Missionary William H. Sears with his children, Mary and George. Sears’s wife, Effie Johnson Sears, fell ill with scarlet fever and died in P’ingtu, China in 1904. More than 700 Chinese attended her funeral. William, the first pastor of P’ingtu Baptist Church in Shandong province, remained in China until his death in 1922. The Searses’ daughter, Mary, continued their legacy as a missionary with her husband, Frank Connely, in China from 1916 to 1951, when they were forced to leave. They served in Japan until Frank died in 1956 and Mary returned to the US.