Person:Ralph McLaughlin (1)

Notes by Anna Marie Dahlquist based on material gathered from various relatives -- 2003

RALPH TODD McLAUGHLIN (third child of Carrie Belle Todd and Samuel Robb McLaughlin). Born Nov. 22, 1892, in Elvira, IA. Graduated from Cutler Academy in 1910, from Monmouth College in 1914 and from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1917. Ordained to the ministry by Arkansas Valley Presbytery in 1917 and pastored a church in Newton, KS from 1917-1918. Married Ellen J. Henry on Aug. 2, 1917, at Goldfield, IA. Ellen was born Sept. 18, 1891, and graduated from Monmouth College in 1915. In 1918 Ralph and Ellen went to Egypt as missionaries under the United Presbyterian Board. As an evangelist he served in various capacities. Besides organizing many churches, he taught Greek fourteen years in the Theological Seminary in Cairo. He supervised the Delta schools during the shortage of workers. He headed the Near East Committee of the World Sunday School Association for three years, visiting many countries in that capacity and attending the world conventions in Rio de Janeiro, Oslo, and Mexico City in an official capacity. During one furlough, Ralph studied at Hartford, CT, and in 1930 he obtained the D. D. degree from Pittsburgh-Xenia Seminary. During World War II he had charge of the United Pres. Church at Germantown, PA, and after returning to Egypt in 1944, owing to the lack of medical personnel, he was called upon to superintend the hospital at Tanta for two years as business manager. On his return after furlough in 1946 he was transferred to Minia and Assiut districts and lived in El Fayoum, Egypt. Ralph and Ellen retired from Egypt in 1958 after 40 years of service, and lived in Bristol Village, Ohio. Ralph died in Waverly, Ohio, of heart failure on August 1, 1972. Ellen died on June 13, 1990, in Toledo, Ohio, aged 98. Both are buried in Waverly, Ohio.