View All Photos

Advanced +

Lucy Andrus, second row, first on right.

From ARH, Vol. 106, No. 20. Shared by Michael W. Campbell.

Andrus, Lucy Mabel (1889–1939)

By Milton Hook

×

Milton Hook, Ed.D. (Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, the United States). Hook retired in 1997 as a minister in the Greater Sydney Conference, Australia. An Australian by birth Hook has served the Church as a teacher at the elementary, academy and college levels, a missionary in Papua New Guinea, and as a local church pastor. In retirement he is a conjoint senior lecturer at Avondale College of Higher Education. He has authored Flames Over Battle Creek, Avondale: Experiment on the Dora, Desmond Ford: Reformist Theologian, Gospel Revivalist, the Seventh-day Adventist Heritage Series, and many magazine articles. He is married to Noeleen and has two sons and three grandchildren.

First Published: July 28, 2020

Audio

Lucy Andrus taught in church schools in Minnesota and Washington State for a decade before giving 16 years of active mission service in China as a teacher and Bible worker.

Heritage

Lucy Andrus was born in Rochester, Minnesota, on September 21, 1889, to Truman and Clarissa (Lull) Andrus. Her father was a farmer and a former volunteer Union soldier in the 8th Minnesota Infantry Company. She was the youngest family member, her older siblings being Francis Lumen (b. 1875), Emily and Emmette Elbert (twins b. 1879), Jessie (b. 1881), and Florence Mary (b. 1884).1 Her parents became Seventh-day Adventists when she was a toddler.2

Church Career

Lucy attended Maplewood Academy, near Minneapolis, from 1904 through 1907, and then taught church schools in Bruno and Mankato, Minnesota, until 1909. She then enrolled at Walla Walla College to begin her formal training as a teacher. In 1911, she began teaching in the cold climate of the Naches Valley, Washington State, but continued her training during the summer semesters.3 There were 40 pupils at the remote Naches church school, with Lucy being one of three teachers.4 In 1912, she was in sole charge.5 She then transitioned nearby to the North Yakima Valley Intermediate School, a small two-teacher facility of 35 students in grades 1 through 10.6

During 1918 through 1920, Lucy completed the Medical Evangelist’s Course at the College of Medical Evangelists, Loma Linda, California.7 With her years of teaching experience to her credit and some medical training, Lucy accepted an appointment to mission service in Shanghai, China. She arrived there in November 1920.8 Her special assignment was the instruction of the children of expatriate missionaries in the Shanghai English Church School.9 Its purpose was to ensure that the children would have a seamless transition when their parents returned to America. In April 1925, the Far Eastern Division held an Education Convention in Shanghai. Lucy addressed the gathering on the topic “The Parent-Teacher Association.”10

Lucy agreed to teach the expatriate children for five years without a furlough provided she be reassigned at the end of the term and allowed to do Bible work among the Chinese women. While teaching the English language during those five years, she applied herself to studying the Chinese language and became very useful as an evangelist. She began her new vocation in 1926 for the North China Union Mission centered in Beijing.11 Her work met with success. On one occasion, she told of some Chinese women who, under conviction to worship the true God, surrendered their house idols as worthless objects of superstition.12 She was able to utilize her teaching experience and apply it to instruction for the women with the use of simplified reading material concerning home health, the regular Sabbath School lesson studies, and stories about Biblical characters.13

On May 26, 1934, Lucy sailed from Shanghai for a furlough in America.14 She returned to a new appointment involving Bible work among the women in the Shantung (or Shandong) Mission with headquarters in Jinan.15 Twelve months into her term, she suffered a debilitating stroke. In an effort to facilitate recovery, a room was rented for her on the coast at Chefoo (Zhifu, now Yantai), and for two months, some of her converts tenderly cared for her needs.16 She was then treated at the Shanghai Sanitarium, enabling her to walk with a little help. A Chinese woman accompanied her to Japan, leaving Shanghai on January 9, 1937. A missionary lady returning on furlough from Japan assisted Lucy during the voyage to San Francisco where she was met by her brother, Francis.17

Back in the Homeland

Lucy made her home with one of her sisters located in Newberg, Oregon. Sadly, she remained an invalid. Her last days were spent in the Portland Sanitarium where she passed away on May 27, 1939, at the age of 49.18 Her resting place is in the Friends Community Cemetery at Newberg.19

Sources

Andrus, Lucy M. “Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters.” China Division Reporter, November 1936.

Andrus, Lucy M. “From the False to the True.” ARH, May 16, 1929.

Cady, Marion E. “Among the Schools.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, January 16, 1913.

“Church School Notes.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, December 21, 1911.

Cossentine, Roy M. “The Shantung Mission.” China Division Reporter, March 1936.

“Departures.” China Division Outlook, July 1934.

“Educational Department-Convention Program, April 3-14, 1925.” Far Eastern Division Outlook, April 1925, Extra.

Lovold, Emanuel. “Truman Andrus.” ARH, July 2, 1914.

“Lucy Andrus.” FamilySearch, Intellectual Reserve, 2021. Accessed October 20, 2021. https://familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/GM7V-BLP.

“Lucy Mabel Andrus.” Find A Grave Memorial, 2021. Accessed October 20, 2021. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38864749/lucy-mable-andrus.

Lucy Mabel Andrus. General Conference Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, Silver Spring, Maryland. Work Service Records. Versatile Box 7298. Folder: Lucy Mabel Andrus. Document: “Biographical Information Form.”

“Obituary.” China Division Outlook, August 1, 1939.

“Quadrennial Meetings-North China Union-May 1935.” China Division Reporter, May 1935.

Rippey, John A. “Lucy M. Andrus.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, July 11, 1939.

“The ‘Asama Maru,’ sailing January…” China Division Reporter, January 1937.

Weese, Leslie J. “Church Schools.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, November 7, 1912.

Wood, Florence. “Shanghai English Church School.” Far Eastern Division Outlook, August/September 1925.

Notes

  1. “Lucy Andrus,” FamilySearch, Intellectual Reserve, 2021, accessed October 20, 2021, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/GM7V-BLP.↩

  2. Emanuel Lovold, “Truman Andrus,” ARH, July 2, 1914, 22.↩

  3. Lucy Mabel Andrus Biographical Information Form. General Conference Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, Silver Spring, Maryland. Work Service Records. Versatile Box 7298. Folder: Lucy Mabel Andrus. Document: “Biographical Information Form.”↩

  4. “Church School Notes,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, December 21, 1911, 3.↩

  5. Leslie J. Weese, “Church Schools,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, November 7, 1912, 2.↩

  6. Marion E. Cady, “Among the Schools,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, January 16, 1913, 2.↩

  7. Lucy Mabel Andrus Biographical Information Form. General Conference Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, Silver Spring, Maryland. Work Service Records. Versatile Box 7298. Folder: Lucy Mabel Andrus. Document: “Biographical information Form.”↩

  8. “Obituary,” China Division Reporter, August 1, 1939, 8.↩

  9. Florence Wood, “Shanghai English Church School,” Far Eastern Division Outlook, August/September 1925, 11.↩

  10. “Educational Department-Convention Program, April 3-14, 1925,” Far Eastern Division Outlook, April 1925, Extra, 14.↩

  11. “Obituary,” China Division Reporter, August 1, 1939, 8.↩

  12. Lucy M. Andrus, “From the False to the True,” ARH, May 16, 1929, 16.↩

  13. “Quadrennial Meetings-North China Mission-May, 1935,” China Division Reporter, May 1935, 20-21.↩

  14. “Departures,” China Division Reporter, July 1934, 24.↩

  15. Roy M. Cossentine, “The Shantung Mission,” China Division Reporter, March 1936, 5.↩

  16. Lucy M. Andrus, “Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters,” China Division Reporter, November 1936, 2.↩

  17. “The ‘Asama Maru,’ sailing January…” China Division Reporter, January 1937, 8.↩

  18. “Obituary,” China Division Reporter, August 1, 1939, 8.↩

  19. “Lucy Mabel Andrus,” Find A Grave Memorial, 2021, accessed October 20, 2021, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38864749/lucy-mabel-andrus.↩

×

Hook, Milton. "Andrus, Lucy Mabel (1889–1939)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. July 28, 2020. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=H8A1.

Copy to clipboard Download Word File

Hook, Milton. "Andrus, Lucy Mabel (1889–1939)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. July 28, 2020. Date of access October 14, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=H8A1.

Copy to clipboard Download Word File

Hook, Milton (2020, July 28). Andrus, Lucy Mabel (1889–1939). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved October 14, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=H8A1.

Copy to clipboard Download Word File