MECHANICSBURG, PA, May 22, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present P. Helen Lewis Bitner, Ph.D., with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Dr. Bitner celebrates many years' experience in her professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in her field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Dr. Helen Lewis Bitner's entire professional life was involved with education, from teaching children as young as two in church and preschool, to graduate students and professional teachers, in the United States and other countries.
Born in Freeport, Michigan on November 29, 1930 in a Michigan ice storm to the Rev. Minard and Ruby Adams Lewis, Phebe Helen Lewis was a late addition to this pastor's family. Rev. Lewis died on November 27, 1934, leaving his wife, Ruby, Helen 4, her sister Elissa 16, and brother Meredith 14. Because her mother had to work, Helen sometimes went to school with her teenage siblings. She was reading by 4, so she went to kindergarten in January, and first grade, then was accelerated to third grade, entering high school at 12.
During her years in high school, she felt a clear call to devote her life in service to God, which led her to take every opportunity to minister to people, especially children. She taught Sunday school, summer vacation schools and camp, painted Bible story illustrations in Munn Art Studio, in Hillsdale, Michigan, and graduated as valedictorian from Pittsford High School, Pittsford, Michigan at age 16. She began her higher education at Houghton College, in Houghton, New York, studying Biblical Literature, Christian Education and New Testament Greek, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1951, at age 20.
The summer of 1951 brought her first "missionary experience." She and her friend Florence Crocker from Houghton, were selected to go with the Marine Medical Mission's medical mission ship, the Willis Shank, up the Inland Passage to British Columbia and Alaska villages to teach Vacation Bible Schools. The schedule followed the salmon fishing season/six weeks, when the tribal people go down to the coast to fish and process the salmon. Helen and Florence stayed onboard the ship to play violin and piano with other musicians for evening "concerts." Villages were invited aboard. One exception occurred when there were not enough people for all the village VBS. Helen and Florence went ashore for one week. Helen went alone to the village of Coal Harbor on Nanimo Island to the only whaling station on the west coast. The twenty-six children in the village came to school. That week the really big excitement was the 75 foot long blue whale that was brought in to the plant for the whale-oil. One thousand pounds of meat per foot, a BIG Animal! They were given 200 pounds to take back to the ship to be roasted with apples for a delicious non-fish-tasting dinner.
Returning to Michigan, to start a post-scholastic life, Helen was assigned by the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Michigan Conference, to be the Assistant Director of Child Evangelism and co-pastor with the Director, Reverend Delores Lobdell, of the East Odessa church in that conference. They held monthly teacher training workshops in twelve areas of the conference 1951-1955, and directed the annual summer children's camp.
The shortage of teachers in the 1950's resulted in her recruitment to teach elementary school in Northview Public Schools near Grand Rapids, Michigan. During the years 1955-1964, Miss Lewis taught third, fifth, and sixth grade, and earned an M.A. in Teaching Elementary School from Western Michigan University in 1964.
Demand for teachers for the "Baby Boomers," brought another recruitment, from Houghton College asking Miss Lewis to return to develop an elementary education program to complement their secondary education program. She taught methods courses and supervised student teaching in Western New York public schools 1964-1968.
In 1968, she was selected as a Fellow in the first Experienced Professional Development Act, granted to The Ohio State University's Drs. Martha King and charlotte Huck, for Developmental and Critical Reading Fellowship. This program ultimately led to Miss Lewis completing the requirements for a Ph.D. in Early and Middle Childhood Education and Teacher Education from The Ohio State University in December, 1972.
Dr. Lewis' doctoral research was under the directions of Dr. Sara Smilansky, professor of the University of Tel Aviv, Israel. The research involved a group of twelve graduate students, M.A. and Ph.D. candidates. They observed the socio-dramatic play of four hundred 4 and 5 years old children and studying its relationship to various cognitive abilities as measured by available tools. Dr. Lewis studied "The Relationship of Socio-dramatic Play to Various Cognitive Abilities in Kindergarten Children." Her dissertation documented the observations of the children from the lower socioeconomic group of approximately one fourth of the children in the study.
Dr. Lewis' dissertation documenting her portion of the study received the 1973 Award for Promising Research from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
In 1974-1976, Dr. Lewis coordinator an extensive research funded by Title I in Columbus Ohio schools, following Dr. Smilansky's Israeli study regarding using clay as a medium for developing language and other cognitive skills in young children.
This research was published in the book CLAY IN THE CLASSROOM, Smilansky, Hagan and Lewis, published by Peter Lang, in 1988. This study involved 1200 children, 4 and 5 years old, and 39 teachers in the schools of Columbus, Ohio, for a complete semester. Schools were clustered by socio-economic levels. The Relationships of the teaching methods, cognitive and language development were compared to the observations of the children's performance with clay.
Dr. Lewis was an Assistant Professor of Education at Indiana University at South Bend from 1971-1995, teaching language arts and reading methods, early childhood education and English as a Second Language.
In addition to her esteemed professors at The Ohio State University, three other professionals have influenced her thinking and teaching about the development of reading and language abilities by human beings of all ages. Dr. Lydia Duggins, the late professor at the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut, wrote: DEVELOPING CHILDREN'S PERCEPTAL SKILLS IN READING. In her book, Dr. Duggins underscored what she observed and learned in her research and demonstrated HOW to do it.
Madeiline L'Engle developed the imagination with depth in her stories, eg. A Wrinkle in Time, and the Arm of the Starfish, using her imagination regarding scientific phenomenon, and spiritualizes by stimulation thinking. Mimi Chenfeld demonstrates in her presentations with children, ways to reach every child through activity, language, stories, and thinking.
An important factor in her own development has been MUSIC. Most of her family has natural music ability. It has been mostly expressed in church music. Her sister Elissa was an outstanding pianist and Helen without having an opportunity to seriously study music, learned much by hearing her sister play, harmonize and transpose hymns. From age 4, Helen sang and soon played the autoharp and ukulele even in church. In high school, she sang in the choir and also at times accompanied on the piano. At Houghton, she organized trios and girls quartettes, and traveled on weekends, churches or organizations.
While on the faculty at Indiana University in South Bend, Helen joined the Symphonic Choir when time permitted, and after moving to Mechaniscburg, PA, she sang in the Harrisburg oratorio organization when they performed THE ELIJAH. She continues to sing in the choir and play the piano when needed in the Village Church.
In the summer of 1978, Dr. Lewis went to Southern Rhodesia, as a consultant in teaching of reading in the Union College of Education in the city of Bulawayo, as a guest of Miss Nancy Krieder, her former classmate at Houghton. The war for independence was in progress, and students displaced by the conflict were studying in Bulawayo. The instability of the situation limited sight-seeing, but she was able to assist Nancy and her classes, and enjoy the cultural experience, which she had anticipated since her first dream of missionary service. That war ended with the formation of the country of Zimbabwe. This flight to Africa brought stops in the Netherlands, land of her parental grandparents; a South African mission school, South American landings and a nephew's wedding in a mountain church in Mexico, and driving her car back to Michigan.
This experience opened the door for more overseas opportunities. The summer of 1979 brought a teacher workshop in Taiwan at the Morrison Academy in Tai Chung, another amazing month, in the Orient with the historic Oriental Missionary Society.
A Sabbatical leave 1980-1982 made an opening for teaching English to Form 6 (equivalent to US12) at United Christian College in Hong Kong, with short-term workshops for teachers in Macao, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. This also was sponsored by the Oriental Missionary Society, currently known as OMS or One Mission Society.
As a teacher in the 1950's and 1970's, Dr. Lewis' work was greatly influenced by the times of teacher shortages and limited resources. Many campus "practice" schools were closed, and she worked with local schools to take the college method's classes to real schools with real children and teach under her supervision the methods they were learning for teaching reading and language. This was inaugurated in each location where she was located. Her research influenced the methods she taught undergraduate and graduate student teachers at the universities and in schools.
As a member of the International Reading Association (IRA) and President of the Local Chapter, and member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Dr. Lewis brought the traveling exhibit of the Early Childhood Program from Reggio Emilia, Italy, to the Northern Indiana Historical Museum in South Bend, Indiana. Six weeks of teacher workshops were conducted for the northern Indiana and Michigan area.
After her two years in Hong Kong, her home in South Bend became a home for many International students attending colleges and universities in the area. In several instances they became her family. She took U.S.A. students in the summer to Hong Kong to teach English. In 1991, Dr. Lewis opened the Yew Chung International Preschool for young children to learn through multiple experiences and environments to develop thinking skills and love for learning. This was a joint venture with Dr. Betty Chan Po King owner and CEO of Yew Chung International Foundation in Hong Kong.
In 1998, OMS requested Dr. Lewis to go to China to home-school the children of a family who was studying Chinese language in South China. That year in the rice fields, led to another request from Dr. Chan to help develop a school in Shanghai, People's Republic of China for young Chinese children to learn English in a natural learning style. From 1999 (with New Years 2000) to 2006 she served as assistant principal for Yew Chung (YewWah) in Shanghai. She says "I did not learn very much Chinese language, due to the many dialects in that environment" but she loved learning and experiencing the varied Chinese cultures, the people, the history, and the foods. She even climbed the famous Yellow Mountain.
Two thousand five (2005) with her Chinese visa expiring, came the biggest invitation of all. A Houghton College alumnus, retired missionary to Haiti, Rev. Robert O. Bitner, of Hagerstown, Maryland invited Dr. P. Helen Lewis to become Dr. P. Helen Bitner. She accepted the assignment, at age 75: new name, new home, with a new life of ministry with a new partner in Messiah Village in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Bob and Helen were married in the Chinese church in Mishawaka/ South Bend, Indiana, with a bilingual ceremony, on March 25, 2006. She was "given away" by her first resident Chinese student, Mr/ David Gu Di Fei. Her matron of honor was her Houghton College friend, Mrs. Nancy Kreider Hoke. The minister was her oldest niece's husband, Rev. Dr. Donald Reed, from Tracy, California. The wedding dinner was a complete Chinese Wedding Banquet in the finest Chinese restaurant in South Bend, a gift from two of her Chinese student who call her their "American Mother."
In retirement Helen enjoys playing the piano in the nursing areas of the village, familiar hymns that all can enjoy. She teaches Sunday School in the Village chapel. Her hobbies have included, china-painting, and other art, cooking, music, doing most things creatively always trying to improve her learning and skills, including electronic communication.
"The biggest challenge at this stage of my life is learning to be a wife, learning to know Bob and his wonderful missionary family, including the 19 great-grandchildren, and memorizing their names! What a wonderful decision I made at age 15, to follow God's plan for my life! He is the BEST at giving serendipitous surprises!"
In Summary, Dr. Bitner says this photo epitomizes her understanding of education young children.
The child enters the world with the equipment to learn, facilitated by parents and significant others:
Curiosity encouraged
Opportunity to explore with all five senses and his brain
Widening experiences until the earth becomes round
Wondering-questions as he holds the world in his hands
Who made it? How does it work? How do I fit in this world? How can I make it better?
What contribution can I make to the people and earth, for now and for eternity?
Will the world be a better place in any way, because I lived my life on this life n this planet, which God made
for His own glory and purposes for all people?
In recognition of outstanding contributions to her profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Dr. Bitner has been featured on the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
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