Sowing the First Seeds

In 1915 Walter Bundy, a pilgrim (as a traveling minister was called back then), asked Ellis Wilburn Fox to accompany him and his wife on a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii, offering to pay his fare. Brother Fox accepted the invitation, leaving his job as the head operator of a motion-picture theater in Vancouver, B.C. Brother Bundy and his wife, as well as Brother Fox, traveling by steamship from Vancouver to Honolulu, ventured to sow the first seeds of truth among the friendly, neighborly Hawaiians. In their baggage was a small hand-operated printing press to be used for producing handbills to advertise the public talks these two brothers were planning to give. Brother Fox expected to stay in Honolulu only a few weeks and then return to his well-paying job in Vancouver. Little did he know, however, that the few weeks would turn into seven years.

On the first Sunday in February 1915, the first meeting of the Bible Students (as Jehovah’s Witnesses were called at that time) was held in a room of a hotel on the corner of Fort and Beretania streets in Honolulu, with five people in attendance: the Bundys, Ellis Fox, and an interested man and his wife.

On ship a day or two before they reached Honolulu, the three agreed that the one who could obtain a job first would provide for the other two. Brother Bundy, a pianist, got work immediately in a music store.

Regarding those early days, Ellis recalled: “We prepared for a public lecture each Sunday. Walter would write up the announcement for the next Sunday’s talk, while my job was to set type, print handbills, and try to cover as much of Honolulu as I could each week. That brother seemed never to run out of public talks.”

Sensing Ellis’ apprehensions about public speaking, Walter would take him to the park, where they would work at improving his grammar and speech. As Ellis later said, “Very patiently he tried to rub some of himself off on me.”

Working With the First Group

This training was necessary and invaluable, for at the end of 1915, Brother Russell had Walter Bundy return to take up another assignment in mainland United States. Ellis Fox remained in Honolulu as the one and only elder for the small group of newly interested ones. It was then that he came to the realization that he would not be returning to his lucrative job in Canada in the immediate future. But he was enthusiastic about the truth and had the proper attitude toward staying in Honolulu and putting Kingdom interests ahead of those of a material nature.

Ellis also proved to be modest and humble in caring for his responsibilities during those early days. The study of Tabernacle Shadows was difficult. Recognizing his limited experience, he would, in open view, lay down paper and pencil and announce that for any questions that the group could not answer, a written note would be made of the question, and during the next week, each one could do some research on it. But as you might expect, most of the research was left for Brother Fox to do, and he had to work hard to come up with correct answers.

Witnessing as a Taxi Driver

A piece of chalk and a taxi, a curious combination with which to broadcast the Kingdom message​—but not for Ellis Fox. While working as a taxi driver, Brother Fox would witness to other drivers. Using chalk to write on the pavement, he illustrated Jehovah’s promises and explained Bible chronology, such as the length of the Gentile Times, thus fostering many questions that resulted in lively discussions.

Another driver, James Harrub, enthusiastic about those Bible truths, requested further reading material. After racing through the books “New Creation” and other books in the set of Studies in the Scriptures, he was convinced that the message they contained was without doubt the truth of God’s inspired Word.

By 1918 Ellis was conducting a Bible study regularly with James and his wife, Dora. Dora, an Episcopalian, had her interest sparked by a newspaper clipping given to her husband by Ellis. It carried an account of the debate between a “Reverend” Troy and the second president of the Watch Tower Society, Joseph F. Rutherford, during which Brother Rutherford successfully exposed the doctrines of Trinity, hellfire, and immortality of the soul as unscriptural. Sparked by this little tidbit, she began her more than 50 years of serious study and application of the Scriptures.

First Disciples Baptized

When James Harrub expressed his desire to be baptized, Brother Fox obtained permission to use an old church that was vacant and that had its baptistery under a trapdoor. However, the sheet-metal tank leaked like a sieve. After doing their best to patch the holes with a soldering iron, they found the tank would hold the desired water level only if the tap was turned on full. Brother Fox related: “I had finished giving the baptism talk and was standing down in the water waiting for James to come out of the dressing room when something happened that came as a complete surprise to me. That lovely, sharp-eyed little Dora Harrub got down so she could whisper in my ear without the others hearing and asked, ‘Ellis, can I get baptized too?’ ‘Of course, you can! Get in there and get your clothes changed.’ What a thrilling experience for both her husband and me!” Thus, the first two Christian disciples in Hawaii were baptized on November 19, 1919.

The group of Bible Students moved their meeting place from the Leonard Hotel, where Ellis was living, to the home of the Harrubs on Spreckles Street in Honolulu. Nine persons regularly attended the Wednesday “prayer, praise and testimony” discussions and the Sunday Watchtower Study.

From Freemason to Witness

During World War I, Brother Fox worked as manager of a local business. One Sunday morning, at his home in Honolulu, he received a call from David Solomon. Mr. Solomon, operating a garage at a local military post, requested supplies and inquired if Ellis would open the store to fill his order, and this Ellis consented to do.

Brother Fox recalls: “As he drove me to the store, he remarked that I must be a Mason to be so accommodating. On being informed that I was a minister with the local Bible Students, he asked, ‘Do you ever give talks outside your own church?’ I answered, ‘Yes, if invited.’ Then he informed me that he was the master of the Masonic lodge at Fort Schofield and invited me to speak there. Of course, I did not tell him that I had never given a public talk. I prepared and used a chart similar to the one found at the front of Volume I of the Studies in the Scriptures. Preparing for and giving that first public talk gave me a chance to put into practice some of what I had learned from Walter Bundy.”

David Solomon thereafter met regularly with the small group of Bible Students. In spite of stiff opposition, he later resigned from the Masonic order and was baptized by Brother Fox.

Changing Places at Sunday School

Always innovative and having great initiative, Brother Fox was ever alert to opportunities to spread the truth. For example, with considerable boldness, he would venture into churches and Sunday schools. During the services, he would raise doctrinal questions, thus creating an opportunity right in the church to witness to attending members.

One Sunday he entered a church where, in the absence of the regular minister, a certain Mr. Elder was conducting a lesson on Matthew chapter 24. Brother Fox then proceeded to ask questions and give Scriptural comments concerning the material under consideration. Mr. Elder was so impressed that in the presence of all, he asked Brother Fox if he would please change places with him. Fine discussions ensued in this Sunday school class until the minister returned, and he, needless to say, quickly put an end to that arrangement. Mr. Elder, in turn, left the church and opened his downtown store one evening each week for the group of Bible Students to use for a Bible study.

In 1922 circumstances developed that required Brother Fox to leave the Hawaiian Islands and move to California. Entrusting the work to James Harrub and the remaining ones, he left with the confidence that the preaching work was established on a small but solid foundation.

[Picture on page 72]

Ellis Fox, along with the Bundys, began the preaching work, in 1915