Women’s Day Special: Mother Lee – An Epitome of Strength and Sacrifice

I write this blog from a city which the world remembers as Mother Teresa’s. As I was commuting in the historic, colonial city of Kolkata, especially in the Methodist-heritage places, I happened to  read the biography of another Mother in this city, who most of us do not know, with tears welled in my eyes, on and often. We can call her Mother Lee to keep her easily in our memory.

The Lee Memorial Mission is seated on the sacrifice of a missionary couple who lost seven of their children to death. Undeterred, Ada Lee became the mother of many children in this region in India. This is a brief tribute to this strong woman named, Ada Hildegarde Jones on Women’s Day, 2018.

Ada was born on March 23, 1856 in West Virginia. In the winter of 1870, she had her first religious experience.  She was hooked to a question: Would you be willing to leave home and friends and go to India? After an inner agony she cried, “O Lord, I will do anything if Thou wilt only save me.” After fighting her call to India, she landed in Bombay (now Mumbai) on December 22, 1876. She got an assignment to serve women in Calcutta (now Kolkata).  Soon she met her friend (while in US), David Lee in India. Her friendship blossomed as love. They married on June 6, 1881 in the Methodist Church in Vepery, Madras (now Chennai).

Risking Life for One Girl

The following series of events took place prior to Ada’s marriage. It is about Jesudar, the second wife of an uncle of the King of Benares, twelve years of age! Her servant betrayed her into the hands of a wicked woman who sold her into prostitution.  She somehow came into touch with Ada and pleaded to rescue her.  Ada escorted Jesudar from Calcutta to Lucknow by train. A mob, bribed by Jesudar’s captors chased them before they could board the train. However they were dispersed by the police. The captor was sued by the court.  When it came to who would take care of Jesudar, her husband and her mom termed her as an outcaste. When she was growing up in the orphanage in Bareilly, her captor, who is not an Indian stepped in one night. By God’s grace, one watchman (one another was bribed) awoke his companions, and around twenty of them gave protection. By then the captor had escaped. Jesudar, a bright student, later met a Christian man and married and got settled.

Dream to Rescue Many

Burdened to help many more like Jesudar,  Ada, her husband and their children, six then, went to US. God honoured their faith and they returned to India with $ 20,000. They started a training school in their own house in Calcutta. After much struggle a property was purchased on Dharamtala Street which is the present location of the Lee Memorial Mission.

The Darjeeling Disaster

The couple rented in Darjeeling a two-storied cottage where they spent a few happy weeks of vacation. Three of their six kids were teens by then.  The older daughter Vida was seventeen years old. The couple left them there and returned to Calcutta to complete plans for building their newly purchased property. They were waiting for the children to return. But God had different plans. After thirty six hours of incessant rainfall, the mountain where the children were staying slipped off carrying everything into the abyss below. The children made an attempt to save themselves, but they got buried, except for one of them, Wilbur, a thirteen year old.

David and Ada with their new born baby met Wilbur who was lying in a hospital bed. He lived for a few more days, to  narrate the ordeal of the fateful, yet victorious day: After failing every possible attempt, Vida the oldest said, “If the Lord wishes, He can save us together, and if not, He will take us together.” They knelt in prayer several times asking God to protect them. They had a knock at the door. A local man, came crippled, his face bleeding. Since he was ill and shivering, the children started to care for them. Vida took a cloth and wiped the blood from his face. With a rug they wrapped him.  This man survived and later told that the last time he saw the children they were kneeling together in prayer. The centre of the room cracked open, while they were still praying. Vida said, “Children, the house is coming down and we will soon be in heaven.”

Wilbur continued, “We felt as if we were coming home to you, by train. We said to each other if papa and mamma and baby Frank were only here, we could all go together to heaven. Vida’s face looked like an angel as she talked to us. Jesudar (a Bengali girl, with a similar name as the one Ada rescued earlier, cared by this couple, who died too) was kneeling with us. ‘Oh merciful God, take us now.’ These were her last words.” Around this time Wilbur said, he was thrown more than a hundred feet down the mountain-side to be spotted in the dawn by two ladies. After a desperate struggle along with some men, they cared for him and took him to a doctor. Realising that Wilbur will not make it long here on earth, Mother Ada took time to get him reassured of his salvation.  The little teenager often said to his mom, “My precious mamma, you are my sweet heart.” In her painful ordeal, Ada saw a glimpse of heaven, seeing Wilbur just entering in and the other children greeting him, all so happy. The vision was so real which gave her super natural strength to awful days that followed. Wilbur joined his brothers and sisters just eight days after the land slide.

The Mission Grew

The Lee Memorial Mission was organized in memory of their six biological children and one spiritual child. The work grew with famine hit orphans pouring in into their home in Calcutta.  Ada became sick and the couple travelled to US, only to return to India in 1907 to the work they loved. The plans for the new buildings at Wellington Square were under taken. They had one more son, Albert next to Frank. After completing their studies in America, they came to India. Frank, a graduate in medicine stayed for a few years. Dr Lee became ill and passed to his heavenly home on his 74^th birthday. His body was laid to rest along with Wilbur’s in Darjeeling.

Mrs Ada Lee, Singled, Yet Strong

The products of the Lee Memorial Mission became outstanding Christians both in spiritual and secular realms. When she was 80 year old, Mother Lee turned the work over to the Griffiths. On 11 May 1948, Mother Lee rested on the everlasting arms of Jesus at a ripe old age of 92.  She was a queen among women, a wondrous personality. As a single woman towards the end, her sacrifice and strength stands stupendous.  The administration transitioned to Indian nationals by the year 1972. Today the life and works of Lee Memorial Mission is a living testimony of a great woman, Mrs Ada Lee who worked alongside her family in a foreign land, in my own India.


Note:  I am publishing this blog from the very site of the Lee Memorial Mission in Kolkata. I have written primarily based on, Triumph through Sorrow: A History of Lee Memorial Mission by Frances Major (Lee Memorial Mission, January 2004) and  The Darjeeling Disaster (Triumph through Sorrow) written by Mrs Ada Lee herself. In this second book Mother Lee pays tribute to all her deceased children. The book also contains journal entries of the Lee household. It is a very moving, motivating and life-changing book.