Mary Mortensen Tripp Armitage was a Bible worker, foster mother to Ellen White’s granddaughters, and pioneer missionary to Africa.
Born on April 26, 1859, in Denmark to James Jens Mortensen and Karen Olsdatter she emigrated with her family to the United States in 1865. As a young woman, she served as a Bible worker in Minneapolis and subsequently attended Battle Creek College.
In the early 1890s, while Ellen White and her son W. C. White were missionaries in Australia, she took care of Ellen’s twin granddaughters, Ella and Mabel, who affectionately referred to her as “Aunt Mary” and later recollected how they owed “much” to her “for the faithful motherly care she gave us.”
Initially, the Foreign Mission Board considered having her go to Switzerland as a school matron. Instead, the widowed George Byron Tripp (1853-1898) was advised to find a spouse before going to Africa. Two days later, on April 2, 1895, Mary and George were married in Battle Creek, as Mary became the stepmother to his twelve-year-old son, also named George. They became pioneer missionaries in the interior of Africa.
Life was difficult for Mary Caroline during these early years in the founding of what became the Solusi Mission amid a conflict and lack of food. Tragically, her husband and stepson both died of malaria in 1898. Another missionary, Frank Benjamin Armitage also lost his wife during the same epidemic. The widowed missionaries wedded on February 22, 1899. Together they founded the Somabula Mission (later renamed the Lower Gwelo Mission). In 1901 Mary, along with her second husband, Frank, attended the 1901 General Conference session as delegates. In 1907 they transferred to the Maranatha Mission in Cape Province. They later served at Bethel, Kolo, and helped to also open the Spion Kop missions. Together they would have two daughters. In 1916 Mary suffered a severe head wound that required surgery. They remained in Africa until 1925 when her health forced them to return permanently to California. She died April 12, 1950, in Loma Linda, California, and is buried in Montecito Cemetery in nearby Colton.
Condensed from the article by Michael W. Campbell
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