dated January 1, 1950: Dr. Ida S. Scudder

Auspicious indeed was the First of January, 1900, the first day of a new month of a new year of a new century, and that was the day that Heaven chose for Dr. Ida Scudder to begin her task of healing ministry in Vellore, for the men, women and children of South India. Many had said that Dr. Scudder was a surgeon with a ``lucky hand,'' but they knew that this was not due to witchcraft, or charms, or necromancy, but it came from a soul in utter dependence on God.

Had Dr. Scudder chosen to be a legislator, in India or in her own country, she would rapidly have achieved success, for her judgment was accurate, her motives were pure, and she had an infallible instinct for picking out the right people for the right place. Had she chosen to devote her energies to business, a mighty fabric would surely have been built up by this lady of quick decisions, of broad perceptions, and of moral principles rooted and grounded in love. But it was in the fitness of things, and for the good of India that Dr. Scudder chose the medical profession, and as surgeon, physician and missionary, she had healed the souls and bodies of thousands of patients through five decades. She was indeed a national asset!

Dr. Scudder had towered in her generation above all pettiness, meanness and malicious thinking. She had always kept an open mind, and had never indulged in harshness, sarcasm or ridicule, but students and staff alike had known that her `Yea' is Yea and her `Nay' is Nay, for she had worked with them and for them - in partnership with God.

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