I met Sister Angela Murdaugh (Roman Catholic Franciscan Sister of Mary)
in the onion fields of Raymondville, Texas over 40 years ago. She was
trying to win the trust of migrant workers to start a freestanding birthing
center so they wouldn’t have to deliver their babies in the onion fields
anymore. I was a field representative for the March of Dimes, sent on a
mission to discover how the March of Dimes could help improve maternal
health care along the southern Texas/Mexico border. Along the way, I
discovered poor Mexican women were afraid to go to a white doctor for
maternal health care. They were using Currenderos instead who advised
the women to eat clay, which would cause their babies to be born with birth
defects. All the WIC (Women Infants & Children) Nurses I visited from
Laredo to McAllen, told me to go see Sister Angela in Raymondville
because she was developing a unique solution to the problem.

Arriving in Raymondville in a suit, high heels and carrying a briefcase,
I walked into the onion field where Angela was working side by side with
these Mexican women. I soon got stuck in the mud. Angela looked up to
see me and wondered what in the world I was doing there. She came over
and I asked if she could possibly be Sister Angela. She said she was! I told
her I was from the March of Dimes and that I had heard she had an idea
that might be an answer to the maternal health problems in the Valley. She
said she would be happy to talk to me about that dream of hers and
immediately pulled my feet and shoes out of the mud. She led me to a
small shack where the women took their breaks from the hot Texas sun.
She cleaned my feet and shoes and we began to talk. I knew immediately
that this dream of hers would be just the kind of program that could help
make a real difference in maternal health care in Texas. I traveled back to
my office in San Antonio the next day to request that the March of Dimes
give Sister Angela a grant for this first free-standing birthing center in the
United States of America. And that is exactly how Angela got her first grant.
In that onion field that day, little did we know that Angela and I had also
started a friendship that would last over 40 years.

It wasn’t easy having the first free-standing birthing center. But Angela was
up for the task of fighting for what she believed was the right thing to do for
these women. The white medical community in the Valley threatened
her…but she didn’t leave – she fought back for the rights of these poor
women to receive adequate maternal health care. She believed every
woman (regardless of economic or social status) had the right to bring her
baby into the world in a clean and healthy environment. And she would not
give up on her dream – no matter what!

I wrote a white paper on the research I had done along the Texas-Mexico
border and somehow the Texas Medical Association became aware of it. I
was called to testify at a Maternal Health Care Sub Committee meeting to
talk to these doctors about what I had found in my travels along the border.
They had also invited Sister Angela, which to them was like inviting the fox
into the hen house! We both walked into that meeting together as if we
were walking into a lion’s den. We were too young, brave and passionate to
let anyone stop us. I testified first. I answered questions and explained in
detail what I had found along the border in the company of WIC nurses.
And, I expressed my great relief when I learned of one person who was
working on a solution to maternal health problems. That person was Sister
Angela. They expected that as a representative of the March of Dimes I
would be unbiased in the opinions I would deliver. But, by this time the
March of Dimes had fully endorsed Angela’s project with a grant! So the
March of Dimes and I stood side by side with Angela. Next, it was Angela’s
turn. She stood up with all the courage she could muster and told the
doctors on the Committee – “I am tired of being treated like a nigger”. Their
mouths dropped open. She further explained that the poor women she
served would no more go to a white doctor than go to the moon. She
stated strongly that she was not “stealing patients away from the white
doctors” in the Valley. Additionally, “she did not think it was right that her
doctor backups were being pressured to step down from supporting her
work”. Finally, she challenged them with this comment that I think I
remember word for word and it went like this … “You can do whatever you
want to try and get me to leave the Valley … but I’m not going anywhere.
I’m staying! So you might as well get used to it!” And with that, we picked
up our briefcases and left the hearing. At my apartment in Austin, we had a
good laugh. Neither of us ever forgot that day. We had fought the good
fight for women and children in the Valley. Nothing and nobody was going
to stop Angela from building that birthing center! And, as you know by now,
that is exactly what happened. Many of the little girl babies born in that
Center were named after Sister Angela. I am sure many of them were told
with great pride the story of the brave woman they were named after.

After the birthing center was fully operational, I nominated her for Texas
Nurse of the Year. Somehow the paperwork of her winning this big award
never made it to Angela. On the day she was to accept her award in El
Paso, I called to see if she was packed and ready to go. She was out on a
birth in the rural part of the county and nobody thought she knew she had
won nor was she planning to go to El Paso that day. I called the airlines
and booked her flight and then I called the county Sheriff and convinced
him to please go get her bag, which the staff had packed for her, and then
go get Angela and take her to the airport!! According to Sister Angela she
had just finished the birth and was sitting out on the front porch when she
saw the Sheriff driving real fast, with dust kicking up behind him as he
approached the house. He got out of the cruiser and asked her if she was
Sister Angela. She replied that she was. Then, the Sheriff informed her
that she had won Texas Nurse of the Year and that he had her packed bag
in the car and he was recruited to get her to the airport as quickly as he
could. She made the flight in McAllen and flew to San Antonio where I got
on the flight with her. I was so happy to see that she had made the flight!!
At the airport, members of the press were waiting for her. I gave her a little
pep talk about how to handle being interviewed by the press and then she
stood before them and took all their questions with really good answers.
As I could see that it was going well, I ran over to a pay phone and looked
up florists in the yellow pages. I just picked one and called to see if they
could deliver a dozen red roses to the county club that night and then I told
the man on the phone all about Sister Angela. He agreed to do it on one
condition. He was a Catholic and he said it would be his honor to pay for
the flowers himself. That night when Angela got up to speak she admitted
to me that she had never spoken to such a large group of people and she
was nervous. I told her to speak from her heart and that she would do just
fine. Her acceptance speech was electrifying. She received a standing
ovation as I brought up the dozen red roses. She later framed a photo of
us with the flowers and pressed one red rose in her Bible.

Later she was elected President of the American College of Nurse
Midwives and served 2 years in Washington, D.C. But she came back to
the Rio Grande Valley of Texas after her presidency was over and started
the second birthing center called Holy Family Services in Weslaco, Texas
where she continued to serve until she retired.

Through the years, I often said that ours was the most unlikely friendship.
We had not lived in the same town until she retired, never shared the same
profession, and didn’t even have the same religious beliefs. In fact, she
married God and I married a man named Good! But those were not
differences that mattered, and we remained best friends for a lifetime.

I lived in Austin where she was my guest when she came to testify many,
many times thru the years. I made a promise to her early in our friendship
that when she needed a rest and a place to re-charge her batteries, my
home would always be open to her for retreat from her busy life. Years
after I made this promise to her, I moved back to my hometown, San
Antonio and married a lawyer named Skip Good. On a weekend when I
had promised my sisters a weekend away, Angela called to see if she and
Sister Ann could come up. I reminded Skip that before we married he had
agreed to keep this promise I had made to her. And, now Angela was
coming when I would be away and he would have to keep the promise.
He agreed. So, when Angela arrived at the front door of our home, Skip
opened the door and found Angela sobbing. She explained to Skip that
she had just been served with her first lawsuit. Because she had taken a
vow of poverty, she had no money to cover legal fees and didn’t know what
to do. My husband said “Don’t worry Angela, I will take care of you.” So
Skip became her lawyer and later his law firm made a lifelong commitment
to representing Sister Angela for the rest of her professional life (pro bono
of course).

After practicing in the Rio Grande Valley since 1972, Sister Angela was
honored on September 10, 2002 in Austin as one of only four women
inducted that day into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. She became a
modern day Texas Hero, a trailblazer with courage and passion for the care
of women and children. I was honored to witness that incredible day in her
life, along with a host of her other friends and family.

Ours was an unusual friendship that lasted a lifetime of good times and
bad. She was at every important event of my life during those forty years
including my wedding day, the funeral of my mother, my father and finally in
2023 the funeral of my husband, Skip Good. At his funeral I asked her to
speak. She advised all the lawyers in the audience that they should say to
their prospective clients what Skip said to her that day she arrived at our
house shortly after she learned that she was going to be sued. She said:
“Don’t tell them you will take their case, tell them you will take care of
them!” I think Skip would have been very proud that she remembered that.
Through the time that I knew Angela, the world became a better place for
women and children in the Rio Grande Valley because she stood up for
them, no matter how hard that was for her personally, she was committed
to the mission God gave her so long ago. And, I am the lucky one that
stumbled into an onion field one day to find my hero and friend.
Angela was present at every important event in my life as I was in hers for
over forty years, including her 25th Jubilee and her 60th Jubilee. The day
Angela died I was just outside her room. So, I was nearby as she left this
earth, the final important event of her beautiful and productive life, and was
greeted by her Creator and Heavenly Father. I know Angela was ready.
She had completed her mission on earth and as she told me, “it was her
time to go” … leaving behind so many incredible memories of her devotion,
passion and love for her family, friends, clients, and her mission, which she
completed with great dignity and grace. I will never forget my dear life-long
friend, Sister Angela Murdaugh. God rest her noble soul.