Celebrating the service of Margaret Jean Storey, who worked tirelessly to bring healthcare to the vulnerable in South Korea.
On November 20, 2024, a little-known United Church woman was honoured in South Korea. She is none other than Dr. Margaret Storey, who spent most of her career far away from her family and friends in Canada, quietly doing God's work. As the United Church of Canada celebrates its centenary year in 2025, let us celebrate individuals like Storey, who remind us of the depth and breadth of our Church that have both shaped and defined who we are around the world.
Margaret Storey was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1939. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in science from the University of Manitoba, she decided to serve the Church as a mission co-worker. At the age of 21, in 1960, Storey arrived in South Korea as an English teacher at Hanshin University and Yonsei University. During that time, Storey noticed that the sick and bedridden were not receiving proper health care, which inspired her to dedicate her life to helping patients. She came back to Canada to study nursing at McMaster University, before returning to Korea in 1966 to begin her nursing career.
As a nurse in a Korean hospital, Storey witnessed another problem. “Many patients left the hospital before finishing treatment,” she said. “It seemed that the poor were increasingly becoming excluded from medical benefits, so I felt the need for home nursing.” When Storey began to work at Wonju Christian Hospital in 1974, she established Korea’s first community health department, providing free home nursing care for patients who prematurely discharged themselves from hospitals, as well as other shut-in patients. Most of these patients were impoverished and could not pay their hospital bills. In 1995, the government of South Korea implemented home care nursing nationwide.
As a homecare nurse, Storey also witnessed another problem–the plight of the children. As she put it, “While doing home nursing, I went around to each household, I came across severely disabled children who were deprived of medical benefits and even education opportunities as [they] were left at home. I decided to become their hands and feet.” She established a school in the hospital for about 20 children with a variety of medical issues, which grew to 50 after two to three years. Following Storey’s lead, the city of Wonju properly established a school for children with disabilities in 1985.
Storey earned her Ph.D. in 1984, and in 1988 she joined the nursing faculty at the prestigious Yonsei University, where she taught community health nursing. Throughout her career, she worked tirelessly to support the disabled and the poor as well as to recognize their humanity. For all her efforts, Storey is hailed in Korea as the “blue-eyed angel” and “angel for the marginalized.” She was also honoured with a Korean name, Seo Mi-Hye. In November 2024, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her joining the Wonju Christian Hospital, Storey was honoured in a special worship service by the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, at which the Right Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne also bestowed wonderful praise and gratitude for Storey’s work of ministry.
The United Church of Canada has many incredible people in our history and in our midst today who do the work that God is calling us to do: give hope and voice to the despairing, joy to those suffering, and justice to the struggling. Through all of this, we know that we are not alone. God is with us. Thanks be to God.
— The Rev. Won Hur is Global Partnership Program Coordinator, Asia, in the Church in Mission Unit, at the General Council Office.
The views contained within these blogs are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of The United Church of Canada.