O.D. Bixler (1896–1968)

O.D. Bixler

Bixler came to Japan with his wife as a missionary in 1919. After moving to Nagasawa (Hitachi Omiya) in 1922, he starts his missionary while growingly feeling sorry about the poor nutritional status of the farming communities. He establishes a the “Health Foods Industry”, a company which specialized back then in the manufacturing of dairy products. After the war he put a lot of his efforts in the opening of a war orphanage which came to be known as the “Children Home” in Nukada (Naka-Shi.) He is also one of the founders of the Sion Academy (now the Ibaraki Christian College) in Hitachi and left a noticeable mark in youth’s education within Ibaraki prefecture.

Upon his return to America, Bixler donated his church and house to the “Children’s Home.” The war orphanage was removed and rebuilt is partially being used in Nukada as a “Bixler Memorial.”

Japanese version of this article available here.