A Widow of Wycliffe Dies

Quiz Team friend Dagney Pitts is now a missionary working for Wyliffe Bible Translators. We wish to extend our sympathies to the Wycliffe, as the wife of one of the founders has passed away.

Elaine Mielke Townsend, 91, the widow of W. Cameron "Cam" Townsend, who co-founded Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1934 and founded JAARS in 1948, died July 14 at 7:00 p.m. in a Rock Hill, S.C. hospital after a brief illness. She had been in weakened health since a Feb. 21, 2006 stroke in her Waxhaw, N.C. home.

Bob Creson, president of Wycliffe USA, said, “All Wycliffe staff mourn the loss of Elaine Townsend, 'Auntie Elaine,' to many. She and her husband, Uncle Cam, our founder, were outstanding examples of faith in God and commitment to the Bibleless peoples of the earth. Were she still with us, I know her message to us would be, 'Finish the task!' "