Service Family

Service Family

John Service’s parents and baby sister on initial voyage to China in 1906 to establish YMCA in Chengdu. Baby Virginia died on the difficult upriver journey to Chengdu.
Courtesy Service Family

Sedan chairs were standard transportation in China when John Service was growing up. At age ten, he could walk the 250 mile trail from Chungking to his home in Chengdu.
Courtesy Service Family

Family portrait of Robert and Grace Service with sons John, Robert, and Richard (in front), 1921.
Courtesy Service Family

John and Caroline Service in Yunnanfu, his first consular post in China, 1934.
Courtesy Service Family

Actress Val Chao met and fell in love with John Service in Chungking in 1944 and later became implicated in his loyalty case.
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

John Service and family aboard ship in March 1950. They were on their way to new post in India before Service was ordered off the ship in Japan to return to Washington to face McCarthy’s charges. The family remained separated for more than a year during his loyalty investigation.
Courtesy Service Family

Premier Zhou Enlai greets John and Caroline Service in Beijing, 1971.
Courtesy Service Family

In 1980, Val Chao sent this photo to John and Caroline Service after she emigrated to the U.S.A.
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

After John Service received an honorary degree in Monterey, California, both Caroline Service and Val Chao were at his side.
Courtesy Val Chao Wu

China 1980: Author Lynne Joiner and John Service stand together on the Great Wall outside of Beijing.
Courtesy Lynne Joiner