Florence Lesley Fox Explained
Florence Lesley Fox (died after June 1971) was an American nurse and Christian missionary in the Philippines from 1920 to 1932, serving in Cagayan de Oro with her educator sisters Anna Isabel Fox and Grace Evelyn Fox.
Early life
Florence Lesley Fox was from Albuquerque, New Mexico,[1] the daughter of Rufus P. Fox and Anna B. Fox. Her father was a builder.[2] She graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1903,[3] and trained as a nurse in Battle Creek, Michigan.[4]
Career
Fox helped at a mission school in Cubero, New Mexico in 1905.[5] In 1920,[6] Fox followed her sister Anna into missionary work at Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines.[7] Their younger sister Grace Evelyn joined them in 1923.[8] [9] Fox acted as a visiting nurse, midwife, and superintendent of nurses at the mission hospital, working with her eventual brother-in-law, physician Floyd Olin Smith.[10] She was also called upon to teach hygiene, sanitation, and music classes, and oversee dormitory provisions, at her sister's school.[11] "I will not allow the hospital to use all my time and strength," she wrote in a published essay in 1922.[12]
Fox spoke about her work to women's church groups during her 1926 leave in the United States.[13] [14] She returned to the United States again in 1932, with plans for further medical training in Ohio.
Personal life and legacy
Fox and her sisters moved to California later in life. Florence Fox was alive when her sister Grace died, in Long Beach in 1971.[15] Today the Fox sisters are remembered as noted figures in the history of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines in Cagayan de Oro.[16]
Notes and References
- News: 1926-02-18. Local Items. 8. Albuquerque Journal. 2020-05-20. Newspapers.com.
- News: 1932-07-29. Daughter of R. P. Fox Visits After 5 Years. 5. Albuquerque Journal. 2020-05-20. Newspapers.com.
- News: 1903-06-04. Graduates of the University of New Mexico Who Will Receive Their Diplomas Tonight. 5. Albuquerque Morning Journal. 2020-05-20. Newspapers.com.
- News: 1932-07-09. Week's Reunion with Classmate Enjoyed by Santa Anan. 10. Santa Ana Register. 2020-05-20. Newspapers.com.
- News: September 30, 1905. Local and Personal. U. N. M. Weekly. May 20, 2020.
- News: 1920-06-22. College Women to be Foreign Missionaries. 6. Boston Post. 2020-05-20. Newspapers.com.
- October 1921. Bright Spots in the Picture. The Missionary Herald at Home and Abroad. 117. S54.
- Book: Prieto, Laura R.. https://books.google.com/books?id=o3VtBgAAQBAJ&q=Anna+Isabel+Smith+Cagayan&pg=PA369. Divine Domesticities: Christian Paradoxes in Asia and the Pacific. 2014-10-29. ANU Press. 978-1-925021-95-0. Choi. Hyaeweol. 369. Bibles, Baseball, and Butterfly Sleeves: Filipina Women and American Protestant Missions, 1900-1930. Jolly. Margaret.
- Book: Prieto, Laura R.. https://books.google.com/books?id=92uRxYPCtewC&q=Anna+Isabel+Fox&pg=PA342. Competing Kingdoms: Women, Mission, Nation, and the American Protestant Empire, 1812–1960. 2010-03-19. Duke University Press. 978-0-8223-9259-0. Reeves-Ellington. Barbara. en. 'Stepmother America': The Woman's Board of Missions in the Philippines, 1902-1930. Sklar. Kathryn Kish. Shemo. Connie A..
- Fox. Florence. July–August 1922. Field Correspondents. Life and Light for Woman. 290–291. Internet Archive.
- Book: American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Annual Report. 1920. en.
- Fox. Florence. October 1922. Field Correspondents. Life and Light for Woman. 369. Internet Archive.
- News: 1926-05-08. Newington. 6. Hartford Courant. 2020-05-20. Newspapers.com.
- News: 1926-02-21. Churches. 5. Albuquerque Journal. 2020-05-20. Newspapers.com.
- News: 1971-06-26. Grace Fox Rites in Long Beach. 44. Albuquerque Journal. 2020-05-20. Newspapers.com.
- Web site: History of United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Cagayan de Oro. Sitoy. Valentino T.. Heritage Conservation Advocates. 2020-05-19.
