Kathryn Anne Kreider

I was born August 10, 1940, at the Hershey Hospital which was then a part of the Hershey Community Building in Hershey, Pa. I was welcomed to my Kreider farm home by my two sisters, Nancy and Barbara and my brother Dale.

I attended Campbelltown Elementary School for eight years and then went to Hershey High School where I graduated in 1958. From there I attended Messiah College for two years, and went on to graduate from Greenville College in Illinois.

Upon graduation from college, I began working at the Family and Children's Services in Lebanon. My work as a case worker involved working with foster children and doing protective service work with the children in the foster home.

I enrolled in the School of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania in 1964 and graduated in 1966 with a Master's in Social Work degree. During these two years I worked at the agency three days each week, and attended graduate school in Philadelphia two days each week. My 1960 Corvair---my first car---was very faithful in getting me to the university. However, the blizzard of February 1966, created a unique challenge! We had at least 25 inches of snow, and it drifted so badly that it covered my car! Dad took me across the fields with the tractor and manure spreader. From there, Joanne and Lew Miller took me to Harrisburg to get the train.

After working for two more years in Lebanon, I decided I needed a change. I had been very fortunate to be able to live at home during my years of schooling and work. I was making plans to move to a new job in Tucson, Az., when Mother died on May 5, 1968, of a massive heart attack. With God's help and the support of family, especially Dad, I moved to Tucson in August 1968. I enjoyed the Southwest, especially the close proximity of my brother and his family. Dad and I enjoyed a trip to Mexico City in 1969. We all enjoyed Dad's visits during the two years that I lived in Tucson.

After I moved back to the farm, I worked for Lebanon County Children and Youth Services as a supervisor from 1970-1972. In 1972-1976 I taught social work courses at Messiah College. While teaching at Messiah College I enrolled in an adoption study with Tressler Lutheran Services of York. I have always loved children, and it was most exciting to learn that a single woman could adopt children. Little did I realize how this knowledge would very soon revolutionize my life!

In the spring of 1975, just before Saigon was taken over by the North Vietnamese, an amazing chain of events brought nearly 200 Vietnamese orphans to safety in Pennsylvania. Families were needed immediately to help them begin their lives anew. I was one of those called.

On April 26, 1975, I met Vu Thi Ngoc from Saigon, Vietnam, after a three-day notice that she would be my daughter. She knew no English. Ngoc(as I named her) had no knowledge of her birth family. She had spent all her twelve years of life (her exact age was unknown) at the An Lac Orphanage in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). She had polio as a young child and now walks with crutches due to paralysis of her knees. As one of the oldest children at An Lac, (which means "happy place"), Ngoc helped care for the little ones. And through the years she has enjoyed employment in child care.

Ngoc has many Vietnamese friends from An Lac, and as a result of adopting Ngoc, I have learned to know many people who have enriched both of our lives.

In 1977, Ngoc and I met Judy Smith, age 15, who was being re-placed from her adoptive home of two years. She was born in New Bern, N.C. At the age of 7, she was removed from her birth family and then spent 8 years in foster homes. Judy became a member of our family on July 4, 1977. She was later able to reconnect with her birth mother and her biological brother.

Judy and her husband, John Laudermilch, have been married 23 years and have two children: John and Lyndsey. Lyndsey is married and has two children, and is living in Florida.

Since 1976 I have been employed by Philhaven Hospital as a social worker. Presently my work is in Lebanon at a mental health clinic. In 2006, after 42 years as a social worker, I am hoping to gradually reduce my work load.

Ngoc and I have moved from the Kreider family farm which has now been sold, and are living at 300 West Maple Street in Palmyra.