This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Women at Hope College in the 1930's and 1940's

Talman Milestone

This page is referenced by:

Case Studies - Missionaries and STEM
Background
As featured on the Women in STEM data analysis, eight women who majored in STEM had files in the Joint Archives of Holland. Interestingly enough, we found a connection between women's STEM majors and their career paths as missionaries. Here are brief descriptions of their lives.

Gallery
Jeanette Veldman
Jeanette Veldman was from Grandville, Michigan. Veldman attended business college in Grand Rapids. She also attended Hope Preparatory School in 1922. She graduated from Hope College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1926 after majoring in science [1]. At Hope, she participated in:

Sorosis; Y. W. C. A. Cabinet, ‘24, ‘25; Gospel Team ‘26; Student Vol.; State Student Vol. Council ‘25; Recording Secretary; Michigan Student Vol. Union ‘25; Student Council ‘25; Milestone staff ‘25; Sweater Club; A. D. D.; Athletic Board ‘25, ‘26; House Com. ‘23; S. G. A., President [2]

After Hope, she went to the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago in 1929. Then, she went to the Kennedy School of Missions in Hartford, Connecticut, Teachers College at Columbia University in 1946, and School of Midwifery in the NYC Maternity Center Association. In 1930, she was sent to Amoy, China and worked in Hope and Wilhelmins Hospital and School of Nursing. In 1946, she received an M.A. in nursing education and administration from Columbia University.

Veldman was employed abroad in Amoy, China as a nurse until the Communist goverrnment ordered her departure from the country. She was there from 1930-1951. However, a short period of employment in India 1937-1938, a prisoner of war interment during World War II, and a return to mission work in 1946. Afterward, she lived in Arabia (Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman) until she returned to the United States in 1967. Veldman passed away in 1994 [3].

Helen Zander

Helen Zander was born in Schenectady, New York as the youngest of five. She attended grammar school, high school, and Bellevue Reformed Church (Educational Work in Japan). Zander was interested in elocution at a young age and nurtured this interest in church and school work. She acted as a reader with a male chorus and with a group of children who went around giving performances for various groups. Zander decided at 12 to become a missionary after she had a dream in which Christ knocked at the door calling her to service like in the Book of Revelations.
Her church in Schenectady helped finance her education at Hope. Zander graduated from Hope College in 1928 with a Bachelor of Arts and took a science course [4]. At Hope, she participated in
Alethea, President ‘25; Y. W. C. A. Cabinet ‘27, President ‘28; Student Volunteers; Gospel Team ‘26, ‘27, ‘28; Debating Team ‘26; S. G. A. [5]

After graduating from Hope, she was presented as a missionary to Japan by the women’s board of foreign missions. She had not meant to go to Japan (instead, India, Arabia, or China) but had attended a Northfield conference and the theme was Japan. Plus, her big sister’s family at Hope had spent time in Japan. In 1928, after her graduation, she left for Japan. After studying French and German in college, she studied Japanese while in Japan.
In 1929, Zander entered the Japanese Language School, studied under the Mission Language Committee course until she left the field in 1940. She taught in seminaries in Japan like Sturges Seminary and Ferris Seminary. Zander taught some physical training but specialized in subjects like English (composition, reading, and literature), stenography, typing, commercial English, and office practice. Zander found hobbies in Japanese penmanship, flower arrangements, and collecting envelopes and chopsticks.
In 1934, she came back to the United States for the first furlough but returned to Japan in 1935. She taught until her second furlough in 1940. After, she attended Columbia University and got an M.A. degree in Rural Education with emphasis on Industrial Arts [6]. In 1962, she taught at a girl’s high school in Tokyo [7].
Zander worked at seminaries that specialized in the Christian education of women in Japan. Some notable alumni of her schools were two ladies in waiting for an imperial princess, one of the first Japanese authors to produce Christian literature, president of one of the foremost women’s universities, and minister’s wives. Zander herself said that the students represented “largely girls from a very good class of home and are picked through entrance examinations for scholarship and personality.” Very few of the students were Christians when they came, which was a “tremendous evangelistic opportunity” [8].
Zander received an imperial award known as the Fifth Order of the Sacred Treasure from Iwatoro Uchiyama, Governor Kanagawa Prefecture. She was awarded it because of her work in the “furtherance of good Japanese-American relations with your wealthy knowledge, ideas, and love.” In regards to this achievement, Zander wrote “I am grateful that God called me into His service, directed my interests toward Japan” [9].
Overall, Zander taught at four schools - Baiko Jo Gakuin, Ferris, Joshi Gakuin, and Woman’s Christian [10]. She was a missionary for the Reformed Church in Japan from 1928 to 1941 and 1947 to 1974. Helen Zander passed away on January 1, 1983 [11].

Eva Van Schaack

Eva Van Schaack was born in Coxsackie, NY in 1904 [12]. She graduated from Hope in 1929 with a Bachelor of Arts and a major in science. She was involved in the Dorian sorority and the Senior Girls Association [13]
Van Schaack specialized in botany after she graduated from Hope. From 1931-1937, she studied at the School of Higher Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the John Hopkins University where she received a PhD. She taught and worked as a laboratory assistant and taught at many schools. Van Schaack was an assistant professor of botany at Kalamazoo College from 1946-1947, assistant professor of plant science at Mount Holyoke College from 1948-1950, associate professor of biology at Wheaton College from 1953-1956, and a professor at Hope College from 1956-1969. She was a member of Sigma Xi.
At Hope, Van Schaack’s pay was very low for an associate professor, and she did not obtain full professorship until two years before her retirement even though she had “distinguished herself in the field of biology”. Van Schaack specialized in fungi and was promoted in 1967.
Van Schaack passed away in 1981 [14].

Bernadine Siebers De Valois
Bernadine Siebers De Valois was born Bernadine Siebers in Grand Rapids. She went to South High School in Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Junior College, and graduated from Hope College in 1930. She received a Bachelor Arts after majoring in science [15]. At Hope, she participated in
Dorian; Gospel Team 2, 3, 4; Y.W.C.A. Cabinet 3, President 4; Student Volunteer, Secretary-Treasurer 3, President 4; Trumpet Quartet; Orchestra 2, 3; Milestone Assistant Editor; Dorian Basketball 4; Chairman Senior Music Committee; S.G.A. [16]

The Milestone described Bernadine as
"Bernie," the capable president of the Y.W.C.A. Let us consider her good characteristics. Purposeful is she, with a good deal of plain vigor in carrying out her plans; sociable to a high degree. For an example of enthusiasm we would direct you to her and leave you to be convinced in a moment's conversation. We must not forget that terrible trait of hers of working so hard that others feel ashamed of themselves [17].
After Hope, she received an M.D. in 1934 from Rush Medical College. She was a Diplomat of the National Board of Medical Examinations in the United States in 1936. In 1936, she was sent to Vellore, India as a missionary. She worked in surgical wards and clinics with an ear, nose, and throat specialty, taught medical and nursing students, public health programs in villages, and village women’s classes and conferences. She married John James De Valois in 1946 [18].
While in India, Siebers De Valois wrote many letters and pamphlets describing her life in India. She noted that she treated an average of 225 patients a day [19]. In her letters, she discusses the dangers of missionary work abroad. In particular, she detailed religious conflicts, riots, extreme weather, and illness. However, she hoped that the dispensary she was helping found would “become a real source of healing power for physical and spiritual needs,” [20].
Eventually, India became suspicious towards missionaries and began to make it harder for them to stay. In an article published by the Church Herald, Siebers De Valois argued that mission work was not meant to establish Christian belief or practice as superior or even drastically increase the number of Christians. Instead, it was meant for converts to have a free response and agency in their religious experience [21].

Moreover, she published articles in the Hope College Alumni magazine attempting to get alumni to become missionaries. In one article, she argued that medical outreach is an important part of Christian professional training. Moreover, the Church needed to focus on the new field of preventative medicine. She argued that her job was to provide new dignity and respect to womanhood in areas where women were treated poorly and so, she focused on village outreach, food, maternal and child welfare [22]. She targeted mothers to disperse information. She described the importance of missionary work as similar in the words of Jesus taken from scripture “‘I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.’” [23] Bernadine illustrated how missionary work fulfilled this vocation as she claimed that
Hope College cannot have a greater and more important mission today than to send her well-armed children as the resolute servants of our scientific and spiritual life to all the imperiled posts of American to save the future life of this nation,... and to watch over the freedom of mankind [24].
Hope presented her with an honorary D.Sc. degree on June 4, 1956 [25].
Eventually, she went to Africa. Upon returning to the United States, she was a member of many medical societies, taught at Western Seminary, and worked at Pine Rest. Bernadine Siebers De Valois passed away on June 19, 2001 [26].

Anne De Young

Anne De Young was born in Clymer, New York though she lived in Newark, New York. Her father was a Reformed Church Minister and her aunt was a domestic missionary. De Young was the middle of seven children [27]. Her parents were born in the Netherlands and went to Hope. De Young decided to enter the nursing profession after visiting her aunt [28].
She graduated from the Berea College School of Nursing in 1938 and Hope College in 1942 after majoring in biology [29]. At Hope, De Young participated in
Sibylline, Treasurer 3; Alcor 4, President; Y. W. C. A 2, 3, 4, Vice President 4; Christian Workers League 2; Band 2; Chapel Choir 3, 4; Music Group 4; German Club 3; Girls Basketball 2, 3; Treasurer of Voorhees Hall 3; Voorhees Hall Nurse. [30]
While at Hope, she worked at Holland City Hospital. After graduating from Hope, she studied Chinese in Berkeley, California in hopes of being stationed in China as a missionary. However, China closed its doors to missionaries so she was unable to go [31]. Then, she studied at Kennedy School of Missions, Hartford, Connecticut in 1951 for one term and the School of Midwifery in 1952 [32].
De Young was an assistant nurse in Voorhees Hall at Hope College for two years and was the head nurse for one year. While head nurse, she had over 100 girls in her care. Afterwards, she was an instructor in the hygiene department at Hope [33]. She continued to teach at the Berea, Kentucky School of Nursing for nine months [34].
She worked at Scudder Memorial Hospital in India for one year. Then, she served in Amoy, China from 1946 to 1951. De Young was reassigned to Arabia in 1952 where she worked in the medical field. She was furloughed from 1958 to 1959 and transferred to Oman soon after reentering the field [35]. Overall, she had mostly been a nursing teacher and supervisor [36]. Anne De Young passed away in 2007.

Mary Louise Talman

Mary Louise Talman was born in China in 1921. Her parents were missionaries. They returned to the United States in 1929 where they lived in Hyde Park, New York [37]. She graduated from Hope in 1942 with a Bachelor of Arts and a major in biology. At Hope, she participated in
Sibylline, Reporter 1, 2; Anchor 1, 2; Y.W.C.A. 1, 2, 3, 4, Cabinet 2; Christian Workers League 1, 2, Secretary 1; Chapel Choir 1; Scalpel Club 4; Philosophy Club 4; Tennis 4 [38].
Talman was a part of the faculty at Presbyterian Green Mountain Conference in Poughkeepsie, NY. She taught science at Attamont, NY High School and earned a M.A. from Albany State Teacher’s College in 1944. She eventually taught general science in Santiago, Chile where she was the head of the middle school department of the College.
Talman died in Lima, Peru on her way home from teaching at Santiago College, Santiago, Chile. The cause of death was an accidental gas leak [39].

Marjorie Van Vranken

Van Vranken was born in Schenectady, New York. Her parents were missionaries in India where they quickly returned after Marjorie was born. Her playmates were Indian children of the compound and she went to Highclerc School for Missionary Children in Kodaikanal, South India. Van Vranken described this time as having “many opportunities of witnessing to God’s handiwork in nature and to His word in their Christian training.” [40]
Van Vranken earned an A.B. from Hope in 1946 after majoring in biology and chemistry. The Milestone lists her hometown as Hudsonville, Michigan in 1946. At Hope, she participated in

Thesaurian 1, 2, 3, 4, Treasurer 3; Y.W.C.A. 1, 2. 3, 4, Cabinet Member 4; Milestone 3 ; Alcor 4, Secretary-Treasurer 4 ; Sister Organization of Alpha Chi 4 ; French Majors' Club 1, 2, 3. 4, Treasurer 3; Scalpel Club 2, 3, 4, Secretary-Treasurer 3, President 4. [41].
To pay for tuition, Van Vranken worked many odd jobs including as a glass grinder, machine mirror engraver, nurses’ aide, and at a chemical plant and wire and spring factory.
After graduating from Hope, she did graduate work at the University of Illinois and received her master’s degree in physiology in 1949. She spent a summer at the YWCA learning about labor and social problems. At graduate school, she was a member of the University Woman’s Scientific Research Association. She also was a part time assistant in physiology and served as a laboratory instructor.
There was a need for women doctors and nurses in India so she got a teaching position in the physiology department of the Vellore Christian Medical College. This was an interdenominational school and international institution which got support from the RCA. She studied Tamil and took exams alongside working. Van Vranken wrote that it was “refreshing to be back in India, but it was also a challenge to be a small cog in the work of God’s kingdom among the students.” She returned to the United States in 1952 [42].
Overall, she spent thirteen years as an RCA missionary in Vellore, India, 28 years involved in the activities of the International Protestant Church of Kinshasa, and five years with the Protestant Women of the SHAPE Chapel in Belgium. She passed away in 1995 [43].

Alida J. Kloosterman

Alida J. Kloosterman was born in 1921 She spent her early life in Grand Rapids except for summers spent on her grandparents farm. At the age of six, she went to Rogers Junior High School where she liked school so much that she did not want to take vacations. She was a member of the school safety division where she worked from a patrolman up to the captain of the force. Home was a “wonderful example of Christian nurture and recognition.” During this time, Kloosterman became interested in Christian Endeavor and the Girls’ League for Service. She also loved sports.
Kloosterman was about to enter Lee High School when her father died, leaving her younger brother to take over the home and support her mother, herself, and her younger sister. The girls sold flowers and babysit as any further education had to be earned through “spartan diligence.” At seventeen, she became a member of the Reformed Church in Grand Rapids. She taught Sunday School and enjoyed listening to the missionaries. She wanted to give her “life to full time Christian service, too, but her finances seemed always to stand in the way.”
After her mother’s death, she worked to pay off debts and mortgages on the house. She saved enough for one year in college. While at Hope, she worked summers, vacations, evenings, and Saturdays, to finance other years too. She worked for the American Sunday School Union and was the Director of Summer Camps. She taught Vacation Bible School, was an inspector at a wood factory and was in charge of girls in the plant. At Hope, she worked in the dorm collecting and dispensing linen, in laundry as a cleaning girl, in the library, and filing. She viewed college as the background for her life work [44].
At Hope, she was in the varsity club, speech club, red cross, Y. W. C. A., prayer bands, wrote for the Milestone and the Anchor, and was a member in the Theasurian sorority (page 47). She graduated from Hope in 1948 after majoring in mathematics [45].
Her desire to become a missionary intensified at Hope College as she was encouraged and assisted by Mrs. John Piet who had worked in India as a missionary. She hoped to work in villages with Bible women or teaching. In 1947, during her Junior year at Hope, she applied to the Board of Foreign Missions. She was accepted as a missionary that year with an appointment to India. In 1949, she went to Chittoor, India and studied the language. She was financed by the Reformed Church, American Church, and the Sunday School of the Second Reformed Church [46]. Kloosterman stayed in India for three years and then taught at the North 4th Street Christian School. Alida J. Kloosterman married Bastiaan van Dijk in 1953. According to her marriage notice, Kloosterman planned to move back to the Netherlands where her husband was from [47]. The U.S. Death Index from 1898-2008 lists Kloosterman's death date as February 3, 2001.

References:
[1] Biographical Materials, Box 5, Veldman, Jeannette (1901-1994). Papers, 1912-1989. (W89-1012.), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[2] Milestone 1926 (Holland: Hope College, 1926), 28, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/11.
[3] Biographical Materials, Box 5.
[4] “Helen Zander: Educational Work in Japan,” Woman’s Board of Foreign Missions, July 1942. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[5] Milestone 1928 (Holland: Hope College, 1928), 35, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/13.
[6] “Helen Zander: Educational Work in Japan.”
[7] Helen Zander, “South for the Holidays,” The Church Herald, April 6, 1962. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[8] Helen Zander, “The GI Didn't Know - Do You?” The Church Herald, February 13, 1953. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[9] Helen Zander, “A Bridge Across the Pacific,” The Church Herald, April 24, 1964. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[10] Helen Zander, "A Bridge Across the Pacific."
[11] “Helen Zander Dies,” The Church Herald, January 2, 1983. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[12] Biographical, 1950-1969. Van Schaack, Eva (1904-1981). Papers, 1911-1976. (H88-0177.), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[13] Milestone 1929 (Holland: Hope College, 1929), 37, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/13/.
[14] Biographical, 1950-1969.
[15] “Dr. and Mrs. J. J. De Valois,” Board of Foreign Missions, October 1955. De Valois Family. Papers, 1938-2001. (W11-1384.10), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[16] Milestone 1930 (Holland: Hope College, 1930), 65, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/17.
[17] Milestone 1930, 54.
[18] “Dr. and Mrs. J. J. De Valois.”
[19] Bernadine Siebers to St. Ives, September 24, 1938. De Valois Family. Papers, 1938-2001. (W11-1384.10.), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[20] Bernadine Siebers to Mission Hospital for Women, June 1, 1939. De Valois Family. Papers, 1938-2001. (W11-1384.10.), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[21] Bernadine Siebers De Valois, “The Church’s Right to Send Missionaries,” The Church Herald, May 20, 1955. De Valois Family. Papers, 1938-2001. (W11-1384.10.), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[22] Bernadine Siebers De Valois, “Eat too Little - Live too Wretchedly - Die too Young!” The Church Herald, February 17, 1956. De Valois Family. Papers, 1938-2001. (W11-1384.10.), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[23] Bernadine Siebers De Valois, “Science Plus-Miracles in India,” Hope College Alumni Magazine, July 1956. De Valois Family. Papers, 1938-2001. (W11-1384.10.), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[24] “Nigerian Chicks and Consultations,” Hope College Alumni Magazine, October 1962. De Valois Family. Papers, 1938-2001. (W11-1384.10.), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[25] Bernadine Siebers De Valois, “Science Plus-Miracles in India."
[26] De Valois Family. Papers, 1938-2001. (W11-1384.10), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[27] “Miss Anne R. De Young,” Board for the Christian World Mission Reformed Church in America, November 1958. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[28] “Anne R. De Young,” Woman’s Board of Foreign Missions, 1946. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[29] “Miss Anne R. De Young.”
[30] Milestone 1942 (Holland: Hope College, 1942), 40, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/26.
[31] “Anne De Young To Retire,” June 25, 1982. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[32] “Miss Anne R. De Young.”
[33] “Anne De Young To Retire.”
[34] “Anne R. De Young.”
[35] “Miss Anne R. De Young.”; “The task of Christian missionaries in… Muscat, Newest Oil Town,” The Church Herald, September 19, 1969. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[36] “Anne De Young To Retire.”
[37] “Hope Graduate Buried in Peru,” Holland City News, July 24, 1947. Hope Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[38] Milestone 1942 (Holland: Hope College, 1942), 40, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/26.
[39] “Hope Graduate Buried in Peru.”
[40] “Marjorie Alice Van Vranken,” Board of Foreign Missions Reformed Church of America, September 1953. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[41] Milestone 1946 (Holland: Hope College, 1946), 47, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/27.
[42] “Marjorie Alice Van Vranken.”
[43] “Marjorie A. Van Vranken,” P.F. PORBEUR - Asquillies, 1995. Van Vranken, Herbert E. (1891-1972). Papers, 1914-1995. (W01-1258.7.), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[44] “Alida J. Kloosterman”, Board of Foreign Missions Reformed Church in America, January 1950. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[45] Milestone 1948 (Holland: Hope College, 1948), 47, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/30.
[46] "Alida J. Kloosterman."
[47] "Teacher is Wed to Mr. van Dijk, Netherlander," The Sunday News, December 6, 1953.