During the early years of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Bahamas, the work of  the church was planned and executed almost entirely by laymen, whose boundless zeal and passion gave birth to the vibrant organizations we have in this country today.  Those were the days when the Adventist Faith was not a popular religious preference and members were often scoffed and ridiculed.  Civil service employment was not available since all government workers were required to report for duty on Saturdays.

Among the many laypersons who championed the growth and development of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Bahamas is Sister Pearline Louise Armbrister McMillan and her husband, the late Daniel Adolphus McMillan.   Pearline McMillan was born on Long Cay in 1908 and moved to Nassau with her parents and siblings while she was a teenager.  They settled in McQuay St. off Nassau Street.  She engaged in straw work with her mother, and continued in that trade for over sixty years.  She was honored by the Bahamas Government for outstanding work in Tourism.

Sister McMillan was a Sunday School superintendent when she accepted the teachings of the Adventist Faith in a crusade conducted by Pastor O. P. Reid in 1930.  She brought that same working spirit to the Grants Town Seventh-day Adventist Church where she was baptized.  One year later she was married in the same church, and her first order of business was to procure a set  books written by Ellen G. White (Conflict of the Ages Series: Desire of Ages, Great Controversy, Acts of the Apostles, Patriarch and Prophets, Prophets and Kings, The Testimonies to the Church) which she and her husband read from cover to cover.  They immediately accepted the health reform message, and the counsels on Christian education.

Many young people in the Grants Town Adventist Church benefited from the efforts of this faithful pioneer who ensured that they got help for their education via “send-offs” and “supper sales”.  Some of them later became great church and civic leaders.

Several laypersons, but especially Hadassah Poitier joined by Pearl McMillan, Jack Dean, Madge Antonio Wood-Guillaume, began a Branch Sabbath School on East Street South in the early 1950’s.  A company developed into the Englerston Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1954, and from that congregation the Hillview Church was raised.

Today, the Bahamas Conference salutes a pioneer who worked tirelessly for over 60 years.  Her many contributions and church offices include the following:

• Chief cook for Youth Camp (BAMIVOCA – Bahamas Missionary Volunteers Camp) for many years

• Dorcas Leader (Community Services)

• Sabbath School Superintendent

• Missionary Volunteer Leader (AYS)

• Branch Sabbath School Leader

• Choir member

• Bible Worker

• Deaconness

• Transportation provider for anyone who needed to get to church, especially her Adventist co-workers in the straw market.

• Charter member of the Maranatha Church, where she currently worships when she is able.

Sister McMillan and her husband were ardent supporters of Bahamas Academy from the Hawkins Hill days.  In fact, her husband was a member of the Bahamas Mission committee when the action was taken to buy the Wulff Road property.  All her children received Christian education: 

• Dr.  Curtis Clifford served as a Science Teacher at the school in the late 50’s.  Years later, as a member of Parliament, he influenced the government to extend the work hours on Friday (at the time civil servants and bank employees worked half day Friday and half day Saturday) to eight hours, and give employees Saturday off.  This meant that Adventists had no problem thereafter becoming civil servants.

• Daniel Adolphus Jr. gave exemplary service and witness in the hotel industry for many years.

• Pastor Leslie Valentine was the first student at Bahamas Academy to pass the Senior Cambridge examination.  He was also the youngest in the first group of Theologians to graduate from West Indies College (now Northern Caribbean University) with the Bachelor’s degree.  He is known as one of the leading evangelists in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

• Cyril Edroy, a contractor and also a lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, followed in his father’s footsteps as an elder at the Grant’s Town Church for many years.

• Dr. Wendell Roosevelt was the first Seventh-day Adventist Bahamian to serve as an overseas missionary, and continues, after forty plus years in varied capacities and in many countries, to serve the church in West Indies Union as its first Field Secretary.

All of Sister McMillan’s heirs have captured her vision and are serving the church and society in the Bahamas and overseas.  At  ninety eight years of age, Sister McMillan is the oldest Master Guide in the Bahamas Conference.    See photos below.  Click on photos to enlarge

Peal McMillan celebrating her 81st birthday at the home of the Althea and Wendell McMillan in February 1989.  Annick Brennen stands in the background.	Standing with a visitor at the Straw Market.	Top: Busy Straw Market Day In Nassau in the 1950s.  Bottom:  Pearl McMillan's straw work ready to be sold