There, “in the sticks,” Huston worked at a small medical clinic. In the 1960s, ‘Doctor Helen,’ as she became known, traveled to western Nepal and to Amp Pipal, a sprawling Nepalese village of thatched-roof huts in the shadow of Liglig Mountain - and the world’s tallest peaks, the Himalayas. Her clinic was run by the United Mission to Nepal , an ecumenical organization headquartered in Kathmandu. The Canadian doctor arrived in Nepal at a time when it was known as the ‘forbidden kingdom,’ since very few foreigners were allowed in. She spent five years in India, then moved 800 miles north - to Nepal - where she worked at a small cholera clinic on the outskirts of Kathmandu, the capital. In 1955, she landed a job instead at a missionary hospital in Central India. Helen Huston – 1951 Huston’s dream was to work in China - but that never happened. To use a Helen-ism, “Her heart was on fire for Jesus.” The best way to do that, she figured, was to help the sick and dying in the poorest parts of the world. The young physician would become a missionary. She decided to follow her heart and become a servant of the Lord. The most paramount - what to do with her life - was easy. Once Huston became a full-fledged doctor, she had some big decisions to make. She interned at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital and at the Vancouver General Hospital. Helen Huston graduated from medical school at the University of Alberta in 1951, becoming one of Canada’s first female doctors.
Her mother was a school teacher her father, a United Church minister.īecause Helen’s family was often on the move, she lived in a number of small communities across Alberta. A highlight of her teenage years was attending a Christian youth camp, Canadian Girls in Training, better known by its initials: CGIT. Helen Isabel Huston was born in Innisfail, Alberta on September 20th, 1927. The remarkable story of ‘Doctor Helen’ took up four pages of Today Magazine, a supplement to the major newspapers in Canada in the 1970s and 80s. With the highest circulation of any publication in the country, Today was king. The article - read by millions - is coming right up. It was also full of unknowns - and rewards that’ll sparkle forever. Like all amazing assignments, this one was so cool in so many ways.
In the spring of 1981, I traveled to Nepal in Central Asia for a magazine story on a Canadian missionary - a medical doctor - who ran a small hospital on a terraced mountain, high above the clouds. It was only months ago - at least it seems that way - but it was more than a third of a century.
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