A Capsule of Victor Peters’s 108 Years

It’s nearly impossible to capture everything about Victor Wellington Peters in one story. After all, he’s not only been part of many firsts, but he’s lived through many others. When he was born, the Internet could not have been imagined. It would be another fifteen months before the Wright brothers flew. It would be ten years before the RMS Titanic sank. And it was more than a century before America voted for an African American president.

Born: September 29, 1902, in Kansas City, Missouri

Denomination: Methodist

Education:
University of California, which became UCLA (1919–1921)
University of Southern California (B.S., 1924)
Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.B., 1927; Th.M., 1928)

Married: February 12, 1938 to Hahn Heung Bok (Ruth)

Career Capsule:
1928–1941: Methodist missionary serving in Korea

1941–1982: Associate pastor and teacher at Los Angles, California, churches, including the Korean Methodist Church, Trinity Methodist Church, First Church of the Nazarene

1959–1967: Professor at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California, teaching more than thirty courses, including Introduction to Science, Physical Science, Anthropology, Hermeneutics, Homiletics, History of Missions, Comparative Religions, Ecclesiology, Eschatology, Minor Prophets, Acts, and many others

1999–2004: Mentored Korean doctoral students at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California

Hobbies: Painting, calligraphy, family gatherings, writing, reading

Nicknames: VW, Buddy, Alphabet Boy, Chappie

Firsts One of the first students to enroll in what became UCLA

The first American to marry a Korean in Korea

The first missionary to build a Western church in Korea that was designed with symbols that were meaningful to that culture

Favorite Quote: “Sans Dieu Rien,” French for “Without God, Nothing.”

Web Site: http://web.mac.com/elonaofbearmeadow/Victor_Wellington_Peters/Welcome.html