Calista Holman was born on this day in 1807 in Union, Connecticut. When she was sixteen she was saved by the grace of God, but shortly thereafter she contracted an illness which appeared to bringing her to the point of death. As a child of God, she asked for baptism and her the Baptist church in her community voted to receive her. On a very cold day in March, she was carried by sleigh to the water’s edge and her pastor, a man named Grow, with the help of a deacon, immersed her. Calista’s friends even more than usual, looked upon the ordinance as a burial – the young lady’s funeral. But, by the grace of the Lord, the next day she began to recover and was eventually restored to health.

While in the Baptist Institute of Hamilton, New York, she met her future husband, Justus Vinton and together they studied the Karen language. The couple were married on Calista’s birthday, which was this day in 1834. In June that year they sailed for Burma. Throughout their missionary lives, the health of both of them fluctuated, sometimes requiring them to return home, but they always went back to their ministry among the Karens. In 1858 after about twenty-five years on the field, Justus contracted jungle fever and died. Calista continued serving the Karen women for another six years before she passed way in December, 1864.

One of the greatest tributes to the Vintons is the fact that both their son and daughter followed their footsteps into missionary service.