Mamie E. Caskie, GW #30

Born 3 March 1879 in Walnutport, PA to Scottish immigrant Robert Caskie and his wife Mary.  Mamie was baptized as “Mary” on 3 January 1880 in the First Presbyterian Church of Slatington, Pennsylvania.  Mamie’s sister Jennie (Jane) also served as a Gospel Worker.  Mamie was licensed for the ministry in 1896 by the Pennsylvania Conference of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church.  In 1900, she served as a Gospel Worker in Gettysburg, Pa. with Annie G. Halteman.  In 1910 we find Mamie in Norfolk City, Virginia with Fanny L. Wismer, Sarah G. Brunner, and Emma M. Herman doing missionary work. From Ron Kohl’s paper on the Gospel Workers:  “In some cases, women left the Gospel Worker Society for other ministries. That was the case of Jennie Goranflo and Mamie Caskie. In 1914, Goranflo and Caskie founded The Grace and Hope Mission, a Baltimore ministry that shared much in common with the Gospel Workers: Wesleyan doctrine, an emphasis on evangelism, holiness and the hope of Jesus’ second coming, and operation by female officers, all of them in black uniforms with red trim and the emblem of The Grace and Hope Mission. And like the Gospel Worker Society, all missionaries in The Grace and Hope Mission are known by the title of “Miss.” The Grace and Hope Mission website’s on-line history states that Goranflo and Caskie carried 17 years of experience as Gospel Workers, and $14, into their new ministry venture. Caskie had been serving at the Gospel Worker mission in Altoona when she felt a call to open a mission in Baltimore. After much soul-searching, knowing that such a move would cause her to leave the Gospel Workers, and not wanting to feel disloyal, she finally confided her calling to Goranflo, and the two women left Cleveland for Baltimore with just enough money to rent a room at a YMCA with $4 left over.“  In 1920, Mamie is working in Baltimore with Edith B. Sherwin and Jennie E. Goranflo.  More than once the Grace and Hope Mission in Reading, Pennsylvania featured Mamie’s sister Jennie and Jennie’s husband Albert Turkington as the speakers.  At the time of Mamie’s death, Grace and Hope had missions in 14 East coast cities.  Mamie died on 31 July 1959 in Baltimore, Md. and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Baltimore.