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Wed., April 21. 1976 Daily Northwestern 10Destination: Kodiak, Alaska - Occupation: volunteerOn her wayCelia Ralph, Winneconne, shares a she will spend the next year as alook at the map of Alaska where volunteer in a Baptist mission.— Northwestern photoBy POLLY ZIMMERMAN Women's EditorWINNECONNE - Celia Rolph has begun a sec* ond — no. a third — career, this one far from home in Kodiak. Alaska.Mrs. Rolph, the mother of three grown children. retired in January after working for 24 years as a bookkeeper for Melvin V. Klinger Painting and Decorating Co., Oshkosh.In this, her third career, she is going as a volunteer to the Kodiak Baptist Mission where she will be a bookkeeper for at least a year.Last summed Mrs. Rolph and her niece, Pat Zielinski of Menasha. toured parts of Canada and Alaska. One side trip she insisted on making was to Kodiak Island, the location of a mission which is a project of the Women's American Baptist Home Mission Society. The First Baptist Church in Winneconne, of which she is a member, has supported the mission for more than 40 years, according to Mrs. Rolph.She was eager to see first hand the facility which serves more than 40 children on Kodiak Island. the oldest settlement in Alaska.“The island is the home of Eskimo fishermen,” Mrs. Rnlph said. “Fishing villages ring the island. and the center rises sharply into rocky, mountainous area.“There arc only 26 mites of roads and just one school, and that is in the city of Kodiak. Commuting is nearly impossible; so the children need to be housed near the school.-’In addition the mission does ‘rescue- work, provides a home for children in emergency situations and is a home for orphans up to the age of 18.The day Mrs. Rolph and Ms. Zielinski spent at Kodiak was very satisfying. They met Robert Childs, who recently retired from the pastorate of a Baptist church in Kodiak and assumed the directorship of the mission.“He is such a gentle man,” said Mrs. Roiph, “His wife, Margaret, is more outgoing. She has trememdnus enthusiasm! Every summer she directs a pageant which commemorates the Russian settling of the island.”The visitors also met a group of 13 young people who had come to the mission from Kent. Washington, with their pastor. The young volunteers were painting and doing oilier kinds of maintenance on the mission buildings.What she saw of the life of the mission impressed Mrs. Rolph so greatly that she told the Rev. Mr. Childs that she would come as a volunteer houseparent if they had need of one after her retirement.It seemed close to providential that the mission's immediate need could be met with her special vocational skills.“I had been imagining myself doing all sorts of housewifely, motherly things. I‘ve had to change that idea.The letter from Childs came in January. He asked if she would consider coming for a year. She replied immediately, but the assignmentRetirement has meant a change in location as a Winneconne woman finds a new way to use familiar skills.process dragged on. Finally, on April 2 she heard from the National Ministries headquarters at Valley Forge. Pa. She had less than two weeks to get ready to leave.She rented her home, cleaning out all the non-essentials and storing most of her furniture in the attic.It didn’t occur to her to wonder about her three children’s reactions.“When my husband died seven years ago, the children told me that I should do the things that made me happiest. They are ail married and have their own families.“After my trip last summer. I told them that I had told Mr. Childs I'd like to help. They expected me to go, I think.”The change in lifestyle is a challenge.“I’ve had to change the way I live a number of times in my life. I seem to thrive on it! I’m looking forward to seeing just how' little 1 need to beTwn tow or soil over rocky subsoil makesthe cultivation of food crops difficult; and almosteverything is brought to the island by plane or onbarues. * ”“But the islanders eat salmon at least once adav!she said. , , ..the mission is composed or a lodge buildingand four cottages. Each collage lias htmseparents.usually a young married couple with an:hild orI wo *1 *There are two resident psychologistsr-. volunteers who arc retired from positions with school systems. They went to the mission on a three-month trial and have been there two years.The fourth cottage opened on March 15'. It is me first facility at the mission for the housing andcare of handicapped and mentally retarded children. , ,Celia Rolph is the first person from her church to serve in a volunteer capacity with (he missions. And the entire church let her know how they felt about it the Sunday before she left Winneconne.The Rev. Lawrence Janssen, substituting for the pastor, built the service around her new commitment. ^ . .She was amazed. “I don’t know how he found out what I was going to do! I had told only one*of the church members — but she must have been very busy on the telephone.“The following Thursday she began her trip to Alaska. En route she visited her daughters. Diana (Mrs. Lvlc Hanneman) in South Milwaukee, and Judy (Mrs. Wayne Bichanieh) in Grafton, and her son’David and his family in Kimball, Neb.Ten days later she flew out of Denver to Seattle and Anchorage. There she hoped to get an immediate flight to Kodiak — “if it’s not fogged in!On Kodiak Island she will watch spring arrive for the second time in a matter of weeks, for the island spring comes later than Wisconsin’s season.Her children are aware of the look of anticipation in her eyes.“They don't think I'll ever come back here to
Newspaper Details
Neenah Menasha Northwestern
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, US
Wed, Apr 21, 1976
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Winnefox L.
WI, USA 10 Sep 2019
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