Doris Helen Webb was born in Hull, England, to a Methodist family. She had an elder sister and a younger brother.
From young, she had a burden for overseas missions. When she went to the Birmingham Mission Training School, she had a strong urge to go to China. After her training, she faced a choice between looking after her mother who was seriously ill and overseas mission work. She chose the latter and flew to Hong Kong with six other missionaries. From there she took a train to Hubei, China.
China (1946-1951)
Doris, aged 25 then, started off with learning Mandarin in Hankou, and was then assigned to An Ru town, north of the Yangtze River.
She then moved to Da Ya town on the south bank of the Yangtze River. At that time, with the civil war causing havoc in China, she again moved back to Hankou. She stayed near the Wu Shen Temple and was involved in Sunday school work and also taught English.
She was also invited to work in the district office treasury department. On May 16, 1949, Doris saw the People's Liberation Army marching into Hankou. There were already signs that mission work was getting harder and after the new government took over, missionary work was indeed restricted. Eventually she left Hankou in March 1951 with other missionaries.
India (1952-1959)
Doris returned to England on furlough for a year, after which she was appointed to serve in the Methodist Church in South India. She was assigned to look after a girls' hostel and at the same time learned Tamil in Bangalore. Soon, she was asked to help in a women’s training centre in a rural area. However, deep in her heart, she was still hoping to go back to China.
Sarawak (1959-1967)
In 1957, Doris heard about the Methodist Church in Sarawak, a mission field jointly developed by the US and England, and immediately requested to be sent to Sarawak to serve the Chinese. In 1959, she came to Sibu at the age of 38.
Her colleague, Rev David MacDonald, said, "Miss Webb was a good partner. She started to learn the Foochow dialect and was assigned to serve in the Bukit Lan clinic."
The following year, she was transferred to work in the library of the Methodist Theological School where she got acquainted with Dr Ivy Chou. Their friendship led to the duo spending their retirement in Hull.
For most of the time in Sarawak, Doris worked in the women's ministry. She visited churches often and was familiar with the rural areas of Sarawak especially along both banks of the Rajang River. The modes of transport at that time were mostly longboats and bicycles.
Retirement in England (1967-2013)
Doris left Sibu for England in 1967. In July 2001, a group of Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference members including Rev and Mrs Ting Daik Chong and the principal of the Methodist Theological School, Rev Su Chii Ann, went to Hull after the World Methodist Conference in the United Kingdom to visit Dr Ivy Chou and Doris. The Sarawak visitors were very touched by their hospitality, especially when Doris personally cooked noodles for them.
Doris looked after Dr Chou until the latter passed away on August 17, 2012 at the age of 95. Doris herself passed away on December 18, 2013 in Hull.
She left word with Helen, Ivy Chou's niece, that her favourite hymn, “Christ, whose glory fills the skies” composed by Charles Wesley, should be sung at her memorial service.
“…visit then this soul of mine,
pierce the gloom of sin and grief,
fill me, radiance divine,
scatter all my unbelief,
more and more thyself display,
shining to the perfect day.”
The hymn reflected her calling and her mission work in China, India and Sarawak. Her memorial service was held on January 3, 2014 in Willerby Methodist Church in Hull.
