Update: Norma Kehrberg’s Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, November 22, 2019 at Harris United Methodist Church. The service will begin at 2:00PM.  For questions or further information, contact Harris United Methodist Church at 808.536.9602

By Elliott Wright
October 9, 2019 | ATLANTA (GBGM)

Norma J. Kehrberg, a long-time United Methodist missionary and the first woman to lead the United Methodist Committee on Relief, died on Oct. 6, 2019, following a long illness. She was 81 years old and lived in Hawaii in retirement.

She spent almost 25 years as a missionary in Nepal, and from 1984 to 1991, was head of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the relief and development agency of The United Methodist Church and a part of the General Board of Global Ministries. She is thought to be the first woman to hold such a position among Protestant denominations.

Her service in Nepal, then a Hindu kingdom, was primarily in education and literacy programs and fell into two blocks. A first segment of more than a decade began in 1967 and the second was from 1991 to 2001. Most of her work related to the United Mission to Nepal, an ecumenical ministry engaged in health, education, and rural and industrial development. Her last assignment was as director of education for the United Mission. She was noted for non-formal education programs for women, and she founded the YWCA in Nepal.

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