Title: Elma J. Ashby oral history interview, February 6, 1981

Identifier: OH0065   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/49585)

Description: Elma J. Ashby, a native of Tunneltown, West Virginia, spent twenty-seven years as a Methodist missionary in Rhodesia. In this interview she recounts her background and education, her appointment as missionary to China in 1940 and her return to the U.S. due to the outbreak of World War II, and her subsequent appointment to work in Africa. Miss Ashby remained in Rhodesia from 1945 until 1972 where she worked in nurses training. Topics discussed include her work as a nurse, impressions of the Congo and Rhodesia, medical care among the natives, training of native nurses and other medical personnel, economic and physical factors in Rhodesian life, hospital construction, Zimbabwe independence, and impressions of conditions in that country during the past decade. Interviewer: Donald R. Lennon.