Britton Ross (1878-1950) is described by Helga Henry as the "first student to study under Daddy Horton's guidance" and "Biola's first graduate." He was a convert of the Union Rescue Mission.

Ross was unchurched as a child and became independent at age 15. He worked as a mechanic and followed the railroad, hoping to be a master mechanic on the Santa Fe railroad. On November 26, 1906, he was working as a foreman in Bakersfield when his boyhood friend from Kentucky, Frank F. Pratt, invited him to a meeting with Ed Leary. The meeting was a gospel service at which Pratt was speaking. "Because of his irreligious upbringing, it only gradually dawned on Ross that he was 'in church,' (footnote to Helga Henry, p. 65) but he became a Christian that night.

For the next year, he continued his work as a railroad foreman, but also devoted much time to witnessing in the rescue mission. Soon he resigned his job and entered the Bible Institute, working as the school's janitor to earn his way.

Ross was one of two witnesses to sign the Articles of Incorporation in 1908. After being ordained, Ross traveled widely in the US and Canada as an evangelist and Bible teacher. He died in 1950 at age 72, having been a Christian worker for 44 years. He described his two favorite things in Christian work as "the good old open-air gospel wagon service" and "not to white-wash the truth for anybody." (Helga Henry, p. 66)

Source

Helga Bender Henry, Mission on Main Street (published by Union Rescue Mission, Los Angeles, 1955).