“In 40 years of service in Zambia, they influenced a generation”

Franklin and Paula Kilpatrick were my host couple for my 5-week trip to Zambia last summer.  From the IMB’s africastories:

In 1970, the Beatles broke up, Earth Day was celebrated for the first time, the Concorde made its first supersonic flight, 500,000 people died in Bangladesh from a cyclone, and the first episode of the soap opera All My Children aired.

Franklin and Paula Kilpatrick didn’t notice many of these events. They were moving across the world to start a new life, in a new culture, as missionaries in Zambia.

“Some say, ‘Forty years sounds like forever,’” Paula said. “I think of it like the ‘70s were two days and then the ‘80s was like a day and the ‘90s like a day and [the last 10 years] like a day. So really we’ve only been here five days. That’s how I feel about it.

“It goes by in a hurry.”

The Kilpatricks are retiring next year to Pasadena, Texas, a suburb of Houston.

In 40 years of service in Zambia, they influenced a generation.

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