the side effects of taking anti-malarial medication.¹⁷

Five years later the McClintocks returned for a further twenty years of missionary service in Papua New Guinea. This time they were asked to go to Kabiufa in the highlands of Papua New Guinea where Kabiufa where McClintock was in charge of teacher education and Kabiufa Adventist College from 1962 to 1967.¹⁸ Melva McClintock was heavily involved in teaching music, running the girls’ choir, and keeping the children focused on their correspondence lessons. As each of the McClintock children reached Year 8, they were sent to Lilydale Adventist Academy as boarders.¹⁹

After six years in the temperate climate of the highlands, Wilfred, Melva, and Lynette McClintock transferred to Kambubu on the island of New Britain in 1968, teaching first at Jones Missionary College, and then Sonoma Adventist college when it opened in 1970 with the teacher education program relocated to the new campus. Beverley and the twins were boarding students at Lilydale Academy at this time.²⁰

Highly respected for the quality of the teachers produced by Sonoma College, McClintock was heavily involved in shaping teacher education across Papua New Guinea and often consulted by government officials.²¹ Melva McClintock was also fully involved with music, teaching class music, running the choirs, and providing individual music lessons for those who wanted it.²² Many students were made to feel part of their family, and numerous leaders in Papua New Guinea called Wilfred and Melva McClintock, Uncle Mac and Aunty Mac.

The McClintocks reluctantly accepted the termination of their mission service at the end of 1981,²³ settling with some trepidation in Australia. McClintock became the sole teacher school at Kempsey in 1982 and relished his return to the primary classroom. However, the cold of winter brought on double pneumonia and pleurisy and at the end of 1982, and he was diagnosed with emphysema, forcing him to retire.²⁴

Later Life

In 1986, McClintock was the honored representative of the 1946 Avondale College class at the annual Home Coming program.²⁵ He received the Medallion of Merit from the South Pacific Division. The citation read in part, “A substantial number of the educational leaders in Papua New Guinea got their professional start under Wilfred’s tutelage while he was head of the teacher training department at Sonoma College. Clearly his contribution to the education program of the church in Papua New Guinea was outstanding.”²⁶

McClintock was heavily involved in the local Kempsey church in his retirement, teaching a regular Sabbath School lesson and preaching as long as he was able. The McClintock’s made the decision to relocate to Hervey Bay and they saw God’s hand in the decision when their house sold less than 24 hours after it was listed for the full asking price. Less than a month after moving, McClintock passed away on August 7, 1993, aged 67. ²⁷ He is buried in the Polson Cemetery, Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia. Melva McClintock died on April 3, 2020, and is buried beside her husband.²⁸

Sources

“Avondale Honours.” Australasian Record, November 8, 1986.

“Before leaving with his wife...” Australasian Record, February 19, 1962.

Clifford, G. F. “Medallion of Merit-Wilfred McClintock Citation.” December, 1989.

Dickins, H.A. “Improving Teaching Ability in the Coral Sea Union.” Australasian Record, March 2, 1964.

Donovan, Geoff. “Wilfred McClintock obituary.” Australasian Record, October 2, 1993.

Eliot, D. R. “A Pleasing Review of 1956.” Australasian Record, April 1, 1957.

“Jones Missionary College.” Australasian Record, January 12, 1970.

McClintock, Melva. “My Story.” Unpublished manuscript in the personal collection of the author.

McClintock, Wilfred. “Graduation Time at Our Colleges.” Australasian Record, January 28, 1963.

Mitchell, A. R. “Richard Colwill obituary.” Australasian Record, October 20, 1952.

Taylor, F. L. “McClintock–Colwill.” Australasian Record, June 13, 1949.

Thomas, R. H. H. “Pathfinder Clubs are Sprouting.” Australasian Record, May 4, 1959.

Wilfred McClintock Personal Service Record. South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives.

Wilfred McClintock Biographical Information. South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives.

Winter, C. C. “Annie McClintock obituary.” Australasian Record, September 15, 1952.

Wright, W. E. “Alice Colwell [sic] obituary.” Australasian Record, October 11, 1971.

Notes

1. Wilfred McClintock Biographical Information, South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives, Folder: “McClintock, Wilfred,” Document: “Biographical Information Blank, received March 23, 1948.”↩

2. Lynette Wight, email message to author on July 15, 2018.↩

3. Wilfred McClintock Biographical Information, South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives, Folder: “McClintock, Wilfred,” Document: “Biographical Information Blank, received February, 21, 1951.”↩

4. Wilfred McClintock Biographical Information, South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives, Folder: “McClintock, Wilfred,” Document: “Biographical Information Blank, received February 21, 1951.”↩

5. Melva McClintock, “My Story,” unpublished manuscript in the personal collection of the author, 2013, 3.↩

6. Ibid., 8.↩

7. Ibid., 9.↩

8. Ibid., 14.↩

9. F. L. Taylor, “McClintock–Colwill,” Australasian Record, June 13, 1949, 7.↩

10. Melva McClintock, “My Story,” 14.↩

11. Ibid., 14, 25, 35.↩

12. Wilfred McClintock Personal Service Record, South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives, Folder: “McClintock, Wilfred,” Document: “Personal Service Record.”↩

13. Melva McClintock, “My Story,” 43.↩

14. Ibid., 26.↩

15. Winter, C. C. “Annie McClintock obituary,” Australasian Record, September 15, 1952, 7.↩

16. Mitchell, A. R. “Richard Colwill obituary,” Australasian Record, October 20, 1952, 7.↩

17. Melva McClintock, “My Story,” 31.↩

18. “Before leaving with his wife...,” Australasian Record, February 19, 1962, 8.↩

19. Melva McClintock, “My Story,” 36-37.↩

20. Ibid., 36.↩

21. “Jones Missionary College,” Australasian Record, January 12, 1970, 9, 10, 14.↩

22. Melva McClintock, “My Story,” 40.↩

23. Wilfred McClintock Personal Service Record, South Pacific Division of the General Conference Archives, Folder: “McClintock, Wilfred,” Document: “Personal Service Record.”↩

24. Melva McClintock, “My Story,” 43.↩

25. “Avondale Honours,” Australasian Record, November 8, 1986, 16.↩

26. Clifford, G. F. “Medallion of Merit-Wilfred McClintock Citation,” December 1989, in the personal collection of the author.↩

27. Melva McClintock, “My Story,” 44.↩

28. Geoff Donovan, “Wilfred McClintock obituary,” Australasian Record, October 2, 1993, 14; personal knowledge of the author as the son of Wilfred and Melva McClintock.↩