Faith in action: Dick McLellan's extraordinary life and legacy in Ethiopia

Many BaptistCare aged care residents carry lifetimes of wisdom, service and resilience, but few lives have spanned as many mountains, both literal and metaphorical, as that of Dick McLellan, a resident at BaptistCare Dorothy Henderson Lodge aged care home in Macquarie Park, NSW.

Now 93, Dick calls BaptistCare Dorothy Henderson Lodge home, but for more than two decades, he and his late wife, Vida, lived in the remote highlands of southwest Ethiopia, where they served as Christian missionaries and raised their four children. Dick was just 22 when he first set off for Ethiopia in 1954, engaged to Vida the night before he embarked on his journey to a far and unfamiliar land.

“We were both students at the Sydney Missionary and Bible College in Croydon,” Dick explained.  

“Vida was a really wonderful nurse. She had trained in leprosy care on Peel Island in Queensland, which was a leper colony in those days.”

“I was sent to Ethiopia as a builder. They sent me to the end of ‘woop woop’ to build a new mission station – a place with no roads, no electricity, no phones, not even a postal service.”

Dick recalls travelling on an old DC3 war plane to reach Sodo in southern Ethiopia, then by truck for 150 kilometres, followed by a four-day journey by mule across the mountains. Vida arrived in Ethiopia nine months later, based initially in the north to attend a language school, while Dick remained in the south. After a year apart, they met in Addis Ababa, the country’s capital, and were married in 1955.

In rugged and often dangerous terrain and with only local materials and manpower, Dick helped to establish mission stations, medical clinics, schools, roads, bridges, and even airstrips.

“We taught the locals to build square and perpendicular,” he said. “They were very clever. All their houses had been round, made of sticks and mud. We built something new together.”

Together, Dick and Vida navigated two devastating famines, a Communist revolution and widespread civil unrest.

Their children – John, Jane, Mimi and Peter – were born and raised in Ethiopia during what became a 23-year chapter of service with Serving in Mission (SIM), in a country Dick now calls his second home.  

“Our first son, John, was the first white baby many of them had ever seen. People would walk for three days just to catch a glimpse of him,” said Dick.

All four of the McLellan children and many of their grandchildren have returned to Ethiopia over the years, continuing the family’s legacy of compassion and connection.

After leaving Ethiopia in 1977, Dick continued his mission work as the Australian Director of Gospel Recordings for 24 years, travelling to over 70 countries to share stories, preach, and teach.

Remarkably, Dick has returned to Ethiopia 27 times, most recently in 2025 at the age of 93! His most recent visit included speaking at a convention of 40,000 people and being honoured with a handwoven traditional shawl called a 'gabbi', a testament to the enduring respect and love he has earned.

“I praise the Lord that over the years I’ve been back so many times that I’ve kept up the language – Amharic – and I’m still able to preach in it.”  

“Some people think I go there for a holiday, but I go to Ethiopia to work,” he said.  

“A holiday is here at Dorothy Henderson Lodge. This place is the best place to be. They look after everything. It’s a gift.”