Velva Jane Dick was born on July 29th, 1915, in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. She graduated in 1945 and that same year she went to Nigeria where she worked in various hospitals. She told in one of her letters of her work as a supervisor of the leper colony in 1954. They had 329 people with 13 separate classes. 1600 were in the leper colony. 

Velva served for many years in Nigeria. Her time on the mission field came to an end after a bicycle accident in 1959. Riding between work centers, she hit a stone and was thrown from her bike, suffering from a broken hip. When the hip did not mend, she returned to the USA for further surgery. After healing, she began work in Neffsville, Pennsylvania at a home Hospital connected with the Brethren Church.