At the PHSSW’s 2026 annual meeting there were four excellent presentations, all of which will be included in the printed Annual Proceedings later this year. One of those papers was by Dr. Margaret Talbot and focused on experiences of Glenn and Betty Murray (Margaret’s great uncle and aunt) as missionaries to what was at the time called the Belgian Congo. Glenn and Betty were part of the Murray clan in Texas that produced several Presbyterian ministers Glenn, Roland, and Roland’s son, Mike, all of whom attended Austin Seminary.
Austin Seminary has also produced missionaries to other countries. For example, John Walker Vinson graduated from Austin College in 1903 and from Austin Seminary in 1906. He served as a missionary in Sutsien, China from 1907-1909 and in Haichow, China from 1909-1931. On November 3, 1931, after refusing to abandon members of his congregation, he was executed by a group of Chinese bandits. His son, John Walker Vinson, Jr., also grew up to serve as a missionary to China, but after being a prisoner there from 1941-1945, served churches in the United States, one of which was First Presbyterian Church in Bentonville Arkansas (1958-1979).
Many have known John and Lib Minter through their work in churches in this country – Uvalde (1935-37), Taft (1942-45), Cuero (1950-54), Grand Avenue in Sherman (1954-64), and University in Houston (1964-71). However, on two different occasions they were missionaries in China (1937-41 and 1945-50). At the 1992 annual meeting of the PHSSW Lib Minter presented a paper on “A Tale of Two Texans in China” – her story with her husband John as missionaries to China.
Born in North Carolina, John earned his BA from the University of Texas at Austin in 1929, his BD from Yale Divinity School (after attending Austin Seminary for a year). In 1934 he married Lib who was born in China to Methodist medical missionary parents.
Lib’s aunt and father were both medical missionaries to China and Lib was born there. Her father, Fred Manget established and ran a 200-bed hospital from 1910-1941. During World War II he served in Burma and West China as a Senior Surgeon with the U.S. Public Health Service. After being home-schooled, Lib attended a boarding school in Shanghai, China. Upon graduation she entered Duke University and graduated in 1932. She then matriculated at Yale University where she earned a Master’s degree in Christian Education. John was serving as pastor of the Presbyterian church in Uvalde when, according to Lib’s account, “in 1936 late in the fall the Board of World Missions of our church wrote asking us if we were open to an early 1937 appointment to serve in China.” They replied that they were and left west Texas the following February for Nashville for physical exams and final instructions. “Go to China,” they were told, “and have a good time.” Lib was already fluent in Chinese and John became fluent.
In July 1937 the Japanese invaded China. Lib and their two small sons were evacuated while John remained behind until November of 1941, a couple of weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked. After serving the church in Taft, Texas they returned to China in 1946. However, now the threat was a civil war led, on the one hand, by Chiang Kai-shek and, on the other hand, by Mao Zedong. With only 12 hours’ notice John, Lib, and their children fled Suzhou as the communist army approached. They made it to Shanghai where they boarded a ship bound for San Francisco. Their work in China strengthened the Presbyterian church in China.
As noted above, John and Lib served several churches in Texas before John retired in 1975. They moved to Austin and became active at Westminster Presbyterian Church. John died on September 13, 1987. Lib remained active at Westminster. She died on June 22, 2009.
As we make our own history today, we give thanks to God for the lives and deeply rich ministry of John and Lib Minter and for the way they have shaped who we are as well as many of those in China whose lives they touched.
The Presbyterian Historical Society of the Southwest exists to “stimulate and encourage interest in the collection, preservation, and presentation of the Presbyterian and Reformed heritage” in the Southwest. If you are not a participating member of the Society and would like to become one, the annual dues are $20 per individual and $25 per couple. Annual institutional and church membership dues are $100. Checks may be made out to PHSSW and sent to:
PHSSW – 5525 Traviston Ct., Austin, TX 78738.
