There is no more outstanding example of a Christian dynasty than the Scudder family, of whom it could be written in 1959 that ‘forty-two members through four generations had given a total of 1,100 years to missionary service in India’. Amongst that remarkable lineage, the most striking figure is Ida Scudder.
John Scudder, Ida’s grandfather, was a pioneering medical missionary who went to Asia in 1819 and whose eight children all followed his calling. Ida was born in 1870 to John Scudder Jnr, who served in South India. Ida grew up exposed to sickness, poverty and famine, and utterly hated it.
Aged eight, Ida went to the United States for schooling where, enjoying comfort and security and anticipating marriage and motherhood, she rejected all thought of missionary life. Returning to India in 1890 to visit her ailing mother, she had a life-changing experience. One night, three men from very different communities arrived separately, seeking medical help for their pregnant wives who were seriously ill. They left when told by Ida that the only doctor was her father, as their cultures did not allow a man to treat a woman. The next morning Ida learned that all three women and their babies had died. Shaken, she prayerfully decided to become a doctor in order to help the women of India.
Ida returned to the United States and underwent medical training, graduating in 1899 as one of the very first women doctors. She returned to India expecting to work alongside her father, but his death soon left her on her own. Undeterred, she opened a small clinic for women at Vellore, seventy-five miles from Madras, and there, in 1902, built a forty-bed hospital for women using funds given to her in the States. At the same time, she created roadside clinics in rural villages where she could treat people and give health education.
As Ida’s reputation grew and she found herself facing impossible demands, she resolved to train local women as nurses. Despite widespread scepticism, her nursing programme proved a great success, and by 1906 an enlarged hospital was treating 40,000 patients annually. She made a point of encouraging the adaptation of western medical practice to the particular needs of India with its many poor and dispersed rural communities.
With time her Christian Medical College was training not just women as nurses but from 1918 as doctors. Faced with growing demands, Ida began travelling regularly to the States to raise funds. She now found herself in a management role, organising the college, seeking funding, negotiating between different missionary agencies and dealing with a turbulent Indian political scene in which fierce demands for independence were growing.
Increasingly recognised as one of the leading medical institutions in all India, the Vellore hospital began offering medical degree courses in 1942. In a break with tradition the various training programmes became open not just to women, but men.
Ida, by now in her seventies and a legendary missionary figure, continued to seek funds for the work. Although formally retiring in 1946, she continued to be involved with the work until her death in 1960 at the age of eighty-nine.
Unlike some great achievers, Ida was not only respected but also loved. Patients and colleagues admired her servant heart and, although she never married, she had a wide circle of close friends. She was particularly admired for her commitment to service and made no secret that this came from her Christian faith. The motto that the Christian Medical Centre took of the words of Jesus in Mark 10:45 – ‘I have come not to be served, but to serve’ – was most definitely hers.
Ida’s work has outlived her. The CMC Vellore continues and is regularly ranked in the top two medical colleges in India. Unlike many institutions founded by missionaries, it has not lost its basis of faith and continues to be openly Christian.
The life of Ida Scudder shows many truly heroic qualities. Let me point out four.
First, she displayed a life of courageous decision. Ida showed courage in that striking decision to respond to God’s call and, obediently, to totally change the course of her life. Once aware of that calling, that was exactly what she did for the rest of her life.
Second, she displayed a life of caring dedication. Despite being ever more involved with the organisational aspects of the college and hospital she had created, Ida never lost her desire to lovingly care for those men and women who were sick and suffering. In many cases those who create an institution can find that their creation comes to displace their original vision. Ida, always remaining at heart a carer, never let that happen.
Third, she displayed a life of careful discernment. There are many heroic figures from every area of life who have been so ‘driven by their vision’ that they burn themselves out before their time. One of the striking features of Ida was her wise strategy. Rather than self-destruct trying to save India on her own, she developed a remarkably effective way of multiplying who and what she was doing through training and education.
Finally, she displayed a life of continuous determination. In her long and active life, Ida faced a seemingly unending range of obstacles including entrenched cultural values, staff shortages, funding crises and awkward mission organisations. She also saw her world change dramatically. She began as a doctor when India was a British colony under Queen Victoria and was still working when India had become an independent nation. She saw science, technology and clinical practice change almost beyond recognition. Yet through obstacles and change, failures and successes, joys and sorrows, Ida simply pressed on doing what God had called her to do.
Ida Scudder is an outstanding example of a medical missionary. But she is more than that: she is an example of how we can all best live for Christ.
J.John
Reverend Canon
