Friends, colleagues remember Kathy McCarty, heart of African mission hospital
Written by Kerry Benefield
Kathy McCarty’s friends and colleagues remember her as many things: A devout Christian, a gifted medical practitioner, an intense sports fan, an enthusiast cook, a gracious host, and a fun loving prankster.
But perhaps foremost, McCarty, a Santa Rosa High School graduate who died of cancer May 26 at the age of 66, is remembered as the heart and soul of a mission hospital in northern Zimbabwe. So powerful was the force that drove McCarty to spend 40 years running Chidamoyo Hospital, five hours northwest of the capital city of Harare, that everyone who I spoke with for this column referred to her more often than not in the present tense.