| Article number: | BK-IICMYH-CS |
Years ago, when I was training to become a hospital chaplain, my supervisor offered a startling observation: “You will learn that chaplaincy and the art of caring for another during times of grief have little to do with a job description and everything to do with the interruptions.”
Mary Farr, a health care marketing executive and retired pediatric hospital chaplain, has devoted her entire career to exploring the worlds of hope, healing and humor. A former director of chaplaincy at Children’s Hospital, Minnesota., she has authored five books, and been featured in radio programs, publications and blogs including the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnetonka Magazine, ZestNow.com, TheDailyBasics.com, Humoroutcasts.com, and The Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop. She has presented at women’s leadership groups, Befriender Ministry forums, Parish Nurse Association Minnesota, the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, Augsburg College Integrative Medicine Conference; United Hospital Grand Rounds, and numerous grief and loss conferences.
A graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English, Mary completed divinity studies in the Episcopal Diocese of Eau Claire where she was ordained to the permanent diaconate in 1983. She received a Master of Arts degree in Theology from St. Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
