(1923) Marriage of Oscar & Hellen

It was finally time for Hellen to leave Sweden and join her husband-to-be in China. She had no apprehension about going to China because Oscar was waiting for her. She would be safe and secure with him. Hellen left Sweden with two traveling companions, Kitish Leeter and Susanna Andersson, and traveled to Marseille. Hellen's twin brother and his wife left two weeks before to become missionaries in the Congo. In Marseille they discovered much to their surprise that the mission had given them only two tickets between the three of them to travel on. The mission was of course asked about what they should do and the reply was to study English until the ticket arrives. Hellen's answer was "You can't study English without books!" To add the problems Hellen's trunk had not yet arrived in Marseille. This was nerve wracking. The trunk not only contained all her linens, something very important for a bride in those days for setting up a household, but also her wedding dress. Besides the expense, it would be difficult finding another wedding dress in China.

Eventually another ticket arrived and they set sail from Marseille.

[Somewhere during this time Hellen went to England to study English. Did she go from Marseillen to London and then later set sail from London to China?]

Marriage in Shanghai

On November 1, 1923 the following notice appeared in the China Daily News in English:

Notice is hereby given that the Swedish subjects Missionary OSCAR HENRY RINELL, born on April 7, 1896, at Pingtu in the province of Shantung, China, and now resident at Kiaochow in the province of Shantung, China, and the lady Missionary, Miss IDA Hellen LOUISE COLLDEN, born on August 2, 1899, in the parish of Mast[illegible in newspaper clipping], Gothenburg, Sweden, and residing at Gothenburg, Sweden, intend to contract marriage and that any just cause, why they should not be allowed to do so, must be declared before the undersigned not later than on November 21, 1923.

(Signed) J. LILLIEHOOK,

Consul-General for Sweden,

Shanghai, November 1, 1923

Oscar traveled from Kiaochow to Shanghai on November 22 and got a room at the China Inland Mission hostel. He met Hellen with a bouquet of pink carnations in hand on the docks of Shanghai. On November 27, they had a civil wedding by the Swedish Consul at the Royal Swedish Consulate General. Hellen's two traveling companions, Titti Schlyter and Susanna Andersson were witnesses. Though Johan Alfred was to marry them later in a religious ceremony, he did not have authority to marry them legally according to Swedish law.

It was the Consul's custom to invite couples he married to a dinner and he invited them. However, they could not accept his invitation because they were leaving Shanghai by train early the next morning.

Upon arriving back at the China Inland Mission Hostel they found they did not have a room together. After all Oscar had arrived in Shanghai single. The management did not know that they were just married, and so with strict rules about separating unmarried men and women on different floors, they were given separate rooms on separate floors. Evidently there were no rooms left for married couples or didn't know when the rooms were assigned that they could ask for a room together or perhaps they were too embarrassed to ask. In any case they spent the first night of their marriage in the company of strangers of the same sex on their respective floors. Hellen's response to this was, "This situation was not a party."1

Hellen spent the night in the women's section with the single ladies and Oscar back in his room with the single me. [In an interview with Hellen, she seemed to indicate that the hotel had strict rules separating single men and women, and that the management of the hotel may not have known for sure that they were married, so kept them in separate rooms.]

The next morning they boarded the Blue Express. China's best train, it had been imported from America. The Blue Express took them from Shanghai to Tsinan where they changed trains and then after one [more?] day arrived at the Kiaochow train station where they were greeted by the school's horn music [was this a brass band?] together with the Rinell family and Swedish and Chinese friends.

The wedding, of much interest in the missionary circles, after all, a tall, handsome eligible bachelor was getting married, took place on Saturday, December 1 Oscar's name day. Guests included Americans, Germans, Swedes, and Chinese Mandarins from Kiaochow who were top civil leaders in the city. It wasn't everyday that a foreigner got married in their city. This wasn't an event to miss.

The wedding was held at the Kiaochow Chinese Baptist church of the Swedish Baptist Mission. Oscar's sisters Margaret and Edith Rinell hurried from the Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) where they were nurses to act as bridesmaids. Egron was on furlough so was not present. Hellen and Oscar were carried through streets on large sedan chairs carried on the shoulders of Chinese bearers as was the Chinese custom. The chairs were of rough wood but covered with heavy red silk brocade with designs stitched in 14 caret gold thread. The brocade shielded Hellen from view as was the custom.The groom's chair was open in the front so all could see.

Many people lined the streets. Everyone wanted to see wedding of two long noses. Guards accompanied the procession to keep back the curious crowds. Hellen and Oscar and throngs of people arrived at the church. Hellen carrying a bouquet of carnations. The church was packed with the city's highest Mandarin officials down to the poorest Chinese. American and German missionaries blended with the Swedes.

Children from the Middle School sang in the church. Oscar's groomsmen were George J. Sears, a fellow student from Chefoo and the son of Oscar's missionary friends, and Boyd Copeland. Both George and Boyd were businessmen in Tsingtao. As the small ring bearer walked up the aisle, the ring fell off the cushion and rolled under the pews of the very large church and had to be found and retrieved.

Oscar's father conducted the ceremony in Swedish.

After the ceremony Hellen and Oscar climbed into their respective sedan chairs for their procession to the reception. The Chinese Middle school brass band played. Hellen's chair was unsteady and someone suggested she move to the center of the chair to balance the load. A large crowd of Chinese had gathered to see the son of their honored pastor get married. The highest and the lowest, the richest and the poorest among the Chinese turned out to see the wedding.

The house had been decorated with flowers, a large dinner was served, and the merrymaking went on quite late. Telegrams from various places were read, some from Sweden.

The whole event was recorded in the China press on December 7, 1923. It was written in Tsingtao, December the 3rd.

Oscar and Hellen did not have a long honeymoon since Hellen had just had a long trip from Sweden. They were invited by their schoolmate George Sears down to Tsingtao to stay in his home. He also drove them around in the beautiful surroundings of the city and to Lao Shan, the famous mountains with their many streams and waterfalls.

They received very nice presents from the guests. One gift stood out among many of the others, a banner in typical Chinese tradition from the Baptist church in Pu. On it were four big characters were _________ Heaven [or God] creates harmony.

Rizhao

In 1923 a congregation was started in Rizhao.

Visiting Outstations

Much of the mission work involved visiting of the outstations in other towns and villages miles away from Kiaohsien. The older missionaries had been doing this for years. With their schooling done, and their return to China, this task in time fell mostly to Oscar and to a lesser extent his brother Egron. Egron had become the principle of the high school in 1917, and Oscar the church planter.So it was Oscar who made most of the trips to the churches [clinics, etc.?] outside of Kiaohsien. Johan Alfred seldom went out the remote churches and more. If there was an important church aniverary or opening of a new church, then Egron would go.

[In later chapters: Oscar would later take a bike, then a motorbike and would take the Ford if Hellen or the kids went along.]

[Previous Chapter][Table of Contents][Next Chapter]

Footnotes