Adeline never left Singapore. Born in Hawaii, the 90-year-old shared that “God called me to come to Asia as a missionary in my late 20s”. She obeyed the call and came to Singapore first for a year to set up a kindergarten. Next, she went to Malaysia for five years to start a church in the village and later travelled to Indonesia for another five years, to start a church.

After which, she returned to Singapore where she spent time dealing with lots of correspondence on her missionary work. Though she had one sister and three brothers and her parents had passed on, she stayed on in the Republic steadfastly focused on her work. “I stayed because I liked Singapore and I had lots of friends here.”

Asked if she regrets not getting married, Adeline smiled and said: “God hadn’t prepared someone for me and I also really didn't think much about it.” She shared that she managed to pen a book on her missionary work and the friends she met and it got sold in bookstores. She also shared that she is the only one in her family who committed herself to doing missionary work. “I wanted to share the work of God to everyone and doing missionary work allowed me to do that.”