OOM Chronology

1892 Jul 7       born to Daniel D. (1864-1955) and Jeanette “Nettie” (Hostetler) Miller
1901                Miller-Hess Shoe Co. founded
1908-12           Superintendent, Forks Sunday school
1910-12           teacher, Nihart Country School
1912-15           principal/instructor, School of Business, GC
1913-15           licensed minister, Barker Street Mission, Michigan
1915                graduated from Goshen College
1915 Aug 26    married Elta Wolf (died Feb. 14, 1958), Orie’s & Elta’s home, Akron by DDM
1915                salesman and director, Miller-Hess
1916 Sept 23   Lois Wolf Miller born (Married Ronald.O. Beach)
1916-39           sales director, Miller-Hess
1917-               director, Miller-Hess Shoe Company
1918 Jul 19     the first lot, Ephrata MC
1919 Jan 4      volunteered/selected at MRCWS Lancaster meeting for relief work
1919 Jan 25    first 9 Menn. relief workers left for Syria and Lebanon under AFSC
1919-20           relief worker, Near East Relief (GAMEO)
1920 Mar         met Menn. delegation from Russia, moved by needs
1920 Sept 1     to Russia with Slagel and Kratz, director, MRC unit
1920-21           director, MCC Relief Unit, Constantinople and Russia
1921-35           assistant to executive secretary, MCC
1921-37           chair, Young People’s Problems Committee
1921-66           member, MBE
1922-55           financial agent and member MBE executive committee
1922 Jan 9      awarded medal in NY for meritorious and humanitarian service in Near East
1922 Mar 18    Albert Wolf Miller born (Married Esther Lehman)
1922                elected MBE Financial Agent and to Executive Committee (to 1955)
1923                secretary of GC admin committee to reorganize college
1924-26           executive committee, Mennonite Colonization Board
1924-               member, MCC
1924-26           chair, GC alumni fundraising committee
1924-32           editor, Missionary Messenger
1924 Feb 16    Daniel Wolf Miller born (Married Eunice Litwiller; on faculty at EMS, Montevideo, Uruguay)
1925-35           vice president, EMBMC
1925-53           secretary, Peace Problems Committee, MGC
1926 Dec 22   John Wolf Miller born (Married Louise Heatwole; taught OT at GBS; a founder of Reba Place; taught at Conrad Grebel)
1928-63           executive committee, MCC
1930 Aug 8      Robert Wolf Miller born (Married Jean Carper; director of MCC Overseas Service; Vietnam Christian Service, Saigon
1932                elected to GC Alumni Assoc board of directors (served until 1944)
1932-49           Interboard Committee, MGC
1932-56           member, Mennonite Relief Committee later renamed the MRSC
1932-44           board of directors, GC alumni association
1932-33           associate editor, Missionary Messenger
1933 Dec        explored and opened first mission in Africa with Stauffers and Mosemanns
1933-35           chair, GC Administrative Committee
1935-63           Continuation Committee, Conference of Historic Peace Churches, created in 1935 to consider ways and means to strengthen and coordinate the peace position and testimony of the three groups in the face of approaching WW II.
1935-58           executive secretary-treasurer, MCC (after death of Levi Mumaw)
1935-58           secretary, EMBMC
1935-38           auditing committee, Mennonite Publication Board
1936                MWC, Elspeet, The Netherlands, OOM’s first
1937-39           vice chair, Commission for Christian Education, MGC
1937-39           secretary, Young People’s Institute, Commission for Christian Education
1937                appointed to HC Local Board
1938-               Mennonite Camping Association
1939-54           treasurer, Miller-Hess
1939                chair of GC Admin Com which replaced the Local Board
1939 Mar 31    Albert N. Wolf died (born 1868)
1939-49           Industrial Relations Committee, MGC
1939-49           secretary, Interboard Committee, MGC
1939-54           secretary-treasurer, Miller-Hess Shoe Company
1940-60?         board of directors, New York Theological Seminary,325 E 49th St., NYC, founded 1900. The substantial representation of Mennonites in the student body led to an invitation to Orie O. Miller to join the BSNY board of trustees. Miller served in this capacity for 20 years and two of his sons, Daniel and John, attended the seminary. Some 22 Mennonite students were enrolled at one point during Miller's service on the board. Miller's time on the board, as he observed to someone, overlapped with the planning for the beginning of the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries (AMBS).
1940-52           vice chair, National Service Board for Conscientious Objectors, created on 26 November 1940 as a merger of the short-lived National Council for Religious Objectors (NCRO) with the Civilian Service Board. The first officers of the NSBRO Board of Directors were M. R. Zigler, chair; Orie O. Miller, vice-chair; Paul J. Furnas, treasurer; and Paul Comly French, executive secretary and director.
1942-58           Peace Section, MCC, established in January 1942, as successor to the Mennonite Central Peace Committee organized in 1939
1943                letter to ‘De Visserhof, pres, Federal Council of Churches, urging relief agency, but said he was too busy
1944                MCC to India
1944-52           ?vice president, Mennonite Camping Association, Established in 1960. The Mennonite Camping Association serves as a clearinghouse for directing and promoting Christian camping among Anabaptist/Mennonite conferences and congregations throughout Canada and the United States.
1944-58           treasurer, Peace Section, MCC
1945-54           board of directors, CARE, founded in 1945, when 22 American organizations came together to rush lifesaving CARE Packages to survivors of World War II. Thousands of Americans, including President Harry S. Truman, contributed to the effort.
1945-65           director, MMA, 1945
1945-62           president, MMA
1946                helped launch Church World Service (JAL, 03.08.11)
1948                named GC alumnus of the year
1948-               Bib. Seminary, New York, board of trustees (more than 20 yrs)
1948                became chairman of the Hesston College Admin Committee
1948                MWC, Goshen and Newton
1949-63           General Council, MGC
1950-               board of American Leprosy Mission, Founded in 1906, to provide care to people around the world with leprosy and with Buruli ulcer and related disabilities. Chairman in 1964
1952                MWC, Basel, Switzerland
1952                attended the International Missionary Council, Willingen, Germany, IMC formed in 1921 and in 1961 became part of the World Council of Churches
1952-65           director, Mental Health Services, MCC, founded 1952
1952-67           Israel Evangelism Committee
1952-53           chair, National Service Board
1953-               MEDA The original MEDA emerged in 1952 as a response to requests from Mennonites in Paraguay for assistance from North American Mennonite entrepreneurs, since Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) was not in a position to respond directly.
1953-69           trustee and board chair, Schowalter Foundation, a Mennonite philanthropic organization, was founded in 1954. OOM chair, 1957.
1953-63           treasurer, Peace Problems Committee, MGC
1954-62           president, Miller-Hess Shoe Co.
1954                Paul Kraybill began, EMM
1954                when Vietnam split via Geneva Convention, OOM initiated relief work
1954-56           Budget and Finance Committee, MGC
1954-58           president, Mennonite Auto Aid, a subsidiary of Mennonite Mutual Aid, Inc., established in 1954 as a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation to provide collision and comprehensive insurance on a mutual basis.
1955 Jan         Norman Shenk began EMM as office assistant in finance
1955-63           president, Menno Travel Service, established by MCC in 1947. Its purpose has been to make travel arrangements for MCC workers, voluntary service personnel, Pax men, foreign missionaries, tour groups, and individuals
1955-65           Investment Committee, MBE,
1955-65           Mennonite Foundation, a subsidiary of MMA, established in 1954 as an Indiana nonprofit corporation to serve as a depository for tax exempt funds, recognized by the US Treasury Department.
1956-58           Committee on Coordination, MGC
1956-               director, American Leprosy Mission (vp when?), 297 Park Ave., South, NYC
1956                met with French, German and Swiss Mennonites to start Bienenberg B.S. ATB was founded in 1950 as the European Mennonite Bible School in Basel by the Mennonite Churches of France, Germany and Switzerland supported by Mennonite Central Committee. ATB grew steadily in the 1950s and bought the Bienenberg campus in Liestal, 10 Km from Basel) in 1957
1957                appointed to African Committee of the Division of Foreign Missions
1957                MWC, Karlsruhe, Germany
1957/8-63        associate executive secretary, MCC
1958 Feb. 14   Elta Wolf Miller died, colon cancer
1958-59           lived w Bob and Jean
1958                called meeting of mission and service agencies, resulted in COMBS involving 8 Menn and BIC agencies, established in 1958. The Council of Mission Board Secretaries, known since 1976 as the Council of International Ministries (CIM), was formed as a vehicle for better coordination between MCC and the mission agencies
1958                with PGL visited Old Colony Mennos, British Honduras
1958-67           president, Mennonite Indemnity, a reinsurance corporation serving all Mennonite Aid societies desiring to participate, incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1957. Sixteen societies were the initial participants.
1959-78           associate executive secretary, EMBMC, organized in 1914 (incorporated 1916) to serve the missionary interests of the Lancaster Mennonite Conference.
1960                led in organizing Congo Protestant Relief Agency
1960 Jan 9      married Elta Myers Sensenig, he 69, she 49, Elta I’s namesake
1960                director and officer of five corporate affiliates developed since 1925
1960-66           chair of board, American Leprosy Mission
1961 May 12   Teachers Abroad Program (TAP) organized, Chicago
1961                attended Fiftieth Anniversary service of Inter-Mennonite Congo Inland Mission, Congo Inland Mission, later to become Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission (AIMM), was founded in 1912
1962                Paul G. Landis elected sec’y, Bishop Board, after David Thomas (Amos Horst before)
1962-               chair of board, Miller-Hess Shoe Co.
1963-               Africa Committee, MEDA
1963-67           president, Goodville Mutual Casualty Co., founded in 1926 in the town of Goodville, Pa, to write automobile liability insurance.  
1963-77           life member and executive secretary emeritus, MCC
1963                help Church of God in Christ establish a mission in El Salvador
1964-               chair, Finance and Admissions Committees, Landis Homes, Established in 1964, Landis Homes, located near Lititz, PA, is a not-for-profit retirement community which is home to 650 persons living in cottages, apartments, suites, personal care and healthcare.
1965-               executive secretary emeritus, MCC
1966-68           assistant chair of board, American Leprosy Mission
1966-               honorary member, MBE
1967-               executive and finance committees, Menno Housing, the Mennonite Benevolent Society (MBS) was formed in 1953 to provide housing and long-term healthcare for seniors.
1967                MWC, Amsterdam
1969                Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church was organized in the wake of differences over general trends and specific issues related to divorce and remarriage, television, and relaxed dress requirements.
1969 Feb-Mar stroke on MEDA trip around the world to MS, MWR, 7.14.69
1969 Mar         hospitalization due to light stroke during recent trip, 4.2.69 to CLG 77/15
1969/70           created trust for Elta, Norman Shenk trustee
1969/70           confronted in EMM exec comm re neckties, never again for these meetings
1972                Hurricane Agnes destroyed Middletown facility to JLB, 11.6.72 77/26
                        Lost more than $1M in damages
1972                moved into Landis Homes cottage #32
1975 Mar.        moved from cottage to infirmary, Landis Homes as per 3.17 to Atlee B.
1977 Jan 10    died, Landis Retirement Home, Lititz, Pa.
1977 Jan 15    memorial service, Ephrata Menn. Church