In 1967 we were in Eastern Nigeria, just at the beginning of the Civil War in in Nigeria and they had announced evacuation flights for dependents. that is for wives and children out of rebel territory to federal territory. We didn't know what to do, whether we should stay or go. Jean said, go out to the airport and see what they're doing. So I and another missionary Kermit Overton went out to the airport and found out that the flight tomorrow morning the next morning was going to be the last evacuation flight out of rebel territory so we signed up our wives and children for that flight. Fortunately, we had been told earlier at a civil defense meeting that we should make a list of the important things we would need to take in case there was an evacuation. That night she and I frantically started packing and then we remembered the list. We realized that the things that we had packed had nothing to do with the important things that were on the list, so we unpacked and repacked again for the next morning. We went out to the airfield and the pilot was instructing the women to move forward to the front of the cabin, some of the wives took it quite literally and moved all the way into the pilot's seat. All the men were standing around were laughing at that and the woman couldn't figure out why we were all laughing at such a sad occasion. Anyway, they got that sorted out and then the plane took off and flew to Lagos to the airport there., Somebody from Mobil Oil had Jean's name on a list. They took Jean and Brereton into their home for 3 days, until they could get a flight out to New York City, and it was a month before, I found out that Jean and Brereton had safely gotten to the states, I had to wait until the school was closed by the war before I could leave. Anyway, I've always had a soft spot for Mobile Oil, because they took Jean and Brereton (6 months old at this time) in when we had no idea what was going to happen
Torre
Albany Intercessor
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