Elaine Mielke Townsend:
A Woman of Few Regrets

Born November 6, 1915, Elaine came from a humble home. Her worldview was considerably enlarged when at the age of 21, she entered a contest sponsored by the Chicago Herald Examiner and won a trip around the world. The award included an audience with the pope, an event that would be a harbinger of her future life.

“I think perhaps that trip made me feel more comfortable with strangers and important people,” she reflected. Alongside her husband, Elaine befriended and entertained many heads of state in her home. In fact, Lazaro Cardenas, former President of Mexico, and his wife Amalia served as best man and matron of honor at the Townsend wedding.

Elaine credited her younger sister Shirley with helping to shape her life. Disabled with severe arthritis, Shirley was very close to Elaine until her death at age 42. Elaine’s heart for the handicapped led her to become a teacher of mentally disabled children. At age 26, she was the youngest supervisor ever appointed by the Chicago school district. She oversaw the special education programs of 300 schools.

On the fast track to the top, Elaine suddenly felt called to put it all aside and respond to a plea for help by the then fledgling SIL. She struggled with this decision. To move to Mexico, away from the Chicago she loved, was difficult. To move away from her successful career and the possibility of marriage, which she longed for, seemed foolish.

“The price was right,” she said laughing, thinking about the $5.00 price for room and board at the SIL training center that she needed to attend. “All I could think of was that I’d have money left over to buy a new car.”

Elaine began by teaching the children of a husband-and-wife linguistic team for a year, then moved on to conducting literacy campaigns and preparing instructional materials for 17 of the minority languages in Mexico. Later she would do the same in Peru, working with government educators to train literacy workers for a nationwide literacy drive. For this she and Cam would share the “Palmas Magisteriales,” the highest educational award given by the Peruvian government.

Elaine met her future husband, Cam, in 1944 shortly after his first wife’s death from a heart ailment. Their friendship developed into a courtship and two years later they were married. One year later Gracie, the first of their four children, was born. Elaine and Cam were very happy together and made a good team. He lived life at a relaxed pace, talked slowly, took time with his children and treated everyone with kindness. She was full of energy and worked quickly and efficiently. He was a visionary, a man whose genuine faith in God taught him that “God laughs at impossibilities,” and “‘no’ is not negative.” She facilitated his dreams, raising the children, entertaining their many guests, writing and typing, doing the taxes, and making home a pleasant place to be.

“She always served tea in the afternoon at the beach,” recalls Sanna Rossi, Elaine’s close friend and widow of Anthony Rossi, founder of Tropicana Orange Juice. The Townsends often vacationed with the Rossis at their beach house.

“She made life so pleasant and such fun. She went all out—didn’t do things halfway. She was full of energy and sparkle. Everything she did, she did fast—talking and working!”

With Elaine by his side, Cam’s unwavering faith in God and his unwillingness to become discouraged through seemingly impossible circumstances fueled the phenomenal growth of the organization. Starting with a handful of linguists working in Mexico, SIL International has grown into a significant organization, working in hundreds of languages worldwide.

Light years ahead of his time, Cam forged working agreements with governments, befriended people regardless of their faith, and gave birth to JAARS, an aviation and technology organization that supports SIL’s field personnel. To share his vision he utilized books, radio, film and even a pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

Leading the Bible translation effort from Peru and Colombia, where the Townsends made their homes from 1946 to 1968, required long separations for Cam’s trips to the U.S. This was difficult for Elaine and the children.

“But it was worth it,” Elaine said. “Being married to Cam was the highlight of my life.”

In 1968 the Townsends made the first of eleven trips to the Soviet Union. A modern version of the pioneer settlers in their Conestoga wagons, the Townsends traveled throughout the various republics towing a trailer. They met and befriended people from all walks of life, offering the hospitality of their house on wheels. Cam was keenly interested in the Caucasus region, located between the Black and Caspian Seas and home to over one hundred languages.

“I am greatly impressed with the intelligence and culture of these Caucasians, some speaking five and six languages and very cultured,” wrote Elaine in a letter to her family.

In 1975, after seven years studying the languages, culture and educational system of the then USSR, they shared their findings in a published photographic essay. At a time when much of the world isolated the Soviet Union, the Townsends advocated extending an open hand of friendship.

If Cam were still alive, he would have seen the fulfillment of his dream of linguist-translator teams from several countries living and working among the ethnic people of such a seemingly closed country. Now such linguists provide translation training and consultant help for former Soviet Union mother tongue speakers.

Elaine Townsend was a woman of few regrets. “It was the Word that got me,” she admitted, “I couldn’t live a day without it.”

Elaine Mielke Townsend died July 14, 2007, in a Rock Hill, S.C. hospital at the age of 91 after a brief illness. She had been in weakened health since a February 21, 2006 stroke in her Waxhaw, N.C. home. Mrs. Townsend is survived by daughters Grace Goreth, Joy Tuggy, Elainadel Garippa; a son, Bill Townsend; 21 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.