Surprise behind the Iron Curtain:
Maimu Vali was Estonian Conference Secretary-treasurer for twenty years
Maimu Vali (once spelled Vialy), an Estonian woman, was employed doing office work in the Seventh-day Adventist Estonian conference office. In the chaos after World War II, she became treasurer of the tiny conference in 1948. Estonia was in disarray. It had previously been part of the European Adventist Church and the organization of the church under the USSR had both growing pains and persecution. Maimu Vali had good command of English and could translate what scant publications they could get into Estonian. She also translated and composed hymns in Estonian that are still beloved today.
The communist government regularly fired church leaders and even those on the Executive Committee, as a form of control. But they usually left the treasurer alone. During this time it was Maimu Vali who communicated with the pastors and congregants as a go between, assessing needs, raising money and giving out meager funds on her travels. While there was always a president, he was unable to function, leaving Vali as the literal leader of the scattered group. She was voted secretary-treasurer in 1969, an office she held until 1989. After which, she remained treasurer until age 70 in1992 when the conference offices moved out of Tallin to Tartu. To hold any church office for 54 years is remarkable, but for a woman to be second in conference leadership (often stepping in as leader) for 20 years is unprecedented.
In 1975 the first delegation from the USSR and other communist countries in the Eastern Block were allowed to travel to Vienna for the General Conference Session. Not only were the eight delegates from the USSR a curiosity (their picture appears in the Adventist Review July 13, 1975 p.2), they contained a woman delegate, Maimu Vali, and as a conference secretary-treasurer!
The GC had compiled a list of several dozen “Honored Women of the Church” for diverse skills such as home life and evangelism in celebration of the United Nations’ designation of 1975 as International Women's Year. Sixteen of the women received their certificates publicly on July 15. Unexpectedly there remained one blank certificate after those pre-chosen were given out and during the session the next day it was given to Vali for her 27 years of service leading in the Estonian Conference. This led to a second photo in the Review (July 17, 1975 story p. 3, 7, photo p. 9). (See General Conference Bulletin No 10, p 26 for this list of skilled women with a photo).
And lest you think Vali was a Western curiosity who held little power in her own sphere, or that Vali was just thrown in because there were so few Adventists to choose from, when the delegation from the USSR had to choose which three of their eight delegates would sit on the Nominating Committee, they chose Vali. This made her one of only two women on the committee, (the other being Marion S Brown MD from the NAD).
Other women had been listed as secretary-treasurers of Missions, particularly in China, where the 1930 Yearbook records 4 president’s spouses holding the role. Petra (Tunheim) Skadsheim was elected the first woman known to be director and treasurer of a Mission, the Batavia district of Java. She was left as the sole administrator during the First World War. Cases have also been documented in Inter-America where spouses holding the title secretary-treasurer assumed the full leadership of their Mission for months while their husbands traveled.
The vast majority of Estonians did not like being a part of the Soviet Union. We can only assume Vali was excited to see her homeland independent again for the last three years of her life. She passed away in 1994 and was buried in the Adventist section of the Tallinn Rahumäe Cemetery.
Do you have an Adventist history story about a woman leading? Please share with us as we work to record the history of early women leaders before their stories are lost.
Petra Tunheim Shadsheim - Mission director
What a life Petra Shadsheim, nee Tunheim (1871–1923) lived! Born in Norway, she immigrated to the US at 17 years old. She became an Adventist in her twenties attending Union College and briefly teaching then entered into a short marriage. She wished to be sent to Asia after being inspired by mission appeals in the Review & Herald, so sailed to Australia where she canvased for a while gaining funds. In 1906 she traveled to Surabaya, Java where she met and took over the mission of a self-converted Dutch Sabbath keeper. Her efforts established the Batavia and Surabaya congregations. In 1913 she was elected the first woman (we believe) to be director and treasurer of a Mission, the Batavia district of Java. During the War she was essentially the only Adventist administrator in the country. Petra was fluent in Norwegian, Dutch, English, Chinese, Malay, and Javanese. This facilitated leading churches, Sabbath Schools and translating Adventist literature to the many people groups in this diverse area.
Like so many missionaries she became ill (presumed with malaria) and was sent on permanent return 1919. However, on the way home she stopped in Shanghai, China and recovered significantly in the drier climate. So she took the initiative to study with Javanese students there and pass her second-year university exams in Chinese. In 1923 she felt well enough to return to her calling in Java but died of malaria in the boat back to Indonesia. (See ESDA entry, photo credit Adventist Archives)