Beth
Broderson-Bray: February 16, 1970—August 25,
2006
After an 9-year
battle with cancer, Beth entered eternity this past August
25. Only 12 hours after doing what she loved
most—helping a new mom deliver a baby—she
slipped into a coma and passed away shortly thereafter. Her
visitation and funeral were attended by hundreds of
families and babies she’d helped in her career as a
labor and delivery nurse, and Certified Nurse-Midwife. It
was an overwhelming response of love and gratitude for a
life that touched so many others.
Beth
felt called to be a midwife at the age of Eight years after
introducing a nurse-midwife to her third grade class on
careers day. She earned a BSN
from DePauw University, (Greencastle, Indiana) in 1992 and
a MSN in Nurse-Midwifery from the University of Kentucky in
1997.
While practicing as
a nurse midwife in Bowling Green, Ky., she was diagnosed
with ovarian cancer. After a peripheral stem cell
transplant at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas, she moved back
to Lexington and started working as a full-scope nurse
midwife at the University of Kentucky.
Her interest in missions began in 1987 when she traveled to
Brazil with a mission team from her church youth group. She
participated in three trips, some of a medical nature and
some purely for service. Through missionary friends Patrick
and Rebecca Kihu, she learned of Mwimutoni Village and
their need for a safe place to have their babies.
She is survived by Scott Bray, a medical student and Aikido
instructor.
