Chell, Erwin Frank, 1918-

Erwin Frank Chell was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on May 2, 1918, the son of Gilbert Frank Chell and the former Meta Emily Hein. Gilbert Chell was entirely of Swedish heritage, Chell was an Anglicized version of Kall, and was a second-generation American. Gilbert was born on a Minnesota farm and was very hardy; as a young man he worked a variety of hard-labor jobs while also playing baseball as a semi-pro. Even after the birth of his children his weekend income from baseball exceeded his weekday pay as a factory worker. This extra income provided the Chells with more security than many other working-class families. Mrs. Meta Chell was like her husband American-born, but entirely German in heritage; her grandparents had been born in the Prussian provinces of Posen and Pomerania.

Though both Erwin's parents were born Lutheran, the fact that one was of Swedish heritage and the other of German heritage had the effect that their family was not tightly identified with one synod alone. As Erwin states in his reminiscences, his family lived in several St. Paul neighborhoods while he was a child and they would attend the nearest Lutheran church; sometimes the church would be of German heritage, while at others Swedish. "I don't think we had a lot of synodical loyalty, but joined the most convenient church. Going to church was important to my parents." Erwin's childhood of devout religious observance, coupled with his parents' broad Lutheranism, instilled in the boy a mixture of religious ambition and tolerance. Erwin's future career as a missionary lasted only twelve years as at its end he no longer believed that theological differences among Christians were enough to justify the continued separation of their mission fields.

Erwin graduated from high school in 1936 and that autumn enrolled in the University of Minnesota, based largely on his own savings from his summer job. He could not afford transportation and so he hitchhiked the 8-10 miles to class every day for all his years at college, arriving late only once. At Minnesota Erwin entered with a major in chemical engineering. But he was also interested in faith-based activities and by 1939 was president of the regional Twin City Luther Leagues. Upon the urging of his minister and a few others, in 1939 he transferred to Augsburg College. He was able to transfer his credits from chemical engineering and began taking more courses in the liberal arts. He graduated in 1941 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry.

Erwin met Betty Mae Cecil, or "Betts," at a party in September 1937 and they quickly became "steadies." Due to Erwin's studies, and because he had to finance himself through a wide variety of odd jobs, they did not marry for several years. In 1941 Erwin enrolled in Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa. Being a seminary student and also something of a pacifist, he was given the Conscientious Objector status and did not serve in World War II. Erwin and Betty were married on June 20, 1942, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Erwin graduated from Wartburg in the spring of 1944 and was ordained on June 4, 1944 at Christ Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. As he had already decided upon becoming a missionary he soon enrolled in the Kennedy School of Missions at Hartford Seminary, Hartford, Connecticut for the school year of 1944-1945, while drawing on a modest salary from the Board of Foreign Missions of the American Lutheran Church. Erwin was awarded an M.A. from Hartford after he completed his thesis while serving as a missionary in India.

The Chells arrived by ship at Karachi in India, now part of Pakistan, on November 17, 1945. Their first station was at Renigunta, in the modern state of Andhra Pradesh. In March 1946 the Chells relocated from Renigunta to Kodaikanal, Tamilnadu, where they remained until October. They then relocated to Puttur, where they stayed until February 1947. Much of the time spent at these initial stations involved learning the Telugu language. March to July of 1947 saw Erwin's final language instructions at Kodaikanal, after which he was assigned to active duty at Gudur, in the modern state of Karnataka, and made responsible for an area of about forty miles by ten miles.

At Gudur, Erwin was associated with the South Andhra Lutheran Church (SALC), an Indian church body which had gained its independence from mission societies in 1945 but which still involved European and North American missionaries in key positions of field responsibility. Erwin's office, in which he had three Indian assistants, was responsible for supervising the local church pension plan, and also had financial oversight over capital funds for local schools and churches. Altogether he was responsible for around 100 employees within the boundaries of his station. In addition to his administrative responsibilities Erwin also began preaching in Telugu in villages around his station and would teach classes at the high school when required.

In April 1950 the Chells departed India for the U.S. and their first furlough, which was spent in Minneapolis with relatives. During the year Erwin spoke widely at area churches concerning the India mission. Upon their return to India in July 1951 the Chells were assigned to Puttur, in the modern state of Andhra Pradesh. Erwin's work was much as it had been at Gudur, which involved the visiting of villages and supervising various budgets. At Puttur he also took the lead in training local laymen so they could bear more of the responsibility for the growing church. His other major initiative while at Puttur was to set up a nine-year plan so that by January 1, 1965, the SALC would be independent of support from Western churches. Erwin believed that the Christian churches in India would remain vulnerable to the charge of being agents of Western imperialism unless they cut the financial tie. After much discussion the SALC adopted Erwin's plan as policy.

In January 1955 Erwin received a 1± year leave from the SALC and relocated with his family to Kodaikanal, where he became the School Pastor at the boarding school (grades 1 through 12) which served the children of Protestant missionaries (mainly American) in south India. Students and staff came from at least twenty different denominational backgrounds. Erwin standardized the curriculum, attempting to meld and harmonize as many of the different theological positions as possible, and in the process learned that there was much more commonality between them than he had supposed. This had a major impact on his thinking.

Following the eighteen months at Kodaikanal, the Chells moved to Gudur, where they had spent the late 1940s. They remained there from July 1956 to May 1957, where Erwin resumed visiting villages, working with the teachers, and training native laymen. They were there when Betty developed a hip infection which required treatment in the U.S. Erwin resigned his missionary position in India and the family returned to the U.S., where Erwin struggled with the realization that his theology had become simpler while in India and that perhaps he would not feel comfortable leading a strictly Lutheran congregation in the U.S. After a period of reflection he resigned from the ministry and relocated his family to California.

In their first year back in the U.S. Erwin and Betty tried their hand at a variety of new occupations. In early 1958, Erwin was offered the superintendent post at a retirement community, Bonell Home, in Bonell, Colorado, which he accepted. During his tenure at Bonell the home embarked on a major expansion of the physical plant. Erwin and Betty lived in the nearby community of Greeley during this time. In 1968 Erwin moved on to the central office of the Good Samaritan Society, the parent company of the Bonell Home, located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There he served as director of purchasing until 1975. Erwin then served several short stints as the company's regional director in different parts of the country, South, Southwest, and Northwest; served as the director for financial services in 1977-78; and in 1978-79 was regional director for Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska; the Chells moved their home from Sioux Falls to the Denver area for this latter position. This was Erwin's final position, from which he retired in 1983. Betty also retired from the Good Samaritan Society, in 1984, after also serving as a regional director. Their retirement years have been filled with extensive domestic and overseas travel, as well as genealogy work.

Four children were born to the Chells: Janet Louise, May 21, 1943; Donald Erwin, July 13, 1945; Beverly Ann, August 21, 1946; and Laurence Frank, August 22, 1955; the first two were born in the U.S., the latter two in India.

From the description of Erwin F. Chell Papers 1925-1957 (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Library). WorldCat record id: 71251342