Caripito, Venezuela, was Sister Kathryn's first mission. "I fell in love with the Latin tempered people, who were so different from myself," she recalls. After five years, she moved to Amman, Jordan, as Directress of Nursing Service at a new hospital. "There the Gospels came alive for me in a special way," she explains.

Sister Kathryn's next assignment was to Techiman, Ghana. "What a carefree and happy people I found there," she says. "They taught me so much about cheerfully doing with less or doing without, when even the necessities of life were in short supply and had to be shared."

Returning to the U.S., Sister Kathryn studied at Frontier Nursing School in Kentucky to become a midwife and a family nurse practitioner. She then worked at a birthing center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for nearly two years before returning to Appalachia. "I was the Nurse Practitioner and manager of a small mountain clinic deep in the 'hollers' of Tennessee," she explains. "I was surprised to see such poverty, such poor health, nutrition, and living conditions." She also volunteered for two "heart-wrenching" experiences at refugee camps in Thailand.

Sister Kathryn moved back to our North American headquarters in Philadelphia to serve as the Personnel Assistant and Health Advisor to our Sisters for six years. She also was an Assistant Formation Director and Formation Team member for women interested in becoming Medical Mission Sisters.

In 1995, Sister Kathryn began 10 years as Assistant to the Planned Giving Director. "I visited donors, wrote letters, and kept in contact with potential major donors," she recalls. Last year she was elected to a three-year term as Coordinator for our Sisters in North America. She now responds to a variety of situations and needs that impact the lives of our 131 Sisters of North American origin.