Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9409090001
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S10 EDITION: METRO ROGER HART/STAFF
SOURCE: MARY JO SHANNON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But the stories she heard and her encounters - especially with an East German woman, one of the first interviews collected on her mission for the World Federation of Methodist Women - are deeply imprinted in her memory and enthusiastically shared with anyone willing to listen .
``Events are related to the fall of the Berlin Wall,'' she said. ``The Germans refer to the fall as `The Change.'''
``Riding the bus into what was formerly East Germany, I noticed there is absolutely no sign that the wall ever existed. But once you ride through the Brandenburg Gate, the difference is so evident. The buildings are gray looking, bleak, desolate ....''
Born interviewed one woman who had spent her entire life under the East German regime. But the woman said her life was not unhappy or miserable.
The woman had paid dearly for her religious convictions, dropping out of high school because she refused to join the Atheist Club. Yet, she described the poignancy of realizing ``the flag of my country was gone.''
A highlight of the trip was seeing the old red house where the Middle East Peace Treaty was signed. Born said this was significant because she had headed a study team for the Women's Division (United Methodist Church) to the Middle East in 1981. That team's findings became the basis for her first book, ``The Tangled Web: A Search for Answers to the Question of Palestine,'' published in 1989.
Born, archivist of the World Federation of Methodist Women, also will use the data for her third book, which will be an international history of the United Methodist Church.
She has represented the General Board of Global Ministries at the United Nations, working with nongovernmental organizations on the question of Palestine and was in Toronto in early July as an official United Methodist representative to the United Nations Symposium.
After years of volunteer service in the Methodist Church, rising from local church offices to positions in the World Federation of Methodist Women, Born was offered a contract to write the history of the Methodist Protestant Church from 1879 until 1939.
This marked the beginning of Born's professional career.
Born was not really interested in earning a college degree because she and her husband, Harry, who suffered from a heart condition, had recently retired to the Roanoke Valley. Her high school business curriculum had been sufficient for a secretarial career and many years of volunteer work, she said. Her husband died in 1990.
``I felt honored to be offered pay for the first time for my work,'' she said. ``I thought the offer was quite generous, and the project challenging, so I accepted. But I was reluctant about beginning a college career.''
Her daughter, however, was persistent and took Born to the Mary Baldwin College office in Roanoke to see if she could qualify for the Adult Degree Program. Students may prepare and submit prior-learning credit portfolios, documenting their learning through experience and earn credit toward a liberal arts degree. Born's years of participation in the Women's Division program, as well as other agencies of the United Methodist Church, counted.
Also, the research and manuscript she was committed to prepare served as her senior project.
Her learning experiences fell into three categories: religion, women and global issues
Her senior project, also published by the Women's Division in 1990, was titled ``By My Spirit: The Story of Methodist Protestant Women in Mission 1879-1939.''
By taking classes on the Mary Baldwin campus during the summer and taking winter classes in Roanoke with a tutor and Mary Baldwin faculty, Born earned her degree in 1991
Born's current project will not receive academic credit, but the travel and personal encounters throughout the world will undoubtedly enrich her life, she said. The research will require a ``swing through the Pacific,'' interviewing women in Asia, then on to Africa - not to mention the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Latin American interviews will probably be done in 1996.
But worldwide activities do not prevent Born's involvement with her local church, Locust Grove United Methodist Church in Salem, where she is chairwoman of the Administrative Council.
In late August, she will travel with a group from the Virginia Conference of United Methodist Women to Chilblains, Russia - to support to the women and children there.
by CNB