Congratulations to Sr. Patricia Gootee for her 70 year Jubilee! Please read her short bio that gives some insight to who she is.
"Patricia was born on a farm in southern Indiana in 1933 during the midst of the depression. She was the youngest of eight brothers and sisters. In 1951 she joined the Medical Mission Sisters. Upon finishing the novitiate she was sent to our house in Washington, D.C. to help care for Sr. Ann Harley. She then went to Baltimore to study nursing. After two years the school went through a crisis and all students were placed in another school. She was sent to Trenton, New Jersey, to finish her training. After graduation she was sent to St. Louis University for a bachelor’s degree in nursing and was assigned to Karachi, Pakistan. At the last minute her assignment was changed to Maracaibo, Venezuela, in 1959. She worked for five years in Hospital Coromoto in Maracaibo. She then returned to Philadelphia for a master’s degree in nursing at the University of Pennsylvania after which she returned to Maracaibo to teach in the school of nursing. She spent a year studying theology at St. Louis University. Pat then went to Peru to work in a rural area in the Andes Mountains as a nurse and member of a pastoral team where she worked for six years. In 1979 she moved to Arequipa continuing to do the same basic work but in an urban setting. She served as District Coordinator for Peru. In 2008 the Parish Health Center where Pat works celebrated thirty years of functioning with an outreach into the village and to provide integrated services. Last year the administration of the health center was turned over to the obstetric nurse who has worked there many years. Pat continues to be the promoter of the center. The alternative therapy center is in great demand as it fits into the health practices of the people. There is a center for mentally and physically challenged children which is administrated by a social worker who is responsible for the treatment of the children as well as to orient the families of these children. There is also a place in the center where a group of senior citizens meet weekly to share and celebrate together; a time to reaffirm their worth and dignity."
