Väli (Vali or Vaeli), Maimu (1921–1994)

Maimu Väli (Vali or Vaeli) served as the Estonian Conference treasurer for 44 years (1948-1992) and secretary-treasurer for 20 of those years (1969-1989). She was also a translator and lyricist of hymns.

Early Life

Väli was born on January 16, 1921, in Tallinn, Estonia, to Jakob (died 1951) and Amalie (1886-1967) Väli. She was baptized in 1939.¹

Estonian Conference Work

Maimu Väli was employed in 1942, during World War II, to do office work in the Seventh-day Adventist Estonian Conference office. She was elected treasurer of the small conference in April 1948.² In the chaos during and after World War II, Estonia, along with several other countries, was in disarray. It had previously been part of the European Adventist Church, but was now in the USSR and had difficulty re-organizing, which was in no small part due to persecution and the fact that several pastors and other leaders had been killed, fled from the country, or were imprisoned during the war. The Communist government regularly harassed church leaders and organizations as a way to make religious institutions appear disorganized and weak. They usually left the treasurers alone, however, because they were not considered as being in ministerial positions.³

During this time, Maimu Väli conducted her role as treasurer circumspectly in order not to provoke the authorities. She communicated with the pastors and congregants as a go-between, assessing needs, raising money, and dispersing such meager funds as became available. While there was always a president, that person was often unable to function, leaving it up to Väli to serve as the effective leader of the scattered group, which also involved much travelling. 

She was voted secretary-treasurer in 1969, an office she held until 1989,⁴ following which she remained treasurer until the age of 70 when the conference offices moved out of Tallinn to Tartu in 1992. Maimu Väli held the office of conference treasurer for 44 years and the office of secretary-treasurer for 20 of those years. She was the first woman to hold this leadership role and may even hold the record as the longest serving woman to have occupied such a position in the top tiers of conference leadership.⁵ 

Maimu Väli had a good command of English and helped translate the few publications they were able to print into Estonian.⁶ She also translated hymns into Estonian and wrote the lyrics for others that are still used in Adventist and other churches today. 

The 1975 General Conference Session

In 1975 the first delegation from the USSR and other Communist countries in the Eastern Block were allowed to travel to Vienna for the General Conference Session. Not only were the eight delegates from the USSR a curiosity, but they included a female delegate, Maimu Väli, as a Conference secretary-treasurer.⁷

The General Conference had compiled a list of several dozen “Honored Women of the Church” based on their diverse skills such as family life and evangelism in celebration of the United Nations’ designation of 1975 as International Women’s Year. Sixteen of these nominees received their certificates publicly on July 15. Unexpectedly, there remained one blank certificate after these initial awards were given out, and during the session the next day, it was given to Väli in recognition of her 27 years of service as a leader in the Estonian Conference. This led to a second photo in the Review!⁸

When the delegation from the USSR had to choose which three of their eight delegates would sit on the General Conference Nominating Committee, they chose Väli. This made her one of only two women on that committee (the other being Marion S. Brown, MD, from the NAD).⁹

Her Passing

The vast majority of Estonians did not like being a part of the Soviet Union, as there was no true religious freedom, and church activities were significantly restricted. We can only assume that Väli was excited to see her homeland independent again for the last years of her life. She passed away on February 7, 1994, and was buried in the Adventist section of the Tallinn Rahumäe Cemetery.¹⁰

Significance

Maimu Väli held the position of conference treasurer for 44 years and the office of secretary-treasurer for 20 of those years. At the time of her retirement, she was the only woman to serve as secretary-treasurer in any conference. She was one of only a few women serving as presumptive or functioning head of a conference. She may have the record of the longest-serving woman in a top tier of conference leadership. 

Sources

General Conference Bulletin (1975) No. 10. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/GCSessionBulletins/GCB1975-10.pdf.

Haudi Kalmistate Register. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.kalmistud.ee/haudi?action=hauaplats&filter_hauaplats_hauaplats=84XgOK7mg1nz.

Hegstad, R. R. “The Day in Vienna.” ARH, July 13, 1975.

Horning, Pat. “Monitoring GC from Singapore.” Far Eastern Division Outlook, August 1975.

Lõhmus, Galina, and Valdek Lõhmus. Tuletornivahiks valitud (Elected as a lighthouse keeper), unpublished manuscript. In Jaanus-Janari Kogerman’s private collection.

Maimu Väli’s Employee File for the Estonian Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, dated October 19, 1989.

Minutes of the Estonian Conference Constituency meeting, 1989.

“Partial Report of the Church Manual Committee.” ARH, July 17, 1975.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Various years. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/. 

Viirsalu Voldemar, Hämarus laskub maale (The dusk descends). Published By Estonian Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, 2001.

Notes

1. Maimu Väli’s Employee File for the Estonian Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, dated October 19, 1989.↩

2. Ibid.↩

3. Viirsalu Voldemar, Hämarus laskub maale (The dusk descends) (published by Estonian Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, 2001), 73.↩

4. Minutes of the Estonian Conference Constituency meeting, 1989.↩

5. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Various years. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/. ↩

6. Galina Lõhmus and Valdek Lõhmus. Tuletornivahiks valitud (Elected as a lighthouse keeper), unpublished manuscript, p. 15. In Jaanus-Janari Kogerman’s private collection.↩

7. R. R. Hegstad, “The Day in Vienna,” ARH, July 13, 1975, 2.↩

8. “Partial Report of the Church Manual Committee,” ARH, July 17, 1975, 9. For the list of skilled women and a photo of the awardees, see General Conference Bulletin (1975) No 10, p. 26.↩

9. Pat Horning, “Monitoring GC from Singapore.” Far Eastern Division Outlook, August 1975, 7.↩

10. Haudi Kalmistate Register, https://www.kalmistud.ee/haudi?action=hauaplats&filter_hauaplats_hauaplats=84XgOK7mg1nz, accessed December 9, 2024.↩