Doris Brougham was born on August 5, 1926, in Seattle, Washington, USA. At the age of 12, she decided to commit her life to sharing God’s love in China. She gave up a scholarship to the New York Conservatory of Music, left her parents and hometown, and boarded a steamer ship for China in 1948, at the height of the Chinese Civil War. She arrived in Shanghai at 22 years old, and continued to share the Gospel everywhere she went while fleeing war zones. As a young missionary, what did she ask of God? King Solomon asked for wisdom, Brougham asked God for love. God answered her prayer, granting her a love and tolerance for people far beyond what is ordinary.
In 1951, after much hardship, she moved to Taiwan. She chose to serve in Hualien, the forgotten east Coast of Taiwan where no missionaries had wanted to go. She settled in Hualien’s Meilun, and began teaching music at Yushan Theological Seminary. She established a small church and a Sunday school with just nine children. Brougham learned how to communicate using the local indigenous language, Atayal, which helped her connect with the indigenous people. They embraced her as one of their own, giving her the indigenous name "Libeck Doman," meaning "Lily of the Valley." While riding her bicycle on the streets of Hualien, she noticed that every household had a radio. This inspired her to use media to spread the Gospel. She also recognized the needs of the Taiwanese people. After World War II, resources were scarce, and many American and international groups came to help Taiwan. However, language barriers made communication difficult for the Taiwanese, so she decided to jump into English education to help Taiwan connect with the world.
In 1958, to facilitate guest participation in radio program recordings, Peng Brougham moved to the city of Taichung, then later moved to Taipei in 1960 and founded the Chinese Salvation Broadcasting Association, later renamed Overseas Radio & Television, Inc (ORTV). In 1962, to raise the English proficiency of Taiwanese people and help them engage with the international community, she was asked by Fushing Radio to produce an English teaching program. Thus, Brougham launched a radio English teaching program called Studio Classroom. This program was a huge success. Many people called in asking for teaching notes. The teaching notes evolved from a single double-sided handout priced at one dollar to a full-fledged magazine, Studio Classroom, in 1974. Studio Classroom continued to grow and branched out into three magazines, Studio Classroom, Let’s Talk in English, and Advanced, catering to English learners of different levels. The magazines become essential learning materials in Taiwan when there were few English learning resources available. ORTV continued to grow, and branched into radio, TV, the internet and mobile devices, earning multiple awards at Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture’s annual Golden Tripod Awards. Many businesspeople and government leaders praised Brougham as a key contributor to Taiwan’s economic growth and internationalization by raising the English level of thousands and thousands of people in Taiwan.
In 1962, Brougham founded Heavenly Melody Choir, Taiwan's first Christian choir. The choir has shared God’s love on five continents and 36 countries since its founding, bringing Taiwan to the global stage in the process. Brougham encouraged the choir to create their own songs, and the choir made over 20 albums of original songs. Heavenly Melody Choir had a profound impact on the Chinese Christian community around the world. The choir also won multiple awards from Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture’s Golden Melody Awards over the years.
Brougham loved children, including children from remote parts of Taiwan. In 1951, she started a children's Sunday school in Hualien, where she formed a children’s choir and led indigenous children in Bible study and prayer. In 1952, she organized Taiwan’s first youth Gospel summer camp. Many of her students became believers, and many later became preachers. Since 1966, Heavenly Melody Choir and Studio Classroom have used music and English teaching as tools to engage people, holding Christmas concerts in major cities around Taiwan each December and bilingual character-building camps each summer. Brougham supported missionaries and mission organizations around the world. She liked to say: “Love is action, not words alone.”
Doris had special affection for her first home in Taiwan, Hualien, and the indigenous peoples living in rural areas. Studio Classroom began holding English summer camps for children in rural areas in 1999, combining English and character education. In 2014, Studio Classroom officially launched the Rural Areas English Education Project, and developed learning resources specifically for the needs of rural children shortly after. The Lucy Says Learning System is designed for elementary school students with low levels of English and encourages students to speak English through interactive games, songs and conversations. Since 2015, more than one hundred afterschool programs and elementary schools in remote areas of Taiwan have used the Lucy Says Learning System. Brougham was passionate about no child being left behind in English education due to financial reasons, and often talked about the need for English learning for all children in Taiwan with people she met.
Brougham once stated” Home is where your heart is, and my heart is here. Taiwan is my home.” She had over 70 years of service in Taiwan, and shared God’s love with everyone she met. Her great hope was she and Studio Classroom would not only be “Friends for Life” with many, but these friends would also obtain passports to Heaven, so she could be friends in eternity with them. One of her favorite songs to play on her trumpet was a majestic hymn called “Down From His Glory”. She stated: What I truly long for is when I meet the Lord, I can hear Him say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”