KUCHING: Land Development Minister Dato Sri Dr James Jemut Masing fondly remembers American missionary Lorraine E Gribbens, who passed away on Dec 30.
Lorraine E Gribbens
The Baleh assemblyman remembers Gribbens’ presence in Kapit from the time he was six until 11.
“She was one of the nurses and missionaries who helped the Dayaks, especially Iban chidren in Kapit in the late 1950s and early1960s,” he recalled.
Gribbens’ passing was reported by The Borneo Post on Tuesday.
“She encouraged me and other Iban children to study hard, be devoted Christians and be morally upright. She entrenched in us the feeling of integrity. I myself benefited from her motivation, words of wisdom, encouragement and kindness. I excelled in my studies after that,” he said.
As she was a devoted Christian, Masing said, Gribbens emphasised the importance of good morals.
“I also remember that we were all active in Christian activities back then. The last I saw her was immediately before I went to study outside Kapit,” he said.
Masing added that whenever he was in touch with other missionaries, he would always ask about Gribbens.
The late Gribbens served as a pharmacist for the then Christ Hospital.
During her years in the state, the Methodist Church built a modern hospital and developed a Community Health and Motivation Programme (CHEMPRO), a key factor in giving immunisations, public health teaching and helping to prevent communicable diseases in Kapit.
After leaving Sarawak, she went to work in Fiji. In 1979 Gribbens served as a staff pharmacist at the Harlan Appalachian Regional Hospital in the US.
After retiring in 1985, she again heard God’s call and served as a volunteer in Hospital Lumiere in Haiti.
Articles about and by Gribbens have been published in the Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association, the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, as well as in Christianity and Pharmacy.
She was one of 13 pharmacists, and the only woman, whose autobiography appeared in the book ‘Remarkable Pharmacists’, published in 1973.