His name was Eugene R. Kellersberger. He was one of many American missionaries to what was then called the Belgian Congo, and has since then been called Zaire, and that today is simply known as the Democratic of Congo. Between 1903 and 1970 there were 65 missionaries from Texas who went to labor in the Belgian Congo. In those years there were others from other states, including 14 from Arkansas, 12 from Louisiana, and two from Oklahoma.
Kellersberger was born August 6, 1888 in the little community of Cypress Mill, Texas which lies on Farm Road 962 just east of Highway 281, between Johnson City and Marble Falls. After graduating from the University of Texas in 1911, he enrolled at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, earning his M.D. in 1915. The following year, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, he left as a medical missionary with his wife, Edna Bosche, for the Belgian Congo.
Working in Bibanga, Kellersberger treated more than 10,000 cases of African sleeping sickness, caused by the bite of an infected tsetse fly. His wife, Edna, contracted that disease and was forced to recuperate, first, in London while Eugene completed a course in surgery at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, and later in Texas with the couple’s two daughters. Unfortunately, while staying with her children with her father, in October 1923 she was shot and killed by her father’s estranged wife. In 1930 Kellersberger remarried to Julia Lake, a traveling representative of the PCUS Board of Christian Education.
While continuing his work in Bibanga, Kellersberger became an authority on the treatment of leprosy. Because of his willingness to touch leprosy patients, he became known in the community as “Dr. Not Afraid”. He developed into such an authority on the treatment of leprosy that in 1940 he was asked to become the president of the American Leprosy Missions, located in New York City. So, after 24 years of work in Bibanga, Congo, he moved to NYC where he worked for 13 years. He retired to Florida in 1957 and died in 1966. He is buried in the place of his birth, Cypress Mill, Texas. Inscribed on his gravestone are the words from Romans 8:37 – “More than conquerors through him that loved us.”
Among other Texans who served as 20th century missionaries to Congo were Thomas Chalmers Vinson (evangelist, 1912-1928) and Glenn and Betty Murray (evangelists, 1939-1974). Theirs is a powerful legacy of responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the great physician, that these and many others have left us. For that, and the labors of so many others, we are grateful.
Today there are many in this country who are exemplifying courage as they risk their own lives, responding to the coronavirus pandemic. They, too, have earned the moniker “Dr. Not Afraid”, a name that is not at all restricted to those with an M.D. The story of Kellersberger’s life and service can be found in two works by his daughter, Winifred Kellersberger Vass. One is in her book, Dr. Not Afraid (published in 1986 and again in 1999). The second is in a presentation she made in March 1986 at the annual meeting of the Presbyterian Historical Society of the Southwest. In the latter she also summarizes the work of several other Presbyterian missionaries to Congo.
