Mary Alice Lamb

Mary Alice Lamb “Those who go forth ministering to the wants and necessities of their fellow beings experience a rich return, their souls being as a watered garden, and a spring that faileth not…” – Lucretia Mott Tucked away in the South West corner of Miami County, Indiana is the small community of Amboy where in 1844, the first Friends Worship service was held in Miami County and six years later, a log church was erected at a location that would later be next to Amboy Friends Cemetery. Until a school was built in 1872, the church doubled as a school. In 1867, the Panhandle Railroad was completed through Miami County and the small town of Amboy was platted as the location of the train station. When, in 1871, Benjamin B. Lamb laid an addition to the original Amboy platt, his son Ezra must have been living in the area, for on July 28, 1878, Ezra Lamb and his wife Eliza were holding a beautiful baby girl in their arms whom they named Mary Alice. As she grew, Mary Alice probably attended school in Amboy at a building known as The Academy. The years flew by and soon Mary Alice Lamb was attending school at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. She graduated in 1901 with a teaching degree. By this time, she was a young woman, 5’4 1/2” tall, sporting brown hair and brown eyes. Known to her friends as Alice, her first teaching job was at Stit School, four miles from the home in which she grew up. Every morning she would drive to school in a two-wheel cart pulled by a horse. If it rained, she would wear water proof garments or pull into the nearest barn lot until the rain let up. Sometimes, if the weather was very bad she would stay with the Stit family, on whose land the school was located. Alice also spent time teaching in North Grove, Indiana, as well as Italy, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad, Colorado before settling in Long Beach, California, where she taught high school students foreign languages for thirty years. Many of those years she was head of her department. She maintained a high level of interest in civic affairs, politics and issues pertaining to world concern through-out her life. Alice also loved baseball. She was a life-long Dodgers fan and kept current on all the baseball statistics in relation to the Dodgers team members.	Indiana Historical Society, P0391
	When America became involved in World War I, the Quaker Church formed the American Friends Service Committee. This organization was formed to provide an alternative way for pacifists to serve their country during the First World War. Alice took an introductory nursing course of study, signed up with the American Expeditionary Forces in connection with the AFSC, and sailed to France in 1918. Her passport states that she would remain in Europe for an indefinite period of time with the AFSC. She returned from Liverpool on a ship named the USS Baltic in 1928, but it is not known if she returned prior to that date and then went back to Europe on other business. It has not been determined exactly what Alice did in France during WWI and the aftermath. Rather than work independently, the AFSC plugged into the already existing structure of the Red Cross. The American Friends Service Committee worked a great deal with meeting the needs of the devastated civilian population of France. Many homes were destroyed and medical care was scarce. People needed food, clothing and general hygiene items. Thanks to the AFSC, hospitals for civilian victims were staffed and homes were rebuilt. Shops were set up to sell a variety of items such as food and bedding, and goods were distributed by mobile shops located in vans and transported to areas that were in need.
	Alice went back to California to teach high school sometime after WWI ended. Well into her nineties she would travel back to Indiana every few years to visit family and attend an annual Friends conference in Richmond, Indiana. At first, she took the train but later would fly. Once she rode on a helicopter between O’Hare and Midway airports in Chicago to catch a connecting flight to the small airport in Kokomo, Indiana. Always full of surprises, she became what is often described as a “December Bride” by getting married on May 1, 1972 to James Burt in Long Beach, California. Two years later she died on May 29, 1974, one month before her 98th birthday. Her body was returned to Indiana where she was buried in Friends Cemetery in Amboy, Indiana not far from the location she was born. Alice lived a life for others as is in keeping with the Quaker way. For nearly 98 years she served her family, her community, her country and the world with an energetic, sure and steadfast step. Her non-wavering strength and enthusiasm for life serves as a beacon for the young women of Miami County, Indiana today and of future generations. Researched, written & submitted by Mary Rohrer Dexter
SOURCES “Alice Lamb Burt.” Peru Daily Tribune, 5 June 1974, pp. 2–2. “Amboy Friends Cemetery.” Amboy Friends Cemetery, incass-inmiami.org/miami/cemeteries/amboyfriends/. “Amboy, Indiana.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Sept. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amboy,_Indiana. Bodurtha, Arthur L. “History of Towns and Villages in Miami County, Indiana Part 1 Amboy to Hooversburg.” History of Miami County, Indiana: a Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People and Its Principal Interests, Lewis Publishing Company , 1914. “‘California Death Index, 1940-1997," Database, FamilySearch (Https://Familysearch.org/Ark:/61903/1:1:VPH2-6MD : 26 November 2014), Mary A Burt, 29 May 1974; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.” “‘California Marriage Index, 1960-1985," Database, FamilySearch (Https://Familysearch.org/Ark:/61903/1:1:V6NH-PMM : 27 November 2014), James Burt and Mary A Lamb, 10 May 1972; from ‘California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985," Database and Images, Ancestry (Http://Www.ancestry.com : 2007); Citing Los Angeles City, California, Center of Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.” “The Doughboy Center - General Headquarters.” The Doughboy Center - General Headquarters, www.worldwar1.com/dbc/. “Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records and Online Memorials.” Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records and Online Memorials, www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page. Jones, Rufus Matthew. Service of Love in War Time. The Macmillan Company, 1920. “Kokomo Tribune.” Kokomo Tribune, 26 June 1918. Lamb, Mrs. Wendall. “This Lass Is 90, and We'll Tell You, She Is a Lamb.” The Kokomo Morning Times, 2 Nov. 1966, pp. 3–3. Mary Alice Lamb. Richmond, Indiana, United Stats, 1901. Three photos of the subject contributed by the library at Earlham College. “‘New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," Database with Images, FamilySearch (Https://Familysearch.org/Ark:/61903/1:1:242D-1ZJ : 2 October 2015), Mary Alice Lamb, 1938; Citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA Microfilm Publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, N.d.).” “‘New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," Database with Images, FamilySearch (Https://Familysearch.org/Ark:/61903/1:1:24XQ-HQ1 : 2 October 2015), Alice Lamb, 1928; Citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA Microfilm Publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, N.d.).” Postcard Amboy Indiana Historical Society, P0391; Used with permission from the Indiana Historical Society Proctor, Tammy M. “US Women's Overseas Service in World War I.” US Women's Overseas Service in World War I \| Articles \| Missouri Over There, missourioverthere.org/explore/articles/us-womens-overseas-service-in-world-war-i/. “Quaker Civilian War-Relief in the Great War and Its Aftermath, 1914-1922.” WWI Online :: Quaker Civilian War-Relief in the Great War and Its Aftermath, 1914-1922, wwionline.org/articles/quaker-civilian-war-relief-great-war-and-its-aftermath-1914-1922/. “Quaker Relief in Europe, 1914-1922.” Quaker Relief in Europe, 1914-1922, triptych.brynmawr.edu/cdm/search/collection/SC_Relief. “Quakers in the World.” Quakers in the World, www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/300/Friends-War-Victims-Relief-Committee-in-WWI. “Reconstruction Work (France).” Reconstruction Work (France) - GAMEO, gameo.org/index.php?title=Reconstruction_Work_%28France%29. “Swayzee Press.” Swayzee Press, 19 July 1918. “Trains, Buses Used.” Palladuim, 24 July 1966, pp. 26–26. “‘United States Census, 1880," Database with Images, FamilySearch (Https://Familysearch.org/Pal:/MM9.1.1/MH9Y-SXL : 12 August 2016), Mary A Lamb in Household of Ezra T Lamb, Harrison, Miami, Indiana, United States; Citing Enumeration District ED 125, Sheet 627A, NARA Microfilm Publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, N.d.), Roll 0299; FHL Microfilm 1,254,299.” “‘United States Census, 1900," Database with Images, FamilySearch (Https://Familysearch.org/Ark:/61903/1:1:M992-5LX : Accessed 30 July 2017), Mary Alice Lamb in Household of Charles F Chapman, Wayne Township (Southwest Portion Excl. Richmond City Incl. Earlham College), Wayne, Indiana, United States; Citing Enumeration District (ED) 159, Sheet 1B, Family 1, NARA Microfilm Publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL Microfilm 1,240,412.” “ ‘United States Census, 1930," Database with Images, FamilySearch (Https://Familysearch.org/Pal:/MM9.1.1/XCJL-Y48 : Accessed 30 July 2017), Alice M Lamb, Long Beach, Los Angeles, California, United States; Citing Enumeration District (ED) ED 1119, Sheet 8B, Line 95, Family 199, NARA Microfilm Publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), Roll 130; FHL Microfilm 2,339,865.” “‘United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," Database with Images, FamilySearch (Https://Familysearch.org/Ark:/61903/1:1:QV5B-FZ8H : 4 September 2015), Mary Alice Lamb, 1918; Citing Passport Application, California, United States, Source Certificate #23970, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 542, NARA Microfilm Publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, N.d.); FHL Microfilm 1,571,708.”

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