(Annie) May McLachlan

  • Nomination: (Annie) May McLachlan
  • Category: Person
  • Nominated By: Lynnora M. Catto
  • Year Commemorated: 2016

May McLachlan was born in Pipestone, Manitoba, in 1895, on a farm near town. She wrote about the evening she became sure that God was calling her to serve on mission field as she watched the sunset from a hill on the farm.

After training in the United Methodist and Presbyterian Training school in Toronto, May arrived in Japan in 1924. Over the years she taught English and Bible at the high school level, lectured at the University, was in charge of several kindergartens and set up specialized groups. She would help with Sunday School and visit in homes, visiting surrounding villages. When war broke out many Canadians returned home but May elected not to, believing these were her brothers and sisters. She was put under house arrest and later repatriated on the Gripsholm in 1942. In Canada, May worked with the internment camp students at Tashme, 14 miles east of Hope, instead studying at Yale. After the war, May returned to Shizuoka in 1947 witness to widespread destruction, misery and poverty. She resolved to live more simply, at the level of the poorest and to do more work in rural areas. May worked in Japan until 1963; upon returning to Canada her compassionate work continued on in United Church communities around Chilliwack until her death in 1991.