Faces All in the family in the fight against malaria J
im and Miriam Ross had heard the name Ronald Ross before, but it wasn’t something they thought about when Alice Benson, an ELCA Foundation regional gift
planner at the time, approached them about donating to the ELCA Malaria Campaign. The members of Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Fairfax,
Va., listened to the help the campaign was offering as part of its goal to raise $15 million by 2015 to support work in 13 companion churches in Africa. “I try to give to things like disaster relief, so I said sure. Malaria is particularly hard on children,” said Miriam, referring to the fact that one child dies from malaria every minute. Soon after agreeing to make that donation, the Rosses
were talking to their youngest son about the church’s malaria work. “He said to me, ‘That’s really interesting because you remember that old relative on dad’s side. He was a doctor who won a Nobel Prize for his research in malaria,’ ” Miriam recalled. Sure enough, Miriam checked a book
prepared by her father-in-law. It’s believed that Jim’s great-great-grandfather—the first Ross to come to America from Scot- land—was a cousin to Ronald Ross. Born in 1857 India, the British Ronald Ross became a doctor in the early 1880s and soon after began studying the effect of malaria and how to reduce infection rates. He received the 1902 Nobel Prize in
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ELCA MALARIA CAMPAIGN
Malaria is particularly hard on children—one child dies from the dis- ease every minute—so Miriam and Jim Ross were ready to donate to the ELCA Malaria Campaign.
Physiology or Medicine. His page at www.
nobelprize.org notes: “Ross succeeded in demonstrating the life-cycle of the para- sites of malaria in mosquitoes. … In 1899 he joined the Liv- erpool School of Tropical Medicine under the direction of Sir Alfred Jones. He was immediately sent to West Africa to continue his investigations, and there he found the species of mosquitoes which convey the deadly African fever.” The apparent family connection made Miriam and Jim
feel even closer to the cause. They also were startled to know that after much work, malaria remains a devastat- ing illness.
100 + birthdays
A $10 donation provides a mosquito net to protect a family as they sleep; $3 can purchase a rapid diag- nostic kit and a course of malaria medication for someone who is infected. For more information, visit
www.elca.org/malaria or write to ELCA Malaria Campaign, PO Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764.
“We have been very grateful for Jim and
Miriam’s support of the ELCA Malaria Campaign and for their family legacy that connects them to our ministry,” said Jes- sica Hacker, ELCA Malaria Campaign coordinator. “Lutherans from across the ELCA have responded generously because of family connections, or a professional concern with health care or the malaria parasite, or an international experience that has opened their eyes to the realities of malaria. Many generous and compassion- ate Lutherans support the ELCA Malaria
Campaign because they want to make a difference in some- one’s life and help break the cycle of poverty and disease. “I’m so grateful for Jim and Miriam, and for all of those
generous ELCA members, for recognizing the urgency of this work and supporting it so generously.” For the Rosses, it’s an additional
boost to know they may be continu- ing a family tradition more than a century old.
102: Frank Knerr, Jerusalem, Schwenksville, Pa. 101: Marjorie Sandel, New Hope, Adamsville, Ohio. 100: Alice Beltz and William Kriebel, Jerusalem, Schwenksville, Pa.;
Rowswalie Dahlen, Hope, Wautoma, Wis.; Annamarie Faigle, St. Mark, Wapakoneta, Ohio; Christine Faulstich, Our Savior, Highmore, S.D.; Irene Smith, Holy Trinity, Chandler, Ariz.; Cecilia Swinney, St. Paul, Winlock, Wash.
Author bio: Favre is a contributing editor of The Lutheran.
By Jeff Favre
Send stories Share your stories of ELCA Lutherans and your 100+ members in “Faces.” Send to:
lutheran@thelutheran.org or “Faces,” The Lutheran, 8765 W. Hig gins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631.
January 2014 43
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