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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-26/sarah-rebecca-parrish.avif" loading="lazy" alt="Sarah Rebecca Parrish" />
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(Dr. Rebecca Parrish)
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Early Life and Education
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Rebecca Parrish was born on <time datetime="1869-11-01">November 1, 1869</time>, in Crawfordsville, Indiana to Jesse Mallow Parrish and Mary Catherine Mitchell and raised as the eldest of nine children. She was brought up in a deeply religious family, attending the Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church. Described as <i>"earnest, thoughtful, always solicitous and serious"</i>, Parrish decided at a young age that she wanted to be a missionary doctor.
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Her plans were temporarily halted when her parents passed away, and she moved her family to Indianapolis to care for her siblings while attending school at Clinton County Normal School. After graduating, she began teaching at grammar schools to support her eight siblings. Despite suffering frequent illnesses due to stress and overwork, she graduated fourth in her class of 47 students from the Medical College of Indiana in 1901.
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<h4>
Journey to the Philippines
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In 1906, while recovering from an illness in the hospital, Parrish received a letter from the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church informing her that she was appointed to work in Manila, Philippines. She immediately agreed, marking the beginning of her remarkable 27-year journey in the Philippines.
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Sarah Rebecca Parrish, founder of Mary Johnston Hospital in Tondo, was born on November 1, 1869