Aunt Lottie-Remembered

When I was young, most little girls wanted to grow up to be Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. I wanted to grow up to be Aunt Lottie. Well, it took a long time, but at 43 years old, I finally made it to live and work in her part of the world. And, at 47, I finally got to visit the exact places that she lived and worked in the late 1800s and early 1900s.Aunt Lottie moved overseas when she was 33. This is a photo of the outside of the clubhouse that she attended in her first city, a port city. In this port city, she also helped start 2 primary schools and 2 middle schools.

And, this is a photo of the inside of the clubhouse. This clubhouse was closed during the Cultural Revolution. It remained closed for 49 years. It reopened in 1988 with twenty members. Today, there are over 3600 members.

Outside of the clubhouse, there is a memorial obelisk to Aunt Lottie, dated 1915. Following her death, another school was started in her honor in the home where she had lived.

At the age of 45, Aunt Lottie moved inland to do rural work full-time. This is a photo of the house where she lived during that time.

While in this inland city, she founded another clubhouse. This is a photo of the entrance way leading to the clubhouse.

About 300 members attend this older building. Another newer building has been built with about 1000 members attending.

This is a photo of the inside of the older building serving about 3oo members. Aunt Lottie died on December 24, 1912 at the age of 72 enroute back to the USA. She is just one of many workers that have left a lasting impact and legacy on our part of the world.

Many of you will be celebrating Aunt Lottie's legacy during the upcoming Christmas holidays. I hope these photos will bring her love for the peoples of the world to your memory often.

P.S. Some of you may remember some of these photos. Elizabeth had the opportunity to visit some of these places on her Christmas in CH trip in 2009. She was quite pleased that she beat her mother to seeing these places first :)