'Carol, mother of over 600' was ready to share her experiences

A native of Seattle, Washington, Carol was born in 1937. Mother was a nurse, but left her work in the hospital when there were two children to care for in the home: Carol and her older brother. Father worked hard as a baker. Carol remembers her childhood. "I was very slow in learning how to talk. When I began to talk, no one understood me. When I started going to school, I had to have a special speech therapist. Short–lived was my silence! In college, I majored in speech and now they say I talk too much!" As a young child, Carol was taken by her mother to a Kindergarten Sunday School class, in a church near her home, Bethel Presbyterian Church. As the years passed, older members of this church saw that Carol loved little children. They asked if she would be willing to help in the Nursery for a month—until an adult could be found to take the class. The adult was never found! Through her high school and college years she enjoyed teaching different classes in the Sunday school. Deciding she could best serve the Lord as a teacher, Carol studied in the University of Washington in Seattle, getting her B.A. in Elementary Education, a four year course. This meant finding jobs to earn for tuition, books and travel. There were after school jobs like looking after the neighbor's children, pressing clothes, helping with house cleaning jobs and working in a cafeteria, serving the noon meal. Two summers she earned by being a camp counselor. Another two summers she worked with the National Council of Churches, planning summer activities for the children of migrant workers. These work experiences gave her joy in serving the Lord.
After graduating from the University in Seattle, she went to New York City to do her Master's degree in religious education, at Biblical Seminary, changed its name into New York Theological Seminary. Except for camps, parents were afraid to send her out of Seattle. To them New York City seemed so far away! For three days and nights Carol traveled by bus to reach the seminary. Through different jobs, such as helping in the seminary library, typing and working weekends in two different churches, she was able to meet her expenses of travel and seminary. Towards the end of her first year in seminary, God seemed to be saying, 'Are you willing to go anywhere for me?" "Yes, anywhere, even if it means going to another land," Carol answered. That was easy to say, thousands of miles from her home in Seattle. But one day a letter came from her mother asking, "What do you plan to do after you graduate from seminary?" "With difficulty I wrote to my parents saying I believed God was calling me to work in another land. Difficult to write, and even more difficult to put the letter into the envelop. When I opened the door of my room to go to the mailbox at the end of the hall, I heard the sound of music coming from another room:
"Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That was an offering far too small.
I reached the mail box, dropped in my letter, and returned to my room as that great hymn continued,
Love so amazing so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all."
The decision had been made. Alone in my room, I knelt in prayer." Carol remembers those memorable days.
A woman interviewed Carol who knew about Avalon Girls School in Pathankot, as she herself had worked in another nearby school. For an hour she talked about India, telling Carol that the job was "Just to be a friend." For about a minute she talked about Korea and left Carol to think it over and decide. India was her choice. Both parents found it very difficult to see their only daughter go from Seattle to New York for study. Now? India to them seemed as far away as the moon! They were afraid they would never see her again.
January 25, 1963, Carol sailed from New York City, leaving family and familiar sights behind. After a month long journey she reached Bombay harbor, India. From there a train brought her to Pathankot and a rickshaw to Avalon Girls School. Avalon school is related to the Church of North India and was started with prayer over 100 years ago. Carol remembers, "When Miss Mary Jane Campbell, a Presbyterian Missionary first came to Pathankot in the late 1800s, she and her 'Bible Woman' began praying for a girls school. The Bible woman's daughter joined the two women. Gradually the prayer group enlarged. When five orphans were sent to Miss Campbell in 1887 during a bad famine, they increased the prayer band. United prayer went up for the opening of a girls' school."
Carol saw a different India than what she sees today. Landing for the first time to a foreign land, she was surprised at the living conditions of people, different cultures and languages – both fascination and a heavy task for a greater work. Meanwhile she had fallen in love with India. In a land of many languages, her first job was to learn Hindi. So Carol took three summers in Missouri and ten months in Allahabad– language school. After studying Hindi, she was engaged in the 'Chota School' a Hindi medium later upgraded into English. Her service to the under privileged children is remarkable. Admitted were all kinds of children – those who could not talk properly, mentally and physically challenged. It was thrilling to educate them for a bright future.