This 1938 article is a historical account in a colonial propaganda newspaper about Ms. B.F. Starkey, an American missionary in Korea during the Japanese colonial period who devoted decades of her life in Imperial Japan in various charitable activities.

Her decision to cooperate with the colonial regime starkly contrasts with fellow American missionary George McCune‘s decision in 1935 to refuse to perform State Shinto worship rituals, for which he was forced by the colonial authorities to leave Korea. The fact that Ms. Starkey was able to continue to operate in Korea in 1938 probably means that she decided to go along with performing the State Shinto rituals, including the mandatory 7 am Kyujo Yohai prayers, even though it was against her Christian beliefs. In any case, she probably would not have been able to stay in Korea past 1942, when Americans who still remained in Imperial Japan were detained and deported.

This is the second Keijo Nippo newspaper article that I found featuring a blue-eyed woman. The other one featured a blue-eyed Russian Tatar woman, Shamseinoor Berikova, who was a member of the National Women’s Defense Association (NWDA), which was similar but distinct from the Patriotic Women’s Association (PWA) to which Ms. Starkey belonged. Historically, the elite wealthy and powerful women tended to join the PWA, while the NWDA had a much closer connection with the Imperial Japanese military and had a broader membership. The two organizations subsequently merged in 1942.

[Translation]

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) July 2, 1938

A blue-eyed woman with a Patriotic Women’s Association Sash

Courageous words of Ms. Starkey: “I also want to help out Japan on the home front!”

Moved by the spirited march of Koreans working for the war effort under the policy of Japanese-Korean Unification, a blue-eyed foreign woman was inspired and said, ‘Please let me join in these duties on the home front.’ Recently, she applied to join the Patriotic Women’s Association at its third branch in Takezoe-chō (present-day Chungjeong-no), Seoul, delighting the leaders and members of the group who received her unusual membership application for the first time. The heroine of this story, Ms. B.F. Starkey, an American residing at 3-30 Takezoe-chō, Seoul, has now proudly become a member of the Patriotic Women’s Association. At 56 years old, she joins Japanese and Korean members in comforting families of conscripts, collecting national defense funds, and impressing the community with her passionate efforts, dressed in the Association’s uniform of a white apron and a purple sash.

Twenty-eight years ago, in 1910, Ms. Starkey landed in Nagasaki as a Methodist missionary in Japan, the land of poetry. Immediately struck by Japan’s picturesque landscapes and warm people, she decided to dedicate her life to this country. Ever since then, for twenty-eight years, she has continued to live in this land, true to her initial resolve, dedicating her life to missionary work and cultural pursuits out of her love for Japan. She has nurtured young men and women who gathered around her, drawn to her pure character, as if they were her own children. She has earnestly lead English language clubs and student Bible classes every evening at her home without pay, and opened her garden as a playground for local children to give some relief to their families.

Dedicated to cultural advancement and community service, she also runs a female-only ‘private convent,’ Shion Dormitory, in the second floor of her house. With open arms, she welcomes young unmarried women who left their families as well as young girls in need of guidance who approach her for answers and salvation, continuing to selflessly devote herself in helping them awaken from misguided dreams through a pure lifestyle at the dormitory. Currently, 13 girls enjoy a pleasant life there, and she has already sent many well-cultured women into society as respectable wives.

Ms. Starkey’s high regard as a saintly figure and her membership in the Patriotic Women’s Association have sparked usual delight among foreigners living in Seoul, and that is expected to inspire a surge of membership among pro-Japanese foreigners. When visited at her home, she humbly commented, ‘I am only doing what is natural,’ and made only brief remarks without continuing further. [The photo is of blue-eyed Ms. Starkey]

[Transcription]

京城日報 1938年7月2日

碧い眼に愛婦の襷

”わたしも日本の銃後に”と勇み参じたスターキー女史

内鮮一体で行進する半島銃後の雄々しい姿に感激した碧眼の一外国婦人が「私もこの銃後の勤めに参加させて下さい」とこの程。

☆．．．愛国婦人会

京城竹添町第三分館に入会を求めて来り京城で初めてのこの珍しい入会申込を受けた何団の幹部初め会員一問をいたく喜ばせた。話題のヒロインは府内竹添町三の三〇アメリカ人ビー・エフ・スターキー女子（五六）で晴れて愛婦会員となった。女子は白いエプロンに紫襷の愛婦会服で内鮮人会員と共に応召家族の慰問に、国防金の募集に、健気な奮闘を続け町内を感激させている。

女史は今から二十八年前の一九一〇年メソジスト教会宣教師として長崎に上陸。直ちに詩の国日本の美しい景色と人情に打たれてこの国に骨を埋めようと決心し、以来二十八年間、最初の決心通りこの地で布教のために、文化のために日本を愛する生活を続けて来た。女史の清い人格を慕って集まる若い男女を彼女はわが子のように世話し、また英語クラブ、学生バイブル・クラス等を自宅に設けて毎晩熱心に、しかも無報酬で指導するほか、庭園には子供の遊園地を設けて附近の子供等のために家族を解放するなど。

文化向上と社会奉仕に犠牲的努力を続けているが、更に同家二階に設置経営する男子禁断の「私設修道院」紫苑寮で家庭を離れた若い独身女、或は悩み迷う若い娘で女史に解決や救いを求めて来るものがあれば両手をひろげて迎え入れこの寮における清い生活によって間違った夢から醒めしめることに献身的努力を続けて来ている。現在この寮で楽しい生活を送っている娘は十三名。既に修養を積み立派な人妻として世話に送り出したものが数十名にのぼっている。

この聖女のほまれ高いスターキー嬢の愛婦人会は在城外人間には異様な感激を与え親日外人同志等の入会者続出が予想されている。自宅に女史を訪えば「妾はただ当たり前のことをしているだけです」と続かんで多くを語らなかった（写真は青眼スターキーさん）

Source: https://archive.org/details/kjnp-1938-07-02/page/n10/mode/1up