Edward H. Nabb Center for Delmarva History and Culture, Salisbury, University, Salisbury, Maryland
| Identifier |
SC2016.121 |
| Creator(s) |
Warfield, Gaither |
| Acquisition |
Acquired by Dr. Beatriz Hardy (Dean of SU Libraries and Instructional Resources) in 2016. |
| Language(s) |
English |
| Use |
Records are open for research. Copyright, including literary rights, belongs to the author(s) or their legal heirs. Permission to publish or reproduce must be obtained from the Nabb Research Center which extends beyond "fair use." |
| Preferred Citation |
"Item, collection title and identifier, box # and folder # (if applicable), Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture, Salisbury University, Salisbury, Maryland." |
| Attribution |
Finding aid written by Ian Post. |
| Related Materials |
Diary of Luther Roberts (1918) Diaries of Raymond Thayer Quindlen (3) (1894 – 1948) Diary of California Girl (1910, 1914) |
| Separated Materials |
See Nabb Center Staff |
Biographical History Reverend Gaither Postley Warfield was born on February 13, 1896 in Rockville, Maryland. He was the youngest child of Robert Clarence Warfield (1861 – 1943) and Margaret Webb Warfield (1861 – 1913). Gaither had three living siblings; Robert Leroy Warfield (1888 – 1970), Helen Elizabeth Warfield (1889 – 1890), and Admiral Clarence Griffith Warfield (1892 – 1982).
Warfield graduated from Dickinson College and received a degree from Union Theological Seminary.
Gaither was a missionary for the Methodist church in Poland from 1924 to 1941. It was there that he met his wife, Hania Marja Drodiowski Warfield (1906 – 1995), whom he married in 1928. The couple had one child, a daughter named Monica Warfield Kulp.
In September 1939, Gaither was taken prisoner by Soviet soldiers when the Soviet Union invaded Poland. There was an exchange of prisoners and Warfield was then held by the Germans. He was released but then rearrested by the Germans in Bavaria, this time being held for two years before he was released in an exchange with the United States.
Gaither and his Hania, a well educated and intelligent woman, co-authored a book about their experience during the war entitled Call Us to Witness: A Polish Chronicle.
After Warfield returned to the United States, he worked for the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church. In 1946, he began working for the Committee for Overseas Relief until he retired in 1966. Even after retirement, Gaither was an active member of his community. He was a member of the Save the Children Foundation until 1985. He was a vice chairman of the Church World Service, an agency that sought to provide relief to refugees, and he was a member of the World Council of Churches.
Revered Warfield died on August 16, 1986 at the age of 90. He is buried in the Rockville Cemetery in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Arrangement Statement See Nabb Center Staff
