Minnie Vautrin, A "GODDESS" Protecting Women Refugees
Minnie Vautrin was born on September 27, 1886 in Secor, Illinois. She majored in pedagogy in the University of Illinois and graduated with honors in 1912. And then Christian Church sent her to China as a missionary. During the first few years, she served as principal of a high school in Luzhou, Anhui Province. In 1916 when the Department of Education was established in Nanking Women’s College of Arts and Sciences, she was invited to chair the department. When the president of the college, Mrs. Thurston went back to the U.S. for fund-raising, Ms. Vautrin became Acting President. During the Japanese’s occupation, Vaultrin was again entrusted to take care of the university properties and opened the university campus as a refugee camp for women and children. The campus once accommodated nearly ten thousand refugees and thus saved many women from being raped by the Japanese soldiers. In recognition of her devoted efforts in protecting refugees, the Nationalist Government awarded her on July 30, 1938 a blue jade medal with silk ribbons in blue, white and red colors for her noble deeds.
Minnie Vautrin
Growing In Hardships
Minnie Vautrin was born on September 27, 1886 in a small township called Secor in the State of Illinois. Her father Edmond Vautrin was a blacksmith, an immigrant from France. Her mother Paulin Lehr died of illness when Minnie was only 6 years old. Minnie had to take up the household loads at a very young age, which, however, had nurtured in her the spirit of hard-work, diligence and bravery.
Her parents: Edmond and Paulin Vautrin
Minnie as a junior middle school student
Minnie Vautrin started schooling very early. She was a quick learner. Despite the unfavorable financial family background, she finished high and normal school smoothly through work-study programs. She was converted and became a pious Christian when she was 17. At the University of Illinois, she exceeded others in academic performance. She was in second place out of over 500 graduates of the University in 1912.
A photo of Minnie Vautrin taken in 1903 on graduation from high school
Minnie Vautrin as a university student
Bond With China
In the late 19th and early 20th century, a movement to spread the Gospel overseas was in full swing on the campuses in the United States. Minnie Vautrin submitted her application without hesitation. In autumn 1912 she was sent to China by the American Missionary Alliance.
Establishing San Yu Girls’ School
Soon after her arrival in China in September 1912, Minnie Vautrin was sent to Hefei, Anhui Province to start a girls’ school. She was successively appointed headmistress of the San Yu Girls’ School and later the San Yu Girls’ Middle School.
The sign board of the San Yu Middle School, now kept in the exhibition room of the Nanmen Primary School in Hefei
The site of San Yu Girls’Middle School, presently the Nanmen Primary School in Hefei
Joining The Faculty Of The Jinling Women’s College
In 1918 after working in Hefei for 6 years, Minnie Vautrin went back to the United States for holiday and she was preparing to get married. Then she received an invitation from the Jinling Women’s College to join their faculty. Career-oriented, she decided to take the offer and to postpone her wedding for a year. However, her decision resulted in the break-up of the engagement. Though severely struck by the incident, Vautrin moved on courageously. Since then, she had lived on her own and remained single all her life.
In October 1919, Vautrin came to Nanjing and was appointed Dean of Studies and also Acting President of the Jinling Women’s College. She held the latter position for one and a half years. Henceforward, she began her strong bond with Nanjing and with the Jinling Women’s College for more than 20 years.
Minnie Vautrin in front of the gate of a friend’s house in 1918 when she was back in the United States for holiday