Cree & Mildred Sandefur Scholarship

Cree & Mildred Sandefur

Cree was born in West Texas, but the family soon moved to Keene for Christian education. Here, Cree attended the elementary school, academy, and Southwestern Junior College. Then it was on to Union College, but because of the depression, he stayed only a year and returned to Keene to start his own broom-making business. After two years, he realized there was more to life than just making money, so he left the business to his parents and returned to Union College.

Mildred had come to Union College from her home in Kansas, finished the Normal Course, taught school and returned to finish college when Cree did. That is when their paths met - paths that were to lead them through 41 years of service to the church from Texas (where Cree was ordained) to Washington, from Maryland to Hawaii. Their assignments began with pastoring, then education and youth work, and on to conference and union conference administration.

Their first home was in Tyler, Texas -- two rooms in the back of the church that the members were buying. The rent they paid made the monthly payments on the church. And, they had five churches in their district.

When it was time to retire, it was back "home" to Keene where Cree was invited to be a trustee of Southwestern Adventist University and other boards. Cree and Mildred often spoke of the wonderful opportunities they had of so many interesting places and wonderful people to serve. Back of it all was the opportunity they had for Christian education. They felt that a scholarship is a way of expressing gratitude and making Christian education possible for others.