Cam was very happy when their second daughter, Joy, married in June 1970. Joy and her husband, David Tuggy, joined SIL and went to Mexico to finish the work Cam had begun on the Aztec New Testament years before.
Still, after a lifetime of pushing ahead with his plans, Cam could not sit around and do nothing. He forged on with an idea he’d had for a long time to get the United States government to recognize the work that still needed to be done among native-speaking groups. President Nixon, a Quaker himself, had for many years shown an interest in the work of SIL. Cam had a presidential aide present a resolution to Congress declaring 1971 as the “Year of Minority Language Groups.” The resolution passed in both the House and the Senate, and President Nixon signed the proclamation.
On December 2, 1970, Cam found himself in the Oval Office of the White House along with several senators and President Nixon. Everyone listened attentively as Cam explained that SIL workers had just begun translation work on their five hundredth language. President Nixon was very impressed.
Cam left the White House that snowy day with a warm feeling inside. It seemed almost unbelievable as he thought back over the years and all the opportunities he’d had to work with presidents and high government officials. He thought, too, of his old friend Lázaro Cárdenas, the ex-president of Mexico, who had died two months before. Cam had rushed down to his funeral, wanting to honor a friend who had done so much to help SIL get established in its early days.
Several days after his visit to the White House, Cam received an official letter on presidential stationery. He eagerly read the letter. After thanking Cam for visiting the White House, President Nixon went on to say:
I was honored to have you at the White House and interested in learning of the difficult and challenging efforts of your group in translating the Bible for the multitudes throughout the world who are deprived of a common language. I am happy to have this opportunity to commend all the linguists and other personnel who are dedicated to this worthy task.
With my appreciation and best wishes for success in reaching your desired goals.
Sincerely,
Richard Nixon
It was a wonderful moment for Cam, not because he had personally been recognized by the president of the United States but because the commendation meant that more people would consider joining SIL, and SIL needed all the workers it could get!
Soon after his visit to the White House, Cam made a decision: It was time for him to resign as general director of Wycliffe Bible Translators/SIL. Cam chose to make the announcement at SIL’s biennial business meeting in Mexico City in May 1971.
It was a poignant moment when Ben Elson, the organization’s executive director, read the annual report. SIL now had 2,504 workers doing translation work in 510 languages spread among 23 countries. The annual income for the organization was an astonishing 7.9 million dollars.
It would have been easy for Cam to sit back and congratulate himself on the amazing success of the organization he had started, but that was not Cam’s way. Cam was always looking forward to the next challenge, the next people group who needed the Bible translated into their language. When it was his time to speak, Cam cleared his throat and began: “God has been good to us. He led us into our unusual policies. Let’s be true to them. Let’s forge ahead until every tribe has heard the Word of God in its own tongue.”
It was the same message Cam had preached for fifty-four years, everywhere from the tiniest church to his own daughter’s wedding. And more than that, it was the message he had lived every day of his life.
Chapter 20
The Work Goes On
Cam may have resigned as general director of SIL, but he still did what he could. He finished his book on Soviet bilingual education, titled They Found a Common Language: Community Through Bilingual Education. The publication of the book opened the door for Cam and Elaine to make several trips back to the Soviet Union.
Cam also continued to travel to other places, though at a slower pace. In 1973, the president of Pakistan invited him to speak on bilingual education. This was followed by an invitation from India’s prime minister, Indira Gandhi, to visit her country. There were many awards, too, each of which Cam accepted on behalf of all the SIL workers. The president of the Philippines gave Cam a citation, and Cam received the highest honor given to foreigners in both Mexico and Peru.
In 1979, UNESCO gave the Summer Institute of Linguistics a literacy award for its excellent work in Papua New Guinea. Every summer since 1934, SIL programs had been held, but soon after receiving the UNESCO award, this changed. The Summer Institute of Linguistics outgrew its name. A group of Christian businessmen donated land for a permanent, year-round facility, and SIL moved from being a summer program to one that trained translators year-round.
Other centers within the United States began springing up. And the Jungle Aviation and Radio Service continued to add to its facility near Charlotte, North Carolina, twenty-five miles from where Cam and Elaine now lived.
Nineteen seventy-nine was a great year for Cam and SIL. It was the year the Amuesha tribe in Peru received the New Testament in its own language. Any translation thrilled Cam, but the Amuesha translation brought him particular joy. It was the one hundredth New Testament translation completed by SIL workers.
There was even more encouragement for Cam. Ken Pike, who began his tenure in SIL as a skinny, sickly looking student, had always been on the cutting edge of linguistic research. In 1942, he had earned his Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Michigan. Over the years, he had been awarded honorary doctorates from six well-known American universities, and in 1981, he, along with the Summer Institute of Linguistics, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for work among the ethnic minorities of the world. Cam could not have been more pleased, especially for his old student. Ken Pike had been a strong member of the SIL team from the first day.
During Christmas season 1981, Cam began to feel unusually weak. Elaine urged him to go to the doctor, which he did. The diagnosis was not good. Cameron Townsend was suffering from acute leukemia. There was no cure for the disease, but having repeated blood transfusions seemed to help patients live a little longer. Between January and April 1982, Cam received eighteen blood transfusions.
In March, Cam and Elaine were able to stay in a friend’s house in Florida. Everyone knew that Cam was not expected to live long, and many people asked to visit him one last time. Elaine set up an appointment schedule for him, and Cam was able to spend an hour each with twenty-five of his old friends. He and Elaine stayed in Florida for a month and then returned to their home near Charlotte. Cam had been home a week when his condition worsened. Elaine took him to the hospital, where he died peacefully on April 23, 1982. He was eighty-five years old.
Telegrams and phone calls began pouring in from all over the world. Presidents telephoned to offer their sympathy, and peasants Cam had personally taught to read and write wrote letters of condolence to Elaine and the family.
Thousands of people mourned the loss of their beloved Uncle Cam. Through the tears, there was also thanks for all that Cameron Townsend, the freckle-faced young kid born into a poor farming family, had been able to achieve during his lifetime.
The funeral service was held at Calvary Church in Charlotte, and William Cameron Townsend was buried at the nearby JAARS headquarters. The inscription on his gravestone read, “Dear Ones: By love serve one another. Finish the task. Translate the Scriptures into every language.”
After the funeral service, more than a hundred people stayed behind at JAARS headquarters. They sang hymns and told stories about Uncle Cam far into the night.
One friend retold a story that had happened many years before. He had been listening to Cam talk about his vision of seeing the Bible translated into every language on earth. A bit taken aback, the man had said, “Cam, I don’t see how it will be possible for you to get working arrangements for your project in Buddhist, Muslim, and Communist countries. It’s wonderful that you’ve been able to serve in Latin America, but I don’t see how you can go into these other countries.” According to the friend, Cam had turned to him with a smile and said, “I don’t see how we can fail if we trust God and follow His leadership. ‘All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth,’ declared our Lord. ‘Go ye therefore.’”
Cam had lived his life according to those words. He had spent his days sharing with others the vision of translating the Bible into every language on earth and training people to go and do just that. It was not surprising that after his death the work went on.
Today Wycliffe Bible Translators/SIL workers have completed translating the New Testament in five hundred languages and are currently working on translating it into another thousand languages. However, there are still four hundred forty million people in two thousand people groups who do not have the New Testament in their own language. SIL’s goal is to begin translation of the Bible into all remaining languages in the next twenty-five years.
Following Cam’s death, Elaine Townsend made several more trips around the world promoting the goals of SIL and encouraging the workers. She still loves to speak to the new recruits and is actively involved in SIL prayer groups, as well as keeping track of her four children and nineteen grandchildren. Cam and Elaine’s first great-grandchild was a girl. Her parents named her Cameron in honor of the person whose life goal was to translate the Good News in every language.
