Jessie Trout

Jessie M. Trout (July 26, 1895 – 1990) was a Canadian missionary to Japan for nearly 20 years until she left Japan during World War II. She was a leader in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), including being the first woman to serve as vice president of the denomination's United Christian Missionary Society. She co-founded the Christian Women's Fellowship and the International Christian Women's Fellowship (1953), both Disciples groups for women. She also was a writer and translator.

She received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Bethany College in 1955.

Early life Jessie Mary Trout was born to Archibald Trout at Owen Sound off of Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada. She was a school teacher, when she traveled to Indianapolis in 1920. She also studied at The College of Missions in Indianapolis, which trained missionaries for the Disciples. The school was founded by the Christian Woman's Board of Missions.

Career Japan Inspired by a church member, spending the first two years learning Japanese.

Japanese-American internment camps During World War II, Trout left Japan and returned to the United States. She was one of the church leaders who visited Japanese Internment camps during World War II to conduct "mass meetings, seminars, open forums, ministers' conferences, [and] Bible study sessions," serving the Emergency Million Movement as Associate Director. The Disciples of Christ was outspoken in its opposition to the internment of Japanese Americans and as Conner writes, "[It] took a leading role in a well-coordinated, national public and private effort to move Japanese Americans out of internment camps and resettle them in towns and cities across the nation’s heartland." Trout, as a Disciples missionary, aided in this effort by touring rural Indiana communities to determine the availability of employment for, and sentiments towards, the internees.

Leadership In the 1940s, she was the national secretary of World Call, the magazine of the United Christian Missionary Society. In January 1946, she became the executive secretary of the department of missionary education; in that role she oversaw a large field staff and worked with 5,000 organizations throughout the United States. she was vice president of the United Christian Missionary Society in Indianapolis; The first woman to assume that position. Trout worked for the Division of World Missions as a field liaison.

Trout helped co-found the Christian Women's Fellowship in 1950 and served as chief executive of the Christian Women's Fellowship.

Later years She returned to missionary work in Japan 1961 and retired in 1963, intending to continue her efforts as a translator and a speaker and living in Indianapolis in the winter and Owen Sound in the summer.

Works Kagawa, Toyohiko (author); Jessie M. Trout (translator); Kiyozumi Ozawa (translator). (circa 1936) Christian Brotherhood and Economic Reconstruction. London: Student Christian Movement Press.

Trout, Jessie M. (1942). Forward in Missions and Education: Disciples of Christ help build the Kingdom; a study course for adults and young people. United Christian Missionary Society. Trout, Jessie M. (1953). Where We Have Served. Indianapolis: United Christian Missionary Society. Trout, Jessie. (1954). Like a Watered Garden. Bethany Press. Kagawa, Toyohiko; Wright, Rose; Trout, Jessie (translator). (1956). Pine, bamboo, and plum. Trout, Jessie. (1957). Bertha Fidelia Her Story. Bethany Press. Kagawa, Toyohiko; Trout, Jessie M. (1960). Kagawa, Japanese prophet: His witness in life and word. New York: Association Press. WorldCat Link