Hettie Ewing

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Hettie Lee Ewing (October 11, 1896 – September 18, 1986) was an American missionary for the Churches of Christ who helped establish churches in Japan in the early 20th century.

Born in Cleburne, Texas, she grew up in Corpus Christi and taught high school there. In May 1924, after reading a letter from Lillie Cypert, a missionary in Japan, she decided to go to Japan. She faced family opposition and fundraising challenges but trained in Los Angeles to learn Japanese and the culture. She sailed to Japan on August 13, 1926, arriving in Yokohama on September 2, 1926.

In Japan, Ewing worked with Japanese Christians, starting a Sunday school and Bible classes in Okitsu and later teaching in Shizuoka City. She learned Japanese and taught women, children, and men through other workers. During the late 1930s, wartime restrictions and anti-American sentiment made life dangerous, and she eventually returned to the United States in 1941.

Back in the U.S., she worked for the government in San Antonio and then moved to Washington, D.C., with the War Relocation Authority to help Japanese Americans displaced from the East Coast. After World War II, she tried to return to Japan to help her Christian colleagues, finally arriving again in 1947. She lived in a storeroom corner and received help from Japanese Christians; she sent letters for aid and supported many people with food, medicine, and clothing. She continued as a missionary in Japan until 1972. In 1974, declining health brought her back to Texas, where she lived in Mesquite and died there on September 18, 1986.

She published reminiscences about her experiences: Another Look at Japan (1977) and She Hath Done What She Could (1974). See also Lillie Cypert and Sarah Shepherd Andrews, two other female missionaries in Japan.