| Missionary Service In India (1948-1953) |
| On board the S.S. Bali in New York, Zalene (right) joins Dan & Trula Cronk as all three newly-commissioned Missionaries sail for India. |
| On board the SS Bali headed to India, Zalene sat on the lower bunk in her cabin, aimed her camera at the mirror and took this photo. Her note on the back of the photo is to the right. |
| The March 1985 Issue of "Heartbeat" Magazine featured a story by Don Robirds entitled, "They Paved The Way", which included a section on Zalene's missionary service in India. |
| Senior Missionary, Laura Belle Barnard and Zalene Lloyd pose for this photo in India, circa 1949. |
| On the back of this photo from India, she wrote: "I wish you could see the beautiful color of the flowers here." |
| Fellow missionary couple, Dan & Trula Cronk. |
| Seated: Laura Belle Barnard; (L-R) Zalene, Volena Wilson, & Val ?. |
| Zalene & Trula Cronk |
| Having Tea in India, May, 1952 |
| With children from the orphanage in India. |
| With two Hindu girls, Sachia and Sundri in Kishanganj (North India). January, 1951 |
| Chatting with a friend at the Taj Mahal. |
| Holding a baby, 2 weeks old. |
| Zalene's note on reverse says: "A group of the boys made the night of our Welcome Supper. Notice the three flags: American, Christian and Indian. That isn't my hand on the boys' shoulder, in case you think it is." (She was always concerned about propriety and didn't want the folks back home to get the wrong idea!) |
| Mr. James Purdie is pictured here with children from Dr. Graham's Homes. He was a devoted friend of, and co-laborer with Dr. Graham at his "Homes" in Kalimpong for 50+ years. |
| On January 8, 1953, Zalene, at the age of 36 1/2, found herself on board the P&O Stratheden, a ship of Australian registry. She was returning home from missionary term of 4 years, 4 months in India. She would never leave North America again except for a 1988 trip to Hawaii celebrating her 34th wedding anniversary. She sent this postcard to her youngest sister, Vonnie to let her know she was on the way home. She signed it, "Sis", which Vonnie, with her gentile Southern accent would pronounce, "Sus", or "Suster". |
| Photos |
click on photos to enlarge
| Passport photo |
At the age of 32, a single Zalene Lloyd set sail for India
aboard the SS Bali (Amsterdam Registry) on Saturday,
August 8, 1948. She traveled with Dan and Trula Cronk.
Both Dan and Trula were faculty members at the Free
Will Baptist Bible College the year Zalene graduated.
The two teachers and their student became fellow
missionaries and were commissioned and employed by
the Board of Foreign Missions, Inc., the official missions
board of the Free Will Baptist Denomination,
headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
Their journey would take exactly one month. Point of
Departure was New York Harbor and they would sail to
South India aboard the SS Bali, a mixed-use vessel,
configured for cargo and passenger business. A diary of
their voyage has been recorded and is available by
clicking here.
Each of the three missionaries were paid a salary of $75
per month. In addition to their salary, support had to be
raised for Zalene and the Cronk's in the amounts of
$3,407.95 and $3,448.76, respectively. In 2004 dollars.
Their salaries equated to approximately $565.63 per
month and the monies raised to send them to India
equates to approximately $25,700 each account.
On August 15, 1948, the day their ship was sailing past
Algiers in North Africa, their destination country, India
was celebrating its first anniversary of independence from
British rule. Back home in the states, the first ever nightly
network newscast would debut on CBS with anchor
Douglas Edwards.
Their assignment was to work with Laura Belle Barnard
who had been in India several years. Midway through
Zalene's term, she resigned as a Free Will Baptist
Missionary and went to work for Dr. Graham's Homes in
Kalimpong, West Bengal, situated in the Himalayan
foothills of north-east India.
The homes were founded by The Rev John Anderson
Graham, a Church of Scotland Missionary, in 1900 out of
"compassion and concern for the often neglected Anglo
Indian children of the Tea Gardens in the Darjeeling
District. They were first known as the St Andrew’s Colonial
Homes but after his death renamed Dr Graham’s Homes."
Dr Graham aimed to give each child health, education,
training and self-respect based on the Christian principle
of love and security. The "Homes" still exist today and
information is available on the web by clicking here.
Zalene's missionary term expired in 1953. She returned
to the states at the age of 36. She sailed from India to
Tilbury Port, England aboard the Australian-built ocean
liner, the P&O Stratheden, departing January 8, 1953.
According to ports of call records, the Stratheden either
departed from Colombo (Sri Lanka) or Bombay
(Mumbai). Bombay would require a journey by train from
Kalimpong of about 1,500 miles. If Colombo was the
point of departure, it would involve a train journey of
around 1,700 miles and then a boat voyage from the
Southern tip of India to the Western side of Colombo. Her
homeward voyage continued from England to New York
aboard the Queen Elizabeth. According to the
Stratheden's passenger manifest, Zalene, age 36, was
traveling with another American missionary, a Naomi H.
Knapp, age 60. Naomi was a Northern Baptist missionary
from Shinglehouse, Pennsylvania who had served in the
Indian states of Bengal and Orissa, also in Northern India
near Zalene.
The Stratheden arrived in Tilbury Port, England on
Saturday, January 24, 1953. Naomi sailed for New York
on board the SS United States that departed from
Southampton, England on Monday, February 9; 16 days
after their arrival in England. Zalene's ship, the Queen
Elizabeth, departed Southampton on Saturday, February
14 and arrived in New York on February 17, 1953. From
there, Zalene would take the train to her home in
Durham, North Carolina.
aboard the SS Bali (Amsterdam Registry) on Saturday,
August 8, 1948. She traveled with Dan and Trula Cronk.
Both Dan and Trula were faculty members at the Free
Will Baptist Bible College the year Zalene graduated.
The two teachers and their student became fellow
missionaries and were commissioned and employed by
the Board of Foreign Missions, Inc., the official missions
board of the Free Will Baptist Denomination,
headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
Their journey would take exactly one month. Point of
Departure was New York Harbor and they would sail to
South India aboard the SS Bali, a mixed-use vessel,
configured for cargo and passenger business. A diary of
their voyage has been recorded and is available by
clicking here.
Each of the three missionaries were paid a salary of $75
per month. In addition to their salary, support had to be
raised for Zalene and the Cronk's in the amounts of
$3,407.95 and $3,448.76, respectively. In 2004 dollars.
Their salaries equated to approximately $565.63 per
month and the monies raised to send them to India
equates to approximately $25,700 each account.
On August 15, 1948, the day their ship was sailing past
Algiers in North Africa, their destination country, India
was celebrating its first anniversary of independence from
British rule. Back home in the states, the first ever nightly
network newscast would debut on CBS with anchor
Douglas Edwards.
Their assignment was to work with Laura Belle Barnard
who had been in India several years. Midway through
Zalene's term, she resigned as a Free Will Baptist
Missionary and went to work for Dr. Graham's Homes in
Kalimpong, West Bengal, situated in the Himalayan
foothills of north-east India.
The homes were founded by The Rev John Anderson
Graham, a Church of Scotland Missionary, in 1900 out of
"compassion and concern for the often neglected Anglo
Indian children of the Tea Gardens in the Darjeeling
District. They were first known as the St Andrew’s Colonial
Homes but after his death renamed Dr Graham’s Homes."
Dr Graham aimed to give each child health, education,
training and self-respect based on the Christian principle
of love and security. The "Homes" still exist today and
information is available on the web by clicking here.
Zalene's missionary term expired in 1953. She returned
to the states at the age of 36. She sailed from India to
Tilbury Port, England aboard the Australian-built ocean
liner, the P&O Stratheden, departing January 8, 1953.
According to ports of call records, the Stratheden either
departed from Colombo (Sri Lanka) or Bombay
(Mumbai). Bombay would require a journey by train from
Kalimpong of about 1,500 miles. If Colombo was the
point of departure, it would involve a train journey of
around 1,700 miles and then a boat voyage from the
Southern tip of India to the Western side of Colombo. Her
homeward voyage continued from England to New York
aboard the Queen Elizabeth. According to the
Stratheden's passenger manifest, Zalene, age 36, was
traveling with another American missionary, a Naomi H.
Knapp, age 60. Naomi was a Northern Baptist missionary
from Shinglehouse, Pennsylvania who had served in the
Indian states of Bengal and Orissa, also in Northern India
near Zalene.
The Stratheden arrived in Tilbury Port, England on
Saturday, January 24, 1953. Naomi sailed for New York
on board the SS United States that departed from
Southampton, England on Monday, February 9; 16 days
after their arrival in England. Zalene's ship, the Queen
Elizabeth, departed Southampton on Saturday, February
14 and arrived in New York on February 17, 1953. From
there, Zalene would take the train to her home in
Durham, North Carolina.
| The RMS Queen Elizabeth departing Southampton, England for New York. |
| The two documents above are memo's sent to Zalene from Jim Duncan at Dr. Graham's Homes in Kalimpong notifying her of the reservations that have been made for her travel back to the United States. One is for a trip from India to England and the other for England to New York. |
| Above is the passenger manifest for the P&O Stratheden showing Zalene's name and her fellow missionary traveling companion, Naomi H. Knapp. |
| Above is the passenger manifest for the RMS Queen Elizabeth that shows Zalene Lloyd's name. |