Personal Stories by some of the people of Mission Point – men and women who lived here, worked here, attended conferences here, and who built these buildings.

Ayer, Hope
Bager, Eli
Barraud, Rudi
Burnstick, Ed
Campbell, Annajet
Carey, Dave
Choney, Ann
Eriksson, Vern
Eshkibok, Vern
Freebury, Jack
Goulding, Virginia
Grebe, Fritz
Greilick, Robley Geddes
Harling, Dennis
Harriman, Jarvis
Henderson, Michael
Hunter, Willard
Jaquith, David
Marienfeld, Ilse
Matthews, Irene (Dynamite) Schaffer
McLean, Gwen
Min, Boo-Ki
Nickerson, Ellie
Pribram, John
Sack, Harold
Wake, Bill

Hope Kitchen Ayer

Hope Ayer with parents Vic and Elsie KitchenOne day in the early 1930s, when Frank Buchman was looking out the window of a New York office, he asked the friend he was with, “Whose car is that?” The friend peered down at the flashy red car and said, “Oh, that’s Vic Kitchen’s.” My father, Vic Kitchen, was a little like that car – colorful to say the least. A New York advertising businessman and author, he had a certain flamboyance, along with some not uncommon problems and an undue enthusiasm for alcohol. Then he met Frank – and his alcohol addiction, along with his other problems, ended. Through Frank and the Oxford Group (the predecessor of MRA), he learned how God could guide his life. Now his true self could shine through and become a beacon for others. In due course, he and my mother Elsie, along with me and my sister, joined the MRA “team” and had many fascinating years as part of this growing world family. Read more>> 

Eli Bager

Eli Bager and Inge Johansen – Engagement, 1958I come from Marstal, a small seafaring town on the island of Erø, and went to sea when I was 16. In 1940, I found myself in New York. The Germans had invaded Denmark so my ship was taken over by the U.S. Maritime Commission, given a new name, and registered in Panama. At that time, in Bayonne, New Jersey, I saw on a newsstand, a booklet entitled You Can Defend America. The title and the illustrations attracted my attention and I bought a copy for 10 cents. Read more>>

Rudi Barraud

Rudi BarraudI first heard about Mackinac when visiting the international MRA conference center at Caux, Switzerland, located near my home city of Lucerne. It was not long after the end of the Second World War, and meeting so many people from different countries there, with a new vision for the world, left a deep impression on me.

During the summer of 1955, while at Caux, a friend showed me photos of the beginning of the construction of the new conference center at Mackinac. I immediately saw the significance for America of a conference center like Caux. A short time later I said yes to an invitation to go to Mackinac as a volunteer and participate in the construction program there. Read more>>

Ed Burnstick

Ed Burnstick performing the hoop danceEd Burnstick grew up on the Paul First Nation in Alberta, Canada. His parents were Cree and Stoney. He first visited Mackinac Island as a youth in the summer of 1964 when he attended the “Conference For Tomorrow’s American”. In the accompanying photo he is seen performing the hoop dance for conference delegates. During the conference he met people from many nations who shared with him their determination to help build a better world and he too took on that commitment. Ed returned to Mackinac in 1966 to work as a volunteer on construction of the Mackinac College buildings. Read more>>

Annejet Philips Campbell

The day before her wedding to Paul CampbellIt was just before my 21st birthday that I arrived at Mackinac for the first time. It was also my first time in the United States. What a thrill to see the “new world” for myself and to taste a hamburger and a milk­shake, non-existent in Europe at that time.

The building program of Cedar Point (now Mission Point) was in full swing when I arrived. It was 1954.

I grew up in German-occupied Holland dur­ing the Second World War. Both my parents spent time in prison camps and I was terrified of the bombs dropping on our city. Read more>>

David Carey

David Carey, 1942 or 1943This history-steeped northern Michigan island touched the lives of three generations of Careys. My father and mother, A.B. and Norah, were two of the first arrivals on the island after it had been made available to MRA by the State of Michigan. They had been associated with MRA since 1932.

My parents had been part of MRA’s wartime program out of which arose the need for a summer conference center. Senator Harry Truman, as head of the senate committee investigating war industries, had commented, “I’ve known about MRA since reading a message from President Roosevelt to a meeting in 1939. I was struck at that time by the clarity with which they saw the dangers threatening America and the zeal and intelligence with which they set about rousing the country. There is not a single industrial bottleneck I can think of which could not be broken in a matter of weeks if this crowd were given the green light to go full steam ahead.” Read more>>

Anne Choney

Anne ChoneyI was born in Poland to Ukranian parents. My father came to Western Canada in 1921. In 1934 my mother’s young sister and I came to Edmonton from Poland to join my father. We settled one hundred miles northeast of Edmonton. The following year, five more of my siblings joined our family from Poland.

While working in Calgary in 1946 I met the small team of MRA. They won me by their tremendous love and friendship. Soon I found myself committing my life to God and taking on the awesome task of remaking the world through the work of Moral Re-Armament. Read more>>

Vernon T. L. Eriksson

Meryl and Vern Eriksson married at MackinacIn 1945 I returned to Canada from Europe where I had fought during World War Two with the "Fort Garry Horse", 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment, from D Day, through France, Holland and into Germany. I commanded the first Canadian tank squadron onto German soil.

When the war ended in Europe, I thought, "What can I do next that might be of some help in preventing future wars?"

This brought me to Mackinac Island in 1946 where a Conference of Moral Re-Armament was under way at Island House. This set the stage for my next 20 some years as a volunteer with MRA based at Mackinac Island, but also participating in plays and conferences across this continent and around the world. Read more>>

Vern Eshkibok

Vern Eshkibok, operating a cement mixer, pouring concrete for the new Mackinac College.My name is Vernon Ronald Eshkibok, known as "Butch" when I was growing up, and Vern since. I'm descended from Ottawa and Mohawk Indians and grew up mostly at the Wikwemikong reservation on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada. My upbringing by my grandparents was very important because it taught me traditional ways that some other family members didn't know. My earliest years were spent in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and my schooling was mostly on the reservation.

Through the years I went to vocational training school and had other educational experiences from working - logging camps, firefighting and home farming. For most of my adult life I've been a heavy equipment operator and sometimes a truck driver. I currently live in Delta, Colorado with my wife Sara.

In the fall of 1965 I first met Jack Freebury and Bob Lowery in Garden River, near Sault Ste. Marie. Their visit to the reserve was arranged by Chief Jack Wigwas. They had come to invite some of us young guys to Mackinac Island for Thanksgiving Dinner. They were recruiting more members for the work force that was building the library for Mackinac College. I think 19 of us went back with them, with some of our parents or relatives, in the old MRA bus, or Sing-Out bus! After a day of seeing everything about a dozen of us decided to stay. We eventually worked on erecting steel for the library, in the cold of the winter, through December, January and February. We topped it out in the spring. Read more>>

Jack Freebury

Jack Freebury with the Studio Tower in the backgroundI arrived at Mackinac Island for the first time on August 5th, 1958. I was 18 years old and had just finished high school that June. Coming from western Canada I had never seen anything like the clear blue water in the Straits as we crossed from St. Ignace to the island. Several of us had come from Edmonton, Alberta to participate in the MRA conference taking place that summer. I was billeted in a large room on the second floor of Bennett Hall with Reg Sheppard, a colourful former gold prospector and master storyteller from Canada, Dr Joe Solomon (who had just graduated from medical school and later became the island doctor), and a young man from Florida, Russell Geyer. The meetings were held in a large tent located near Mission House. As part of the program, each of us was assigned to a work crew as all the work of the conference was done by the delegates. I worked on a small crew led by Gloyd Arnold putting new supports under Smallpoint House (which had to be moved in 1959 to make room for the building of the film studio). Read more>>

Virginia Crary Goulding

Virginia Crary GouldingI was one of a family of five kids, brought up in the small university town of Palo Alto, California. Mother was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. Dad, the intellectual, held few formal religious beliefs, but cared a lot about friends and his alumni from Stanford University.

In the late 1930s Frances Roots and “Sunny” Sanger, full time Moral Re-Armament staff, came down from a campaign in San Francisco to our home for respite. With me on my mother’s mind, they got less than relaxation. But Mother found them particularly helpful in dealing with her strong-minded daughter, me, whose main interests were myself, boys and parties. Mother learned how to have quiet times to seek God’s will instead of trying to force her own will onto me. Read more>>

Fritz Grebe 

Fritz Grebe laying stone for a fireplace at Mission Point

MRA was fortunate to find Friedrich Grebe right across the Straits in Mackinaw City. “Fritz”, or “Fred” as his friends called him, possessed the skills of a great stonemason. The limestone vein which he quarried ran right through his property.

At Mission Point, Fritz Grebe found a vehicle for his genius as a stone carver, and satisfaction in playing his role in this huge enterprise. Today these buildings are seen by many as a monument to his and others’ commitment to fine workmanship.

What is the background of Friedrich Grebe who came, as did many others, to this small beloved Island, from other parts of the world? Read more>>

Robley Geddes Greilick

Robley Geddes Greilick in planeI first came to Mackinac Island with my mother and sister, Mina Jane, four months after my father's death. That was the first of some 20 visits to Mackinac for me. We came to participate in the MRA conference taking place there.

That visit was a turning point in my life. One of my new friends helped me to give my life to God and that day He became my best friend. I moved from being an irresponsible dreamy youngster to a reliable working person with a deep love of Christ and desire to serve Him. In the following years I returned to Mackinac to help staff the conference centre and worked in many different capacities (all without pay) - in the dining rooms and kitchen, backstage in the theater props department, and housekeeping throughout the buildings. <Read more>>

Denis Harling

Dennis HarlingIt was back in early 1960. I was working at GEC Research Labs in Wembley, England. My training was telecommunications. I was considering making a change when I received a suggestion that I go over to Mackinac and help them finish building the film studio. I pondered this, talked with my friends and decided that it was the thing to do, so I resigned from the Research Labs. I flew to the US and Mackinac Island in May 1960. I worked on fabricating flashing for the huge vents on the roof. This was interesting since my training and experience were not in that field. It was a very worthwhile experience. Read more>>

Jarvis Harriman

Jarvis HarrimanI came to Mackinac to help with the work of MRA there in June of 1946 as a newly discharged veteran of World War II. I had known something of the work of MRA and of Dr. Frank Buchman, and had been greatly helped in my life in college and the Army by the idea of making amends for wrongs done to other people, and of seeking direction from God in my life. The major push to come to Mackinac came while I was on the island of Saipan in the Western Pacific toward the climax the war; I was awed by the 1000-plane raids launched from those islands against Japan, and seeing 500 ships in Saipan’s harbor in the summer of 1945 as they gathered in preparation for invading Japan. What resources this country of ours has assembled to win this war, I thought, - and what do we do with all this potential in the post-war world. That question sent me to Mackinac. Read more>>

Michael Henderson

Michael HendersonI spent the summers of 1951 and 1952 in Mackinac. I was in the US as part of the stage crew of Jotham Valley which was being given on the east and west coasts. A stage was built in the Casino of the Grand Hotel so that we could give performances of that and other plays for those attending conferences in the hotel. I remember Frank Buchman on stage walking with the pilot who first flew the Atlantic both ways (I think his name was Merrill) and getting us all to sing, and I have no idea why, "All the angels have big feet, buy your shoes at Rogers Peet." In Bennett Hall I got on my knees and gave my life to God for MRA's work in "remaking the world." In my enthusiasm I announced my decision to my parents without considering what they might feel. I was nineteen. I then had the conviction that I should apologize to them for the way I had done it. I went to see Frank to check with him a letter of apology I was sending to them. He was meeting (in the home opposite the Catholic Church) with a group of Japanese. "Read it out," he said when he heard why I had come. So I read my letter of apology to the Japanese. My parents sent back a telegram of support. Read more>>

Willard Hunter

MaryLou and Willard Hunter and sons (l-r) Bill, Bob, and Tom, 1956I first arrived on Mackinac Island in 1942. The United States had not yet completed its first year in World War II. Moral Re-Armament had been conducting a twenty-one-state war-morale campaign on behalf of state and city defense councils, under the banner "You Can Defend America”. To follow up with those who responded, a summer conference was planned. We had successfully conducted war-morale conference programs at Lake Tahoe in California in 1940 and at Maranacook in Maine in 1941. There was growing interest in finding a Midwest site for the next one. In Detroit the wartime showings of the popular stage musical “You Can Defend America” had brought packed out crowds, particularly to the grand Masonic Auditorium, in whose audiences were an unusual number of key labor and management personnel, including people like Henry Ford, labor leader Victor Reuther, and Michigan's Governor, Murray D. Van Waggoner. A frequent response from viewers was that they had known what they were fighting against, but now they could see what they might be fighting for. Read more>>

David Jaquith

David JaquithDuring my time on Mackinac Island I worked with the construction crew that built the Great Hall, dining rooms and residence buildings for the MRA conferences. I sometimes worked with the Beaver crew, loading building materials and equipment from the mainland and ferrying it across to the island. In winter the Beaver had to thread its way through the ice floes. It was a thrill to see the conference centre at Mission Point grow from gaping holes in the ground to the gracious buildings they became. It was also a thrill to see people from all over the world meet in the Great Hall under those massive beams to learn from each other new ways to contribute positively and effectively to humanity's up-reach and outreach, and to reinforce neighborhood livability. Read more>>

Ilse Marienfeld

Ilse MarienfeldWell, what can I say about my life except that it has been so satisfying and filled with wonderful friends. When I look back over my difficult beginnings, I think it must be some sort of miracle.

Growing up in Germany, I never really knew my Jewish father. My mother died when I was 14 years old, leaving me to run the deli lunch shop in Dusseldorf. In one year, in 1935, the shop failed. I was told that I would never succeed in life.

When my aunts urged me to come to America, I managed to get to California via the Panama Canal. Hitler by then was beginning to search out Germans of Jewish ancestry for extermination. My father undoubtedly perished during those following unspeakable years, along with all the rest. Read more>>

Charlotte Simpson Martin

Charlotte Simpson MartinOne year, for some forgotten reason, I ar­rived early at Mackinac. It was probably the Spring of 1954 or 1955 and a small crew was preparing Bennett Hall for our yearly summer conference. The Mission Point construction program was in full swing, and watching that development was truly exciting. But mean­while, Bennett Hall would be our headquarters. It was suggested that I take on the “hostessing” for the summer. This sounded like a really bad idea to me. “Hostessing” was our term for preparing the dining tables, serving the food, then clearing up everything. Read more>>

 

Gwen McLean

Gwen McLeanI was 20 years old when I arrived at Mackinac Island to attend the MRA conference being held there. It was August of 1951 and I had traveled there with 12 other people from my home city of Regina, in western Canada. I was in my first year of nursing training and had just failed anatomy. I felt like it was the end of the world.

I roomed with Mary Jean Carlisle and I found hope, purpose and fun. I also found a reason for living which was big enough to take me out of myself and into a new life. The four absolute standards of honesty, purity, unselfishness and love were for me the beginning of this new life. Change began when I made some very costly restitution with my parents and my sister. Read more>>

Min Boo-ki

Boo-Ki MinFirst of all, I am very happy to talk about a great experience at Mackinac, which changed my life. Is it possible for a former enemy to change and become a good friend? If it happened it would be a miracle of God. Here is my experience.

When I was a boy in Korea, my father came down with a serious disease. He could not work and we had no money. So we went to the village of my father’s sister who was wealthy. She wanted to help us, but her family did not agree with her and they despised us. We had a very hard time. I began to hate my aunt's family and all rich people. As I was growing up I decided that I wanted to help poor people while at the same time keeping my bitterness toward rich people. Read more>>

Ellie Nickerson

Ellie Nickerson, right, with mother Grace YoungMy mother, Grace Young, brought my two sisters and me to Mackinac in 1944. I was then a teenager, and had recently lost my father who was fighting with the Canadian Army in World War II. The sense of purpose, faith and unity I found at Mackinac was what I was searching for. I wanted my life to count for something in light of my father’s death and the tragic war years. I was amazed to learn that God could actually love an ordinary Canadian girl like me.

I, like the others there, helped run the conferences by waiting on tables, singing in the chorus and working backstage with plays that were written. We later traveled across the U.S. with a number of them, and also to Europe. I spent 4½ years in Africa with others, presenting the Mackinac ideas to both black and white, and meeting many leaders and ordinary people in seven countries. Read

John G. Pribram

John PribramI was born in the Czech Republic. I had a dramatic escape from the Nazi invasion first by train, then on a bicycle and finally on a Spanish freighter, built for 15 passengers but carrying 1120 refugees from all over Europe. After a forty day journey, we landed in New York in 1941.

My parents, trying to escape from the Nazis, drowned in a river. I went back to Europe as a Medic with the U.S. Army. In combat there, rendering aid to wounded men, I lost my leg. Finally I ended up at the McGuire General Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. Read more>>

Harold Sack

Harold Sack, Superintendant, on the jobDuring the construction of the buildings at Mission Point Harold Sack was General Superintendent. In that role he coordinated the work of the various trades. Harold’s outgoing and friendly personality was a great asset in his efforts to build positive relationships among the workers and to keep things moving smoothly on the job. During World War II Harold served with the Chinese-American Wing of the 14th US Air Force in China. While on one of his leaves he was invited to attend the MRA conference taking place at Mackinac Island. In 1955 he again returned to Mackinac, this time to help with the construction taking place at Mission Point.

Below are some highlights taken from notes Harold made about the construction project. Read more>>

Bill Wake

Bill (Billy) Wake, Quaker, Farmer and FriendIn the first part of his career Bill Wake was a farmer for 30 years in western Canada. In 1945 he left farming to work with MRA, spending many summers and some winters at Mackinac Island. Bill played an important part in the construction of a number of the Mission Point buildings and for many years was responsible for the carriages and horses used to transport conference delegates.

Below are excerpts from a book he wrote which describe some of his Mackinac experiences. Read more>>