John Harry Giffin was born in Roberts, Wisconsin in 1875 and graduated from Rochester Thological Seminary in 1904. He received his appointment to foreign mission service in 1903 and married Annie Milne in August 1904. Annie Milne was born in Minneaplis and a graduate of Duluth High School and the Kindergarten Training School. They sailed for China two months later. He founded Kwang Yit Academy and was its principal for 10 years. John passed away suddenly after returning to the U.S. to get medical treatment for Annie at the Mayo Clinic. Louise Giffin was born in 1910 in China to John and Annie. She attended Shanghai American School and later graduated from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. Louise was stationed in China from 1938 until 1952. While there, she served a 21-month internment by the Communist Government. Louise also served in Thailand from 1953 until 1978. Louise's sister Alice M. Giffen was born in 1935, also in China. She graduated from Judson College in Marion, Alabama. Following graduation, Alice was appointed by the Women's American Baptist Foreign Missions Society to return to Meixien, China, to teach at the girls' school where she had been as a young child. When it became impossible to remain in China, Alice was reassigned to the Philippines in 1952 to work with the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches in home and family life and in women's work. Later she became involved in mission administration there. In 1973, Alice was asked to return to mission headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and become Secretary for East Asia, overseeing the mission endeavors in that part of the world. She next was appointed Secretary for the Overseas Division and Associate Executive Director of the Board of International Ministries of American Baptist Churches.