User:Annamarie10/Mary Ella Kirby Berry

Lead
Dr. Mary Ella Kirby Berry was a medical missionary in the 1900s. Born to missionaries, Mary spent her early life going back and forth between India and the United States. Mary was the child of two Baptist medical missionaries who founded a leprosy colony in Assam, India. She was educated in what is today known as Myanmar, India, and the United States. Following in her parents footsteps, Mary grew up to become a Baptist and medical missionary. She married fellow doctor, Dr. Earl Harmon Berry. They had four children together and spent most of their married life in India as missionaries. Together they picked up her parents work in the leprosy colony of Assam. Mary is known for her work as a surgeon in leprosy colonies.

Early Childhood and Education
Mary Ella Kirby Berry was born in March 1916, in Assam, India to Dr. Herbert Kirby and Mary Ella Reeves. Mary spent her first six years in Assam, India before her family moved to the United States. After her sophomore year of high school, Mary returned to Assam in 1932. Up until that point Mary went to school in Granville, Ohio. Once in Assam, Mary finished high school at the Mt. Hermon schools in Darjeeling, India. Next, she attended Judson College in Rangoon, Burma in what is now known as Yangon, Myanmar . Mary came back to the United States in 1936 to finish her college education at Denison University. She then went on to receive her M.D. from Temple University. She went on to intern at the Lancaster General Hospital.

After receiving her education Mary returned to Assam as part of the Woman's American Baptist foreign missionary society.

Marriage and Family
Mary married her husband, Earl Harmon Berry, September 2nd, 1948 in New Jersey. Shortly after their marriage, the pair moved to India. Together they had four children: James William, David, Kenneth, and Jean, who were all born in India. Mary was not the first in her family to become a missionary, her family has a history of missionary work. Dr. Herbert Kirby, her father and Mary Ella Reeves, her mother, worked in Assam, India from around 1906, right after they got married, to 1954. Her parents created and managed a leprosy colony in Assam.

Late Life
Mary died on August 2nd, 1957 at 41 of sepsis after having the flu during the 1957-1958 flu pandemic.

Career
Once Mary arrived in Assam in 1944 with the Woman's American Baptist foreign missionary society,

Mary and Earl worked in Assam, India.


 * the specifc hospitals she worked at
 * impact on the community
 * struggles

Legacy

 * her parents legacy she continued
 * her legacy
 * leprosy work in India
 * the hospital she worked at/her family founded (?)