Born in Hillsdale, Pa., on June 4, 1917, Pauline King was the youngest of four children.  Her parents belonged to the Evangelical and Reformed Church (now a part of the United Church of Christ), where at the age of five she heard a missionary doctor describe his work in Africa. He told stories and showed pictures about children suffering from malnutrition and disease, and he explained how he was able to help them.  From that moment on, King was determined to be a missionary and help people, especially children, in lands across the sea.

King’s family moved to the larger town of Jeannette, Pa., and her home life was happy until she reached the age of 12, when her father left the family to marry another woman.  It was a devastating experience for both her and her mother, and they turned to God for solace and strength.  King resolved to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a missionary rather than follow the traditional path of marriage.  She said her greatest desire was for God to use her in useful service for others.

King became a registered nurse and applied to the Mission Board,

but World War II broke out at the same time and the Board was

not accepting applications.  She decided to join the military instead

and was made a flight nurse.  Because she was only five feet tall,

she was chosen for the job of evacuating the wounded by air. 

This experience helped her when faced with human tragedy.

“I knew that if I was going to be able to reach my goals I

was going to have to be strong,” she once said, even though

she was at first squeamish about the carnage she witnessed.

After the war she earned her bachelor’s degree from Teacher’s

College at Columbia University in New York, and she began

studying nurse midwifery. She was looking forward to completing the course so she could reapply to the mission board.

Again, it was not to be. Two weeks before she completed the course, King’s mother had a cerebral hemorrhage, which left her paralyzed.  She felt she could not leave her mother alone, so put aside her own desires and devoted herself to taking care of her for the next five years.  By the time she died, King was 37 and thought she would be considered too old to serve in the mission field.

She learned, however, that a public health nurse was needed at the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore, India, and she decided to apply for the position.  Thirty-three years after she had vowed to become a missionary, she was finally accepted by the United Church Board and assigned to serve in the Department of the Preventive and Social Medicine.

King arrived in India in 1955 and worked for many years educating the public on preventive health care issues.  The situation there was difficult and the health problems were huge.  Death was common despite the fact that help was available.  In a letter, she described one typical situation.  A village woman was in labor and having a difficult time.  “Twitchings and convulsive movements warned of impending danger,” King wrote.  “In vain the nurse entreated the husband and family to bring her to the hospital.  They did not seem to care.  The husband said, ‘I can get another wife.’ Twins were born.  The mother died.  Life is cheap.”

Nonetheless King loved India and its people. In her first letters home, she wrote, “How can I describe my first impressions of this vast country? No matter what I have read or imagined about India, nothing quite measures up to the reality. I am fascinated and thrilled at every turn!”  She found the people warm and welcoming, and she enjoyed her immersion into their society.

King was the first public health nurse at the hospital and designed the teaching program for public health nurses at the Christian Medical College.  King helped to establish the first rural health hospital in association with the College. Through her work, thousands of people learned about preventive health practices and had access to better care than they had previously experienced.

King also founded the Audio Visual Unit at the hospital, which used a silkscreen process to prepare posters, flannel graphs, flashcards, and other teaching aids for educating her patients and the public. In today’s world of computers, these methods may seem antiquated, but at the time this was almost revolutionary. The materials found a wide market in India at a time when the government was establishing primary health centers throughout India.

What made the Unit particularly unusual was that it was operated by young men who had undergone surgery to correct deformities in their hands or feet caused by leprosy.  This program provided these leprosy patients with a productive way to earn a living and to be rehabilitated.

“She just got things done,” said Gass.  “She didn't let real or perceived obstacles deter her.  When she was convinced of something she just went ahead and did it regardless of naysayers.”

King took a furlough in the United States in 1960 and was awarded a research fellowship from the U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare.  This enabled her to complete her doctoral studies at Columbia University.  Upon her return to Vellore in January 1963, she was appointed Associate Professor in Community Health and Nursing Research in the College of Nursing. She continued to serve in the Department of Community Health Nursing and assisted with teaching in this field.

By 1963, King was encountering daily scenes of human despair in the form of beggars in the streets, “many of whom are diseased, crippled, blind, and often homeless,” as she described in letters back to the United States.   “They seem to live there on the sidewalk, and it hurts to see them daily as you come and go through the gate to the hospital, and you try to console yourself in the fact that you are doing what you can, but it is never enough.”

King began to feel uncomfortable with merely teaching and preparing others to function effectively in the health field, which was indicated by her letters.  She wanted to do more; she wanted to become personally involved in the life of this marginalized community.

“After days of prayer and asking God’s guidance,” she decided

that she would choose one beggar family, investigate their

circumstances, and see what she could do to help them.

She saw a little girl in the bazaar near the hospital carrying a

sign that said, “I am a Christian, my father is blind, please help

me.”  She found the girl’s parents living under a tree along with

the 8-year-old daughter Victoria and a second daughter, 3-year-

old Dolly.  The father had been blinded three years before from an

illness, and had come to the area hoping to receive treatment at

the hospital.  They had no family nearby and were destitute.

The wife, however, had a high school education and was able to

speak several languages.  Dr. King employed her as a clerk in the hospital admissions office as an interpreter.  For the husband, she found a job making matchboxes. This help enabled the family to afford to move from under the tree to a single room mud hut in the village.

“It has been thrilling to watch the transformation of this family, from the depths of despair to the radiance born of hope,” King wrote.

Some months later the woman became pregnant again.  When Glory, the baby, was nine months old, the mother suddenly became sick with typhoid fever and to King’s dismay, died shortly afterwards.  On her hospital bed, with King by her side, the woman asked her to take care of her children.  At the time Dolly was five and Victoria was 10.

Since the father was blind and unable to care for his children, King convinced him to place Dolly and Victoria in a boarding school. She took Glory into her own home. The father visited with his children on weekends.

The news of this “adoption” by King spread quickly, according to her newsletters.  Soon, many more people were coming to her for help.  Through prayer and determination, she found places for many of these destitute children.  At one point, she took five children into her own home for a period of about one year, until their parents were able to care for them again.  After she became Glory’s guardian, she also took in Rani, Selva Raj, and finally Annie.  These children, along with Dolly and Victoria, she considered her own.

                                             When asked why she began taking in these children, she said, “I thought it was about time to

                                              start raising a family.” She was 48 years old at the time.

                                              By 1969, she had decided to create a place where orphans, destitute women, and the elderly without

                                              means of support could live together and support themselves.  She sought funding and, after many

                                              false starts, was finally able to break ground for the Family Village Farm for the Young and

                                              Old, or Mudhiyor Balar Kudumba Grama Pannai, as it is known locally.

                                              “It was against all logic that I was moved late in life to take on this rather awesome responsibility,”

                                               she wrote.  In fact, it was a time when mission institutions were closing down for lack of funds and

                                               personnel.  But King felt she had to follow “the urge of her conscience.”

                                               Through the generous support of many American sponsors, the Family Village Farm has

                                               grown to house over 150 children ranging in age from 6 months to 18 years old, as well as

                                               a number of women and elderly people.  Many more have graduated to become productive

                                               members of Indian society.

The Farm is designed to encompass all aspects of a child’s life, including education. Its mission is “the translation of the love of God in action by providing a healthy environment in which the physically, socially and spiritually deprived may find new life and hope for the future.”

The children live in “cottages,” run by a “cottage mother.”  These women are usually widows who have been rejected by society, or else considered to be “unmarriageable” women.  Each cottage has eight to ten children, both boys and girls.  It also holds several elderly people as well, who create the sense of a larger extended family for the children.  In these cottages they take their meals and study together.  They also have work responsibilities such as sweeping, caring for the grounds, and gathering firewood.

There is a certified school on the Farm premises, which educates not only the children at the Farm, but also provides the service to nearby village children.  At later ages, some children go to boarding school to continue their education, while other children, usually boys, may go to a trade school to learn a vocation.   Some of the girls, if they are not showing promise with their studies at school, attend the garment-making unit.  Here they learn the trade of sewing.  The garment-making unit furnishes all the school uniforms and other clothing for the Farm.  Occasionally they may contract outside sewing work for other schools or the CMC hospital.

The children who are admitted to the Farm are either orphans or have only one surviving parent, who is unable to care for them.  Some parents may later become able to care for their children again, through better life circumstances, and the children are returned to them.  More commonly, when the children reach the age of 18, if they are boys, they leave to find work and, if they are girls, they are married and settled into a new home.

Throughout her later years, King traveled the world sharing the story of her work in India and seeking the support of missions that served on the United Church Board for World Ministries.

Rev. Wolfe recalls the first time she met King.  She was coming to speak to the Women’s Board of Missions, and when she walked up to the podium, Rev. Wolfe was stunned.

“I had heard so much about her, about all the things that she had done, that I was amazed when this modest, unassuming woman began to talk.  I thought to myself, “That’s Pauline King? The great Pauline King?”  But as I listened to her speak, I realized what the power of one person’s determination could be.”

Donations in the name of Dr. King can be made to the Family Village Farm by visiting their website here.

Elizabeth Wolfe was the photographer that documented King’s return to India and collected much of the biographical data used in this story.  Jennifer Wolfe Guidry is a writer who has worked with Wolfe to document King’s story.

"As I listened to her speak,  I realized how powerful one person's determination could be"

-Rev. Wolfe