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Sevrens, Oliver Fisk (1887–1927) and Hazel Olive (1894–1986)

By Judson Chhakchhuak, Adlai Wilfred M. Tornalejo, and Remwil R. Tornalejo

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Judson Chhakchhuak is from Mizoram, Northeast India. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Religion degree with an emphasis in the New Testament from the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies, the Philippines. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology degree from the Adventist University of the Philippines.

Adlai Wilfred M. Tornalejo is a theology instructor at South Philippine Adventist College, Digos Davao del Sur, Philippines. He finished his Bachelor of Theology from Mountain View College, Valencia, Bukidnon, Philippines in 2016. He earned an M.A. in religion in church history and theology from the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies in 2018.

Remwil R. Tornalejo is an associate professor in the Historical-Theological department of the International Institute of Advanced Studies Seminary (AIIAS). Tornalejo has a B.A. in theology from Mountain View College, Valencia, Philippines, and M.P.S., M.Div., and M.Th. degrees from AIIAS. He had served as a pastor, Literature Ministry Seminary dean and instructor at the South Philippine Union Conference. He had served as chair of the theology department of the South Philippine Adventist College. Tornalejo completed his D.Theol. from Theological Union (ATESEA). He is married to Marilou Manatad. They have four children.

First Published: May 5, 2022

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Oliver and Hasel Sevrens could be considered the early pioneers of Adventist education in the Philippines. Among their many other contributions, the Sevrens were instrumental in the construction and development of the Seventh-day Adventist Academy in the Philippines.

Early Life, Education and Marriage

Oliver Fisk Sevrens was born March 16, 1887, to Oliver and Alice Fisk at Woburn, Massachusetts.1 Oliver had two sisters as well as a brother, Linton G. Sevrens, who would later serve as principal of Union Springs Academy, New York.2

Oliver received his elementary (1892-1901) and high school (1901-1906) education in public schools at North Woburn.3 He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maine in 1910.4 Years later when Sevrens attended Pacific Union College, he met a dark-haired girl named Hazel Olive Blackenburg5 whom he married July 27, 1916, in Mountain View, California.6

Hazel Olive Blackenburg was born on April 3, 1894, in Round Prairie, Todd, Minnesota, to parents John P Blackenburg, and Abbie M. Wheeler. Hazel was the second of five children including Harry Wilfred, Howard, Ivy Ruth, and Zelda.7

Oliver and Hazel Olive had a son named Oliver Fisk Sevrens, Jr. who was born in Manila on September 30, 1924, while the couple were on mission duty. Sevrens Jr. was still only a child when his father died.8

Hazel Olive attended public school until the eighth grade. She went to Meadow Glade Academy for the ninth grade, attended Walla Walla College for two years, and then went to Pacific Union College for one year and one summer. Before their marriage she worked as a stenographer at Pacific Press Publishing Association from 1913 to 1914. From 1915 to 1916 she served the General Conference as a stenographer. During their missionary tenure starting in 1917 she worked closely with her husband and from 1927 until 1929 served as the treasurer of Philippine Academy and helped her husband at the Philippine Union Mission office.9

Ministry

After graduation, Sevrens taught in a private school in Suffield, Connecticut, for a year. He then went abroad to teach in Bishop Brent’s School for Boys at Baguio, City, Philippines.

While there he learned about the Sabbath through relatives at home in the United States who sent him Adventist literature, specifically the General Conference Bulletin.10 He then wrote to Elbridge Adams, the Adventist minister assigned to Manila, and told him about his intentions to observe the Sabbath and serve the Lord.11

Sevrens had to quit his teaching job at the Brent’s School for Boys, because the schedule required working half day on the Sabbath. The government, at the time run by Americans, invited him to do research at the Bureau of Science in Manila, offering him a tempting salary of USD 1,200 a year. Oliver knew it could relieve him from his substantial school debt which he had been unable to finish paying back in the past two years. He accepted the offer and worked for the Bureau for a few months, but quit because of Sabbath problems.12

In Manila, Oliver met Pastor E. M. Adams. Oliver spent several days in Adams’ home studying the Bible. Then he returned to the United States and went to Pacific Union College where he studied for a few months and taught science subjects.13 Baptized, he joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in January 191414 while at Pacific Union College.15

It was during this time he met his future wife, Hazel. Just three days after their marriage in 1916, Oliver and Hazel, accepted the call of the mission board to establish a training school in the Philippines, a fulfillment of a dream. After he had learned the Adventist faith, he had felt a yearning to become a missionary.16

The couple immediately sailed with Professor and Mrs. I. A. Steinel for Manila.17

Oliver and Steinel supervised the construction of a school building on a five-acre lot at the corner of Donada and San Juan Streets in Pasay City.18 They opened the Philippine Junior Academy on June 12, 1917, with 36 students.19

The school was a real pioneering project. It did not have adequate facilities and enough staff. Oliver had to carry heavy responsibilities. For the first few years, he served as the preceptor while Steinel was principal. 20 As a preceptor, he became a father to the dormitory students. He also taught Bible, mathematics, and science subjects, while Hazel taught secretarial science. He remained as preceptor until 1922. Aside from serving as preceptor of the school starting in 1918, he also headed various departments of the Philippine Union Mission, including Sabbath School, Young People Missionary Volunteer Ministries, and education.21 In addition, he was Mizpa (the Philippine Union Mission paper) editor from 1918 until 1922.22

Toward the end of 1922, Sevrens became the second principal of the school, then known as the Philippines Seventh-day Adventist Academy,23 later Philippine Junior College, and now Adventist University of the Philippines. On top of being the principal, Oliver also held the posts of school treasurer and business manager. Although his work became heavier as the school grew, he was still active in Sabbath School, Young People Missionary Volunteer Ministries, and educational work in the Philippine Union Mission.24

Sevrens filled his vacations with travel itineraries to the northern and southern parts of Luzon. As the mountain tribes began requesting education, Oliver and Hazel brought six of their boys into their home to attend school.25 He served as the principal of the academy from 1922 until his death in 1927, except for a year he was on furlough in the United States.26

Later life

On January 11, 1927, physicians diagnosed Sevrens with a severe illness and admitted him to the Philippine General Hospital, where he underwent an operation for peritonitis to remove tubercular tissues. At first he seemed to make progress after the operation, then gradually suffered a relapse.27 On March 31, 1927, Sevrens died at the early age of 40.28 The Filipinos, afraid that Oliver’s body would be taken back to his homeland, begged to have him interned there. They buried him under a big rubber tree in Manila’s Cementerio del Norte.29

After her husband’s death, Hazel remained in Manila with her son Oliver Sevrens, Jr., until the spring of 1936 and served as manager of the Manila Sanitarium and Hospital. In the autumn of the same year Hazel with her son went to China until the fall of 1940. The mother and son then returned to the United States because of the Sino-Japanese war.30

In 1942, Mrs. Hazel Sevrens received an invitation to connect with the Boulder Colorado Sanitarium for secretarial work.31 The following year she went to the book department of Pacific Press Publishing Association.32

During the fall of 1946, they returned to China and worked there until the Communists took over mainland China in 1949.33 That same year the Far Eastern Division passed a request to the General Conference for Mrs. Sevrens to serve in the Philippine Union Mission.34 In November of that year she also received a call to connect with the College of Medical Evangelists in California which she accepted and remained there until 1954.35

She lived in Round Prairie Township, Todd, Minnesota, United States for about five years, finally dying on December 13, 1986, in St. Helena, Napa, California, at the age of 92, and was buried in St. Helena, Napa, California.36

Contribution

Oliver and Hasel Sevrens could be considered the early pioneers of Adventist education in the Philippines. Together with the Steinels, the Sevrens were instrumental in the construction and development of the Seventh-day Adventist Academy in the Philippines. Oliver's devoted efforts in the workers’ training classes led to the sending of the first Filipino missionary, the receiving of the first foreign students, the establishment of profitable native industries, the expansion of the faculty, and the training of many Christian workers.37

During his years in the mission field, he wrote passionately not only to those who served in the Philipines, but also urged church members in the homeland to encourage the workers in the mission field through their prayers and supportive letters as well as financial support.38 His personal reflections and reports can be seen in several publications of the denomination detailing the need for young people to engage in the work of Christ through whatever capacities they may have.39 In his ministry to the Philippines, he was dedicated to the point of even spending his vacations traveling to the mountain provinces to provide services. His hard work and dedication bore fruit as the work in the Philippines progressed. He died in the mission field while fulfilling his responsibility.

Sources

Adventist University of the Philippines official website “Pasay Campus.” http://web1.aup.edu.ph/pasay-campus-2/. Accessed April 27, 2022.

Biographical Information Blank of Hazel Blackenburg Sevrens. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.

Biographical Information Blank of Oliver Fisk Sevrens. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.

Deming, M. W. “Obituaries.” Central Union Reaper, January 24, 1956.

General Conference Committee Minutes, August 20, 1942, 55. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1942-08.pdf.

General Conference Committee Minutes, July 27, 1943, 1026. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1943-07.pdf.

General Conference Committee Minutes, September 16, 1949, 1597. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1949-09.pdf.

General Conference Committee Minutes, November 14, 1949, 1679. Accessed April 28, 2022. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1949-11-AC.pdf.

“Hazel Olive Blackenburg.” Accessed April 28, 2022. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LDX7-TMX/hazel-olive-blackenburg-1894-1986.

Minchin-Comm, Dorothy. “Oliver Fisk Sevrens: First PUC President, Epitome of Commitment,” Filipino Adventist Network. Accessed April 10, 2022. http://filadnet.blogspot.com/2013/09/oliver-fisk-sevrens-d-march-31-1927.html.

Moon, E. A. “Obituary: Professor Oliver F. Sevrens.” Far Eastern Division Outlook, June 1927, 9.

Sevrens, Oliver Fisk. “All Saints Day.”The Youth’s Instructor, October 24, 1922.

Sevrens, Oliver Fisk. “Gospel Progress in the Philippines.” Signs of the Times, August 14, 1923.

Sevrens, Oliver Fisk. “Keep the Home Fires Burning.” ARH, April 1, 1920.

Sevrens, Oliver Fisk. “The Peoples of North Luzon.” The Youth’s Instructor, October 21, 1919.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1917; 1918; 1922; 1923; 1952; 1954.

Notes

  1. Biographical Information Blank of Oliver Fisk Sevrens, General Conference of SDA Archives.↩

  2. E. A. Moon, “Obituary: Professor Oliver F. Sevrens,” Far Eastern Division Outlook, June 1927, 9, 23.↩

  3. Biographical Information Blank of Oliver Fisk Sevrens.↩

  4. Moon, “Obituary,” 23.↩

  5. Ibid.↩

  6. Biographical Information Blank of Oliver Fisk Sevrens.↩

  7. “Hazel Olive Blackenburg,” accessed April 28, 2022, https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LDX7-TMX/hazel-olive-blackenburg-1894-1986.↩

  8. M.W. Deming, “Obituaries,” Central Union Reaper, January 24, 1956, 7.↩

  9. Biographical Information Blank of Hazel Blackenburg Sevrens, General Conference of SDA Archives.↩

  10. Dorothy Minchin-Comm, “Oliver Fisk Sevrens: First PUC President, Epitome of Commitment,” Filipino Adventist Network, accessed April 10, 2022, http://filadnet.blogspot.com/2013/09/oliver-fisk-sevrens-d-march-31-1927.html.↩

  11. Ibid.↩

  12. Dorothy Minchin-Comm, “Oliver Fisk Sevrens: First PUC President, Epitome of Commitment.”↩

  13. Moon, “Obituary,” 23.↩

  14. Biographical Information Blank of Oliver Fisk Sevrens.↩

  15. Moon, “Obituary,” 23.↩

  16. Oliver Fisk Sevrens, “The Peoples of North Luzon,” The Youth’s Instructor, October 21, 1919, 5, 6.↩

  17. Moon, “Obituary,” 23.↩

  18. Adventist University of the Philippines official website “Pasay Campus,” accessed April 27, 2022, http://web1.aup.edu.ph/pasay-campus-2/↩

  19. Minchin-Comm, “Oliver Fisk Sevrens.”↩

  20. Moon, “Obituary,” 23. See also Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1917), 190.↩

  21. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1918), 154.↩

  22. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1918), 211; Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1922), 176.↩

  23. Minchin-Comm, “Oliver Fisk Sevrens.” See Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1923), 200.↩

  24. Moon, “Obituary,” 23.↩

  25. Minchin-Comm, “Oliver Fisk Sevrens.”↩

  26. Moon, “Obituary,” 23.↩

  27. Ibid.↩

  28. Minchin-Comm, “Oliver Fisk Sevrens.” Moon, “Obituary,” 23.↩

  29. Ibid.↩

  30. Deming, “Obituaries,” Central Union Reaper, January 24, 1956, 7; Biographical Information Blank of Hazel Blackenburg Sevrens.↩

  31. General Conference Committee Minutes, August 20, 1942, 551, accessed April 28, 2022, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1942-08.pdf.↩

  32. General Conference Committee Minutes, July 27, 1943, 1026, accessed April 28, 2022, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1943-07.pdf.↩

  33. Deming, “Obituaries,” Central Union Reaper, January 24, 1956, 7. See also General Conference Committee Minutes, August 11, 1949. 1561, accessed April 28, 2022, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1949-08.pdf.↩

  34. General Conference Committee Minutes, September 16, 1949, 1597. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1949-09.pdf.↩

  35. General Conference Committee Minutes, November 14, 1949, 1679, accessed April 28, 2022, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1949-11-AC.pdf. See also Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1952), 430; Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1954), 491.↩

  36. “Hazel Olive Blackenburg,” https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LDX7-TMX/hazel-olive-blackenburg-1894-1986.↩

  37. Moon, “Obituary,” 23; Minchin-Comm, “Oliver Fisk Sevrens.”↩

  38. Oliver Fisk Sevrens, “Keep the Home Fires Burning,” ARH, April 1, 1920, 18.↩

  39. Oliver Fisk Sevrens, “All Saints Day,” The Youth’s Instructor, October 24, 1922, 10; Oliver Fisk Sevrens, “Gospel Progress in the Philippines,” Signs of the Times, August 14, 1923, 14, 15.↩

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Chhakchhuak, Judson, Adlai Wilfred M. Tornalejo, Remwil R. Tornalejo. "Sevrens, Oliver Fisk (1887–1927) and Hazel Olive (1894–1986)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. May 05, 2022. Accessed September 12, 2024. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DAV2.

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Chhakchhuak, Judson, Adlai Wilfred M. Tornalejo, Remwil R. Tornalejo. "Sevrens, Oliver Fisk (1887–1927) and Hazel Olive (1894–1986)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. May 05, 2022. Date of access September 12, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DAV2.

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Chhakchhuak, Judson, Adlai Wilfred M. Tornalejo, Remwil R. Tornalejo (2022, May 05). Sevrens, Oliver Fisk (1887–1927) and Hazel Olive (1894–1986). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved September 12, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DAV2.

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