Funk

I always thought that he was referring to a certain type of music. He repeated himself thinking that perhaps I (or was it we?) had misunderstood and thought he was using a different word but it was always clear from the context of what he was saying that he was referring to a type of music so I did not think the clarification was required. However, I thought it was a good sign that he did clarify because it showed that he had a conscience in regards to word choice and did not want to be perceived as a guy with no vocabulary.  Thus I was not concerned about that later. There was no reason to wonder whether he was actually referring to Grace Funk, the Iowa-born Methodist missionary who spent 20 or so years as a single unmarried teacher in a girls' school at Shaowu, China, before marrying Herbert Edwin Victor Andrews, a missionary with China Inland Mission. Andrews' first wife Gertrude had died leaving him alone in China with five young children to raise so it was convenient that Grace Funk at age 44 agreed to assume the work of raising his children. Later, in 1943, during World War II the Andrews were among hundreds of people evacuated from China. After traveling to India, they boarded the S.S. Gripsholm, an International Red Cross exchange ship used for the transport of diplomats and prisoners of war. The ship sailed from Mormugao, in Portuguese India, on Oct. 22, arriving in New York on December 1. Interestingly, the passenger list also includes the names of Daniel and Sarah (Kugler) Sheets among many others. One might wonder whether the Andrews and the Sheets dined together on board the S.S. Gripsholm but it is equally possible that they never met and would not even recognize each other on the same ship. I really don't know. The passenger list doesn't reallly include that information. It only gives the names, birth information, citizenship, and address in the United States.