[2] She attended Mars Hill College, and trained as a nurse at Southern Baptist Hospital in New Orleans.

[3] She later earned a master's degree in education from the University of Minnesota while on furlough in the 1960s.

[5][6] She taught at a boys' school for two years,[7] then worked as a registered nurse at Eku Baptist Hospital, and was director of the hospital's nursing school.

During furloughs in the United States, she was a frequent speaker at Southern Baptist churches and events,[10][11][12] sometimes also preparing "an African style dinner" for her audiences.

[13] She spoke at conferences on medical missions in Oklahoma in 1954,[14] and in St. Louis, Missouri in 1963.