Missionary Nurse in Peru and Argentina

Guillermina Deggeller de Kalbermatter (1892–1989)

Guillermina Deggeller de Kalbermatter was a missionary nurse in Peru and Argentina, and wife of missionary Pedro Kalbermatter.

Early Years in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina (1892-1919)

Born on January 8, 1892, in Águila, Uruguay, Guillermina was the daughter of Guillermo Deggeller, who emigrated to Uruguay from Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Guillermina's mother, Berta Kunzle, was originally from Sankt Gallen, Switzerland and emigrated to Uruguay with her parents and siblings.

In the mid-1890s, a devastating drought in Uruguay forced the Deggeller's to emigrate to Paraguay. In the port of Buenos Aires, a friend and canvasser of the Bible Society gave them magazines that presented the theme of Saturday as the Sabbath and, without additional instructions, they began to observe it.  While studying the Bible in her home Mother Berta Künzle de Deggeller decided to be baptized with daughters Cecilia, Fanny, Luisa, and Guillermina (11 years old). In 1912 she moved to River Plate Academy and Sanitarium. She worked for a few months and then completed the three-year nursing course, graduating in 1915. Her marriage to Pedro Kalbermatter took place on December 20, 1915 in the city of Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina. She had seven children in all.

Missionary Service in Peru (1919-1937)

In 1919 the South American Division invited the Kalbermatter's to move to Peru to work with Pastor Fernando A. Stahl and his wife Ana Christina Carlson de Stahl, missionaries among the Incas. Together with her husband Pedro Kalbermatter, Guillermina labored in an intense and fruitful missionary work in Peru for nearly 20 years. At that time Guillermina D. Kalbermatter took special interest in medical care, cleanliness, and healthy eating and drinking. She was a midwife and replaced her husband when he was away on his great mission tours. As a nurse and midwife she brought into existence more than 2,000 children and greatly facilitated her husband's work as a missionary.

The Kalbermatters spent a year at the Platería Mission Station in Puno, Peru and built the Samán Mission Station with a school and medical dispensary. They continued their work in the indigenous mission of Laro, in the Azangaro Valley, where Guillermina was a teacher. In 1927 they moved to Huancayo and Huanta, 800 kilometers from Laro and later to Andahuaylas and Cusco.

Final Years in Argentina and the United States

Upon returning to Argentina in 1937, the Kalbermatter family settled near the city of Crespo, Entre Ríos, where she continued to provide nursing and midwife services. Her husband Pedro died on March 13, 1968.

In 1972 she moved to the United States with her daughter Elena. She died on March 19, 1989, in Glendale, California, a few days after turning 98. She is remembered as a brave, determined, and selfless missionary. She was an admired wife, mother, and grandmother whose influence extended to her offspring. She was a highly valued person in the family for her humility, as well as for her wise advice

Condensed from the article by Eugenio Di Dionisio
Read the whole article:
https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=9GJN



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