Maud Elizabeth PETHYBRIDGE

PETHYBRIDGE, MAUD ELIZABETH (b. Koyuga, Vic, NSW, 12 Jan 1892; d. Melbourne, Vic, 3 Jan 1986). CMS medical and pastoral missionary in Kenya.

Maud Pethybridge was the daughter of Joseph and Emily Lehmann, a farming family living near Taradale where she grew up in a Christian atmosphere. Bp J D Langley (q.v.) of Bendigo, and Sophie Dixon and Percy Stephenson (q.v.), who later were to become CMS missionaries in Kenya and India, were frequent visitors at their home. She received a clear call to be a medical missionary in Africa when she was ten years old and for the next fifteen years devoted the whole of her energies achieving this goal. After primary and secondary education she trained at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, graduating as a double-certificated nurse. She was accepted by the CMS and after six months at St Hilda's Missionary Training Home, she sailed for East Africa in 1918.

For the next 39 years Maud (known universally as 'Pethy') gave outstanding missionary service in Kenya. After an initial term at Mombasa and Embu in the Highlands, she spent the greater part of her time at Maseno and Butere in Western Kenya. During her thirteen years at Butere, she built a 23-bed hospital which she ran by herself with the help of African men and women nurses whom she had trained. Her final years in Kenya were spent in the overcrowded Nairobi slum of Pumwani, where she engaged in pastoral work among the large number of Africans who had flocked to the city in search of employment.

Pethy retired from the CMS in 1957 after years which had been characterised 'by her unswerving loyalty to her beloved Lord, her deep faith in the Holy Spirit's guidance, and her great love for the African people'. She continued to go about doing good in her retirement, helping overseas students, and very actively participating in the life of her parish and the activities of the CMS. She died at Lovell House, Melbourne, just nine days before her 94th birthday.

Keith Cole and Dick Pethybridge, Pethy, Lee and Mary, three CMS missionaries in East Africa(Bendigo, 1986)

KEITH COLE