The Elias N. Saig Scholarship
Elias N. Saig was born in Jerusalem, Palestine. He attended St. George’s School in Jerusalem, a British High School near the American Colony, graduating in 1948. Following school, his family moved to Bethlehem. There he met Thomas Lambie, M.D. from Philadelphia, Pa., a tuberculosis specialist and long-time missionary to the Sudan and Ethiopia.
Dr. Lambie had a vision to build a 100-bed tuberculosis sanatorium, about ten miles south of Bethlehem, near a big refugee camp. The project attracted a number of doctors and nurses and others, among them some MCC relief workers. It was during that time that Elias learned to know Ruth (Lederach) R.N., and Phillip Rittgers and twins, Ida and Ada Stoltzfus. It was through these connections that Elias learned about the Mennonites and the relief work the Mennonites were involved in throughout Europe and the Middle East after World War II.
After Dr. Lambie passed away in 1954, Elias had an opportunity to go to college in the U.S.A. A friend of his from Bethlehem, preceded him to Eastern Mennonite College and encouraged Elias to apply. At EMC, Elias wanted to continue the work of Dr. Lambie. He decided to pursue a pre-medicine degree. In 1958, Elias interviewed for Virginia Medical School. He was not encouraged by UVA to pursue this profession. Elias was not married and finances were tight for him, which concerned the UVA staff.
It was that fall that he found his way to Goshen College to finish his undergraduate studies. At Goshen College he met Dr. Carl Kreider who took a special interest in him. Throughout the rest of his life, Elias remained appreciative of the care, mentoring and support Carl so graciously provided. Given his tight finances, Elias was also most appreciative that Carl helped him graduate from Goshen College with his Bachelor’s degree in 1959, after only one year at Goshen. It was Carl’s influence that led Elias to gain a special interest in economics and he ended up graduating with his degree in economics.
After graduation from Goshen, Elias decided to go to Evanston, Ill., with his friend Carl Byler and he worked in a factory and, briefly at the University of Chicago. He was then accepted to a Masters’ program at the University of Missouri so from the fall of 1960 until the spring of ’62 he worked on and completed his Masters’ degree. His first work, after graduate school, was in the
city planning department in Nashville, Tenn. where he also then taught evening classes at the University of Tennessee/Nashville.
Then it was to the University of Oregon for a year before going to Colorado State University where he continued work on his doctorate while being supported by a National Science Foundation grant. The grant was targeted towards finding a way to remove lead from gasoline. This was in the early 1970s when lead in gas had been clearly identified as a major source of air pollution. After this work and receiving his ABD degree from CSU, he taught for two years at Kansas Wesleyan, Salina, Kans., one year at Rockhurst College in Kansas City and then joined the faculty of Kansas State University.