Ethel Emily Wallis
Ethel Emily Wallis (1915-December 4, 2011) was a linguist and Wycliffe Bible translator, but she is best known for her popular missionary biographies.
Education
Wallis studied journalism at University of California, Los Angeles.
Journalistic & Linguistic Career
While at UCLA, Wallis rubbed elbows with several members of the second wave of pioneers of Wycliffe Bible Translators. She became interested and eventually joined the organization, after serving on the editorial staff of King’s Business.[1] Because of her training in journalism, Wycliffe’s founder William Cameron Townsend asked her to write the first biography of the organization. Working with Mary A. Bennett, she rose to that challenge, producing “Two Thousand Tongues to Go.” Ethel went on to write eight missionary books: Dayuma: Life Under Waorani Spears, Tariri: My Story, Otomi Shepherdess, God Speaks Navajo, Aucas Downriver, Dayuma’s Story Today, and the Cakchiquel Album.[2] She wrote about missionaries she knew and traveled to many locations worldwide to compile information for other books.
As a linguist, Ethel wrote 25 scholarly articles on the languages she studied, published in various professional journals. She studied and translated languages of Eastern Europe and Mexico and helped open the door for Bible translation work in Southeast Asia.[2]
References
- ↑ jacket cover, God Speaks Navajo (New York:Harper & Row, 1968)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 ”Unsung Pioneer of Wycliffe Dies”, http://blog.wycliffe.org/tag/ethel-emily-wallis/ accessed June 17, 2015.
