Timeline - Elisabeth Elliot

Maybe your like

Fall 2025 Foundation NewsletterRead More

Timeline

The Life & Work of Elisabeth Elliot

1920s

Early Family Years: Love, Order, & Values Instilled

December 21, 1926

Elisabeth Howard is born in Brussels, Belgium, to missionary parents, Philip and Katharine Howard.

Elisabeth's Birth Certificate

1927

The Howard family moves to Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia.

The Howard Family

October 8, 1927

Philip James “Jim” Elliot is born in Portland, Oregon, to Fred and Clara Elliot.

Jim as a young boy
The Elliot Family

1940s

School Years: Boarding School, Heart for Missions, & Love Awakens

1941

Elisabeth attends Hampden DuBose Academy boarding school in Orlando, Florida.

1944

Elisabeth enters Wheaton College desiring to become a Bible translator and studies Classical Greek.

March 23, 1947

Elisabeth meets Jim Elliot, her brother David’s roommate, at Wheaton College.

"He is no fool who . . . ."
"He is no fool who . . . ."

1948

Elisabeth spends the year at Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada.

1950s

Missionary Years: Mission Field, Marriage, Motherhood, & Gain through Loss

February 1952

Jim sets sail for Quito, Ecuador, for mission work.

Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming
Jim Elliot and Ed McCully

April 1952

Elisabeth sets sail for Quito, Ecuador, for mission work.

October 8, 1953

Elisabeth & Jim marry in Quito, Ecuador.

February 27, 1955

Elisabeth & Jim’s daughter, Valerie, is born.

Shortly after, the Elliot family moves to the Shandia mission base to serve the Quechua people.

September 1, 1955

Jim & other missionaries begin dropping gifts from Nate Saint’s airplane to Waodani tribe members.

January 1, 1956

Missionary families celebrate the 1956 New Year together.

January 3, 1956

“Operation Auca” begins. 5 missionaries fly to & camp at “Palm Beach” with supplies in hopes to reach the Waodani tribe.

January 6, 1956

Successful initial contact in made with members of the tribe.

January 8, 1956

This Sunday morning, members of the Waodani tribe return to “Palm Beach” with spears. They attack & kill all 5 missionaries: Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Ed McCully.

Listen to the January 16 Memorial Service, held in Ecuador.

1957

Elisabeth writes Through Gates of Splendor.

October 8, 1958

Elisabeth, Valerie, & Rachel Saint (Nate Saint’s sister) learn the Huao language & travel into the jungle to live with the Waodani people. Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot is published.

Elisabeth's letter to suppoorters, just before she entered the Waodani village.
A page from Elisabeth's Waodani language notes. Notice "Gikita's Offering" at the bottom of the page. Gikita was one of the killers who later befriended Elisabeth
Valerie and Waodani
Valerie and Waodani

1960s

Early Writing Years: Revival, Return to the States, & Remarriage

1960

Many among the Waodani tribe accept Christ as their Lord & Savior.

1961

The Savage My Kinsman is published.

Cornell Capa © International Center of Photography/Magnum Photos.

1963

Elisabeth & Valerie move back to the United Sates to their family home in Franconia, New Hampshire.

1966

No Graven Image is published.

January 1, 1969

Elisabeth & Addison Leitch, a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, are married.

1970s

Writing & Teaching Years: Love, Loss, & Gain

September 17, 1973

Elisabeth’s second husband, Addison Leitch, dies of cancer. God’s Guidance: A Slow and Certain Light is published.

1974

Elisabeth joins the faculty of Gordon-Conwell Seminary as an adjunct professor.

1975

These Strange Ashes is published.

Elisabeth serves as a contributor to the New International Version of the Bible (NIV).

1976

Let Me Be a Woman is published.

Valerie graduates from Wheaton College and marries Walter Shepard.

December 21, 1977

Elisabeth & Lars Gren are married.

1978

The Journals of Jim Elliot is published.

1980s

Early Public Speaking Years: Writing, Traveling, & Radio

1981

Elisabeth is appointed writer-in-residence at Gordon College in MA. The Mark of a Man is published.

1982

Discipline: The Glad Surrender is published.

1984

Passion and Purity is published.

1985

A Lamp Unto My Feet is published.

1987

A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael is published.

Ledger page from 1987.

Fall of 1988

Elisabeth begins hosting a daily radio program Gateway to Joy on Back to the Bible.

1990s

Traveling Years: Writing, Lecturing, & Ministering Around the World

1990

A Path Through Suffering is published.

1996

Keep a Quiet Heart & A Quest for Love are published.

1998

Gateway to Joy: Reflections That Draw Us Nearer to God & The Path of Loneliness are published.

2000s

Sunset Years: Season of Retirement & Fading Memory

August 31, 2001

Final episode of Gateway to Joy radio program is broadcast.

2003

Be Still My Soul is published.

2004

Elisabeth retires from public speaking due to progressing dementia.

June 15, 2015

Elisabeth Elliot passes away in her home in Magnolia, Massachusetts, & enters through Heaven’s Gates of Splendor.

2019

Suffering is Never For Nothing is published posthumously.

Valerie Elliot Shepard has her parents letters published in Devotedly: The Personal Letters and Love Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot.

June 20, 2020

The Elisabeth Elliot Foundation is established.

September 15, 2020

Ellen Vaughn’s biography, authorized by the family of Elisabeth, Becoming Elisabeth Elliot is published.

2022

The beloved perpetual calendar, A Heart for God, is republished.

Also released is a never-before-published devotional from Elisabeth, Heart of God: 31 Days to Discover God’s Love for You.

March 30, 2023

The Elisabeth Elliot exhibit opened at the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. (Video).

Spring 2023

New editions of Shaping of a Christian Family and Journals of Jim Elliot are published.

January 23, 2024

A new edition of The Path of Loneliness is published.

September 17, 2024

A new edition of Lamp Unto my Feet is published.

January 2025

New editions of Passion and Purity and Quest for Love are published.

April 2, 2025

Lars Gren, the “third Mr. Elliot” (as he ofttimes called himself), finishes his race and peacefully goes to his heavenly reward.

Read his obituary here.

Summer and Fall 2025

New editions of Discipline: the Glad Surrender and Let me be a Woman are published. The Elisabeth Elliot Classic Collection is published.

Receive Email Updates

Sign up for announcements & updates about The Elisabeth Elliot Foundation and website and the weekly devotional — encouragement taken directly from Elisabeth’s writings in the original Elisabeth Elliot Newsletters

"*" indicates required fields

FacebookThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.Name* First Last Email* Subscribe to:* Updates about the Foundation & website Weekly devotionals

Tag » When Did Elisabeth Elliot Die