John & Edith Simpson Memorial Scholarship

John Simpson was born March 28, 1898, in Rocky Mount, Virginia. He was raised Baptist and was the youngest of nine children. When he was four years old, his mother died of tuberculosis. His eldest sister took their mother’s place in raising the family. His father moved the family to South Bend, Washington where he went to school. World War I was being fought after John graduated from high school in 1918. John enlisted in the Army and was sent for officers training at Washington State College. After the war was over, John was discharged and completed two years of college. He finished his education at Linfield College where he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and became a Pentecostal. John graduated in 1924.

He taught high school for several years in various small-town locations in Washington. John married Edith Beckman in 1929. His children, Jane and John, were born in the first three years of marriage while John was a teacher. In 1935, John was the first teacher hired by a Christian boarding high school called Canyonville Bible Academy in Oregon. For one year, he taught without receiving a dime of salary.

The following year, John moved the family back to Seattle where he attended graduate school at the University of Washington. Then he purchased the first property for what today is Shoreline Community Church (then Richmont Chapel). John is considered the founder of the church. He was employed by the Armed Forces YMCA at the beginning of World War II. John worked as an RR freight inspector for 12 years. At age 59, he retired and enrolled at Seattle Pacific College. In 1957, he earned his master’s degree and then taught for ten years at Northwest University (then Northwest College). He retired from NU in 1967.

In 1952, he was given the Didaskalos Award from Northwest’s Alumni Association, which honors a faculty member. He taught Adult Sunday School classes, served on deacon boards, and on the Zion Mission Board as well. He went to his heavenly reward on December 21, 1988, at the age of 90.

Edith was born in the Ballard area of Seattle, Washington on September 18, 1898. She attended school through the eighth grade. Edith’s father believed that high school was unnecessary. She later finished high school by correspondence and earned her diploma. At age 14, Edith went to work at Frederick and Nelson’s. She was raised in the Swedish Free Church, and in her teens became a member of the Swedish Tabernacle (now First Covenant in Seattle). Edith went to night school learning to be a secretary/stenographer. In her 20s, Edith and two of her girlfriends moved to L.A. There she attended Angeles Temple and their Bible school. At this time, she was baptized in the Holy Spirit. After a few years, she returned to Seattle and met John Simpson in 1929. In a whirlwind courtship of three weeks, John and Edith were married at her parents’ home in Ballard. Edith stayed at the home raising children until after the family moved back to Washington in 1936.

The Great Depression hit hard. Edit managed to find a job working as a stenographer for the RR at Union Station. Edit became the bread winner. After working there for ten years, Edith worked for a lawyer handling tariffs with the state for small trucking firms. She continued there until age 72 (1970). Edith was active in the church and worked with Ruth Crawford when Ruth was the District Women’s Ministries Director. In her later years, she developed Alzheimer’s Disease. She lived until the age of 91 and passed away in August 1990.