Slain hospital worker touched lives
in many ways, family and friends say
By Shawn Hendricks
GREENFIELD, Wis. (BP) -- Tears welled
up, but so did smiles and laughter as hundreds gathered
Jan. 6 at Layton Avenue Baptist Church in Greenfield,
Wis., to remember their beloved missionary friend,
Kathy Gariety.
Gariety’s body had been laid to
rest in Milwaukee earlier that day, in snow-covered
Holy Cross Cemetery. The 53-year-old and two other
Southern Baptist workers -- physician Martha Myers,
57, and hospital administrator William Koehn, 60 --
lost their lives Dec. 30 when a lone gunman shot them
during a staff meeting at Baptist hospital in Jibla,
Yemen. Myers and Koehn were buried the following day
on the hospital grounds.
Though some friends and family continue
to struggle with how such a tragedy could happen, others
have taken comfort in knowing that the single woman
was where she wanted to be. They recalled her tenacity,
her stubbornness, her smile, her passion for the people
of Yemen and her ability to rally others to give to
the needs of so many who lived there.
“She had conviction, she had commitment,
she had the fruits of the spirit in her life,” said
Keith Chase, Gariety’s close friend and pastor
for 15 years. “Kathy knew that faith in God meant
trusting in God no matter what, no matter when, no
matter where. Her faith was strong as anyone I’d
ever known.”
Chase recalled a trip he took with his
wife to Yemen, where Gariety served 10 years as hospital
purchasing manager. He remembers her popularity with
the people there -- particularly the children.
“As soon as we got past the gate,
children swarmed around Kathy,” he remembers. “It
took 20 minutes to take a five-minute walk.”
Clara Alcott also remembers the influence
Gariety had on her as a youth director and Sunday school
teacher at the church.
“She was a consistent presence
in my life,” Alcott said. “She was a good
teacher because she was personable and strong.
“It’s very important for
women to have a strong Christian woman’s presence
in their lives and she was. I saw somebody finishing
the race, and I saw someone finishing the race sprinting.”
Thai Hua moved from Vietnam to the United State without his family. He recalled
how Gariety helped him during a difficult and uncertain time.
“She helped me get my first job
at a bookstore,” Hua said. “A lot of people
say things and don’t mean it, but when she said
something, she meant it. She meant a lot to me.”
Doris Moorman, who sang Kathy’s
favorite song, “To the Ends of the Earth,” during
the service, said Gariety had touched their lives when
she led the youth group.
The day before the news of the tragedy
in Yemen broke, one of Moorman’s sons was flipping
through a Bible Gariety had given to him as a gift.
On one page, she had written: “May God’s
Word have the final say in every decision you make.”
“She certainly pointed people to
Jesus and radiated His love,” Moorman said. “She
did what she talked about and risked her life. She
trusted the Lord and put her life in His hands. I’m
looking forward to the day when we will see her again.”
Cory Braatz remembered Gariety’s
guidance and encouragement, not only as his Sunday
school teacher years ago when he was 14, but also as
a friend when he was trying to decide about seminary.
While many were pressuring him to go
to seminary, Gariety encouraged Braatz to be a pastor
for a couple of years first and then go to seminary
once he knew that was what God called him to do fulltime.
He followed her advice and later completed seminary.
Today, he is pastor of Como Community Church in Lake
Geneva.
“To thank Kathy is not a difficult
thing for me,” he said, holding back tears. “It’s
an easy thing. Thank you, Kathy, for giving to the
Lord. I’m one life that was changed.”
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