Field of Service: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mission Organization: Missionary Service Committee (MSC)
The biography of her life is entitled, In the Heart of a Pearl there is always some Grit, and for those of us who knew her, a better summary could not be conceived!
In the early 1950s, Pearl Winterburn was walking from her apartment in the east end of North Bay to her job as a nurse at St Joseph’s General Hospital on Algonquin Ave. As she passed Bethel’s old building (corner of Fisher and McIntyre), Sidney Hoffman met her and invited her back.
And that was the genesis of Pearl’s long relationship with Bethel.
She studied midwifery at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and travelled to Belgium for the purpose of learning French. But her ultimate destination was in the heart of the African continent: the Belgian Congo.
Pearl was to spend more than 5 decades as a medical missionary founding a hospital, a school, a local church, and having the local men create an airstrip on which – much to their shock and surprise –
Missionary Aviation Aircraft began to land.
She once calculated that she had overseen the delivery of 5000 babies in the Congo.
Bethel supported her financially, with advice and with prayer, from the beginning and throughout her missionary endeavour.
A broken hip required her to leave Africa, returning to North Bay to convalesce. She died in April 2014. We’re certain of the commendation she received from her Master: well done, good and faithful servant!
To honour Pearl, Bethel established this fund in 2016 to educate future church leaders in the Republic of Congo by funding their education. These men and their families commit to serve in local churches for 2 years for every year of education they receive with our help. Our total obligation has been $10,000 annually.
