Ask Louise Achenbach ’44 what has driven her life and she’ll quickly answer – FAITH.

After graduating from Albright, Achenbach began doing educational work for her church, the United Church of Christ. She also earned her master’s degree in Christian education from Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. But at the church, where she spent most of her time, she worked closely with many families. One particular Japanese family piqued her interest in the culture and she made a decision to take her work overseas.

Auchenbach’s adventure as a missionary began in 1957 with her first trip to Japan. The trip, which was slated to be a three-year commitment to teach, turned into a 14-year labor of love.

According to an article about her adventures in the The Morning Call, Achenbach says, “In Japan, one in 100 is a Christian. It was a time when the church was beginning to become a mission church itself. There was agricultural outreach to Southeast Asia and they sent a doctor to Nepal to work with tuberculosis which was ravaging Nepal at the time. It was very interesting to be part of a church that was not only asking us to come as teachers but to also pass the mission on.”

Auchenbach taught “Christianity-Faith as a Way of Life” and “English as a Second Language” in a Japanese church related school located in Matsuyama on Japan’s smallest island of Shikoku.

However, times were turbulent. Although she was a world away from the riots and protests of the 60s that were taking place in the United States against the Vietnam War, she says “the Japanese young people were also doing a lot of demonstrating against feudal ways. There was student unrest all over because of the Vietnam War.”

During these times, however, Auchenbach applied her teachings about Christianity to her daily life and often found encouragement among her students.
But in 1962-63 Achenbach returned to the United States to pursue a master’s degree in English as a Second Language at Columbia University. Following graduation she returned to Japan to continue her missionary teachings.

In addition to teaching students in Junior High, Senior High and Junior College, Auchenbach also taught evening English oral courses for adults.

“While in college at Albright, I did not know I would devote myself to missionary work,” she says. However, Dr. Gingrich’s bible work and Dr. Giles’s psychology teachings helped open doors for her, she says. It was the inspiration of these individuals that eventually led her to pursue missionary work overseas.

Auchenbach concluded her missionary work in Japan in 1971. However, she has remained dedicated to the church and to helping others.

After returning from Japan, Auchenbach worked at a Methodist and Presbyterian union church in Kingston, Pa. While working there she was invited to attend a consortium about the AIDS epidemic. She says in The Morning Call article, “It was the early days in the mid 1980s and we realized we were facing an epidemic. From that time on I decided I would like to explore support work when I retired.”

Becoming very involved in the cause, she was trained by the Red Cross and AIDS Outreach of Allentown in health and safety education in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention education. Auchenbach now works to teach people how to avoid contracting the virus.

Although she never returned to Japan to perform missionary work after 1971, she did visit her Japanese friends and colleagues in 1986 to participate in the celebration of the school’s 100th anniversary.

— Kelly Ferry