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Name: DOWNING, Lee Harper (Rev.)
Birth Date: 28.6.1866 Lloydsville, Ohio
Death Date: 13.5.1942 Kijabe, cancer, buried at Kijabe mission cem.
First Date: 1901
Profession: Africa Inland Mission at Kangundu, Ukamba
Area: Kangundu, Ukamba, 1925 Kijabe
Married: In Madison, Montgomery, Ohio 10 Oct 1899 Elinor Blanche Hunter b. 28 Sep 1872 McArthur, Ohio, d. 4 Nov 1933 Nairobi (she went to EA in 1901 and worked for the same mission)
Children: Lucile H. (Sawhill) (25 Nov 1902 Kangundo-1991); Herbert Caldwell (14 Aug 1905 Kijabe-15 Dec 1986); Kenneth Lee (26 June 1908 Kijabe-8 Jan 1989 Nairobi)
Book Reference: Gillett, SE, Tignor, EAHB 1905, Red 25, Red 31, Hut, Drumkey, Red 22, Grasshoppers, EAHB 1906, Barnes, North, EAHB 1904, EAHB 1907, Red Book 1912
General Information:
His wife died of cancer of the liver in Nairobi on 4 Nov 1933 and was buried at Kijabe mission cem.
SE - Rev. L.H. Downing - Jan 1908
Drumkey 1909 - African Inland Mission, 1906 - Rev. & Mrs Lee H. Downing
Grasshoppers - He had more than big ears to contend with. His abiding memory of his mother was of her supporting him as he fought for breath. Asthma and hayfever racked his thin frame throughout his life (but never troubled him in Africa). His parents, devout Irish Presbyterians, died before his tenth birthday, leaving him to a succession of foster homes. A wide intellect made up for a weak body so that, in 1896, when he was thirty, Charles Hurlburt appointed Lee Downing lecturer in New Testament Greek at Pennsylvania Bible Institute. From the start the older man trusted Lee Downing for he also invited him to be a College Trustee and Treasurer to the Philadelphia Missionary Council. ….. They married in Dayton, Ohio, in October 1899 …… Two years later they arrived at Kangundo with the Hurlburt family to take part in the renaissance of the mission. Blanche gave birth to Lucile in a two-roomed house roofed by overhanging grass ……. The family graduated to a house at Kijabe, possessing iron and glass windows, in time for the births of the two boys, Herbert and Ken. … Lee was a perfectionist. Even his few hairs (his daughter said 'a dozen or so') had to be carefully cut and combed. He hated to appear in public without a clean white shirt., tie and freshly pressed suit. He could not stand shoddy work in others and was even more demanding of himself. ……. In his photographs he looks austere but his children found him full of affection - a love, however, that knew the value of an occasional stinging slap when a child erred. …. Problems perplexed him throughout 21 years as Field Director for Kenya. Pressures increased still more during a further 6 difficult years as Deputy General Director when Hurlburt's leadership was crumbling ……… When he arrived in 1901 AIM's 3 missionaries occupied only one centre, Kangundo. Twenty-five years later he reported 50 missionaries serving in 15 locations in Kenya with 144 'native helpers'.
Barnes - Kijabe Cemetery - in loving memory of Blanche H Downing with Christ …. Far better Sept 28 1872 - Nov 4 1933
Barnes - Kijabe Cemetery - in loving memory of Lee Harper Downing he walked with God and God took him June 28 1872 - 13 May 1942
EAHB 1904 - Ulu District Residents - Dowing, L.H. [sic] - A.I. Mission, Kangundu
EAHB 1907 - Golbanti Red Book 1912 - L.H. Downing - Naivasha
Red Book 1912 - Field Director - Africa Inland Mission - at Kijabe with his wife
Tignor - station director at Kijabe in 1903.
EAHB 1905 - at Kangundo with his wife
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