Annie Mae LINDQUIST (née HALL) [1896-1988]

Annie Mae Hall trained at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, where she met fellow student Arthur Lindquist. Both felt a strong call to missionary service, and after completing their training—Arthur at Moody and Wheaton, Annie at Moody—they prepared to leave for China under the Swedish-American Mission. Though not yet married, they sailed together for Hong Kong in September 1923.

The Mission Board granted permission for Arthur and Annie to marry in 1924, earlier than the usual two‑year waiting period. Their wedding was simple, avoiding the heavy financial burden of a traditional Chinese celebration. Their honeymoon—characteristically modest but adventurous—took them from Hong Kong’s Peak Tram to Shanghai and onward by train to Peking before they returned to their mission station in Canton.

These early years were marked by political unrest, anti‑foreign sentiment, and personal hardship. Annie’s resilience became evident almost immediately.  In June 1925, during a period of danger in Canton, the Lindquists took the Rodine family to safety at the Rodines’ newly built holiday home on Cheung Chau. 

Amid this instability, Annie—seven months pregnant—was admitted to the Matilda Hospital in Hong Kong. There she gave birth prematurely to twin daughters, Violet Hope and Myrtle Grace, with a combined weight of just over seven pounds. Against the odds, both girls survived. After several months of recovery, the family returned to Canton in late October.

Anti‑British sentiment and civil unrest soon forced Annie to return again to Cheung Chau with her infants, accompanied by an amah to help with heavy work and water carrying. 

Despite the dangers, Annie repeatedly returned to Canton with her husband to continue the work in Shi Kiu, even facing hostile crowds at the church door. Her life became a rhythm of advancing into danger, retreating to safety, and returning again—always balancing her responsibilities as a mother with her commitment to the mission.

In 1929, Annie gave birth to a third daughter, Carol Joy, and in 1933, a son, Oscar. The children's amah, Cheung A-Yi, was 'all but mother to the children during the many absences of their parents in Canton.'

During these years, Arthur’s ministry expanded rapidly, with Bible classes in their home growing into the Canton Bible Institute. Annie’s role, though less visible, was foundational: she maintained the household, raised four children in a volatile environment, and provided hospitality and stability for students and missionaries alike.

By May 1935, years of strain had taken their toll. Annie was described as “broken in health,” and the family returned to America so she could recover. The causes were the demands of four growing children including their home schooling, demands of the Bible Institute in the day and evening classes at night on Arthur's energies, and depleted missionary numbers since 1927.  

This furlough marked a turning point, giving her the rest she desperately needed after a decade of upheaval, childbirth, and constant relocation.

In 1939, while on Cheung Chau, (Arthur was in Canton), an exploding mine had woken her at night, shattering one of the windows.  It had shattered despite being of heavy plate glass because of the typhoons, and she found shards of glass over her bed and pillow.  Amazingly, she had been untouched.*

The family missed the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong as they were on furlough in the USA at the time.

After the war and more years of shuttling between Canton and Cheung Chau, danger and safety, in 1949 the family moved permanently to Hong Kong along with the Canton Bible Institute.  This move provided the family with much‑needed stability following seasons of danger and displacement.

In later years, Annie wrote a detailed account of the Lindquists' years of missionary service in Canton and Hong Kong, The Tale of Two Steamer Rugs, which came out in two parts in 1956 and 1960.  

In the latter year, Arthur died at a comparatively young 67.

Annie lived on to 1988.

* To be in range of an exploding mine, we would seem to be in House 2, rather than House 23 or House 6? 

Source:  

The Tale of Two Steamer Rugs I by Annie Hall-Lindquist.  (Trinity International University).

The Tale of Two Steamer Rugs II by Annie Hall-Lindquist