Turza Joanne Poe, also known as Miss Poe or Poe Teacher, was born on September 17, 1932, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the eldest daughter of her father Raymond and mother Louise Poe. Influenced by her parents' faith, Joanne Poe dreamed of becoming a piano player when she was young. After graduating from high school and determined to become a piano player, she entered the Florida State University College of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree and became a very accomplished pianist under the guidance of renowned Hungarian musician Ernst von Dochnanyi.

Then, while attending college in Florida, she experienced the amazing grace of God and became a famous pianist and dreamed of being applauded through playing in front of countless people. However, she became more interested in helping people with the gospel than in that dream. Above all, reading Jesus heal many sick people in the Bible, she became convinced that the best tool to preach the gospel was to cure people's diseases, so she entered Oklahoma University's medical school in 1956 and studied physiotherapy for three years and became a physical therapist in 1959. She also worked at the Jayae Hospital in Oklahoma City for three years and opened a physical therapy department.

In April 1962, she met Howard Moffett, director of Dongsan Christian Hospital from Korea, and heard that he needed a physical therapist. She heard this in the voice of God and was sent to Korea on September 12, 1962, as a medical missionary of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Joanne Poe's worked at the Jayae Hospital in Oklahoma City

When Joanne Poe arrived in Korea, there were still unexploded shells from the war all over Korea, and it was common for children who did not know what the shells were to explode while playing with them. "A total of 1,595 explosions across the country since the 1953 ceasefire have killed 1,656 people and injured 2,840," according to a report by Director Howard Moffett. Of these deaths, 450 were children under the age of 10, and 623 were teenagers. The rest were reported as disabled or injured in all age groups, so physical therapy was needed more than any other need at the time.

Joanne Poe opened a physical therapy room at Dongsan Christian Hospital for the first time in Korea except for Seoul, taking advantage of her experience in opening a physical therapy department in the U.S. She opened a physical therapy room with a small table, two chairs, and an infrared treatment stand that was not used in the hospital.

Since the first day of opening a physical therapy room, about 250 patients have visited it. After that, the expansion of the physical therapy room was required, so the hospital's mail room was used as the physical therapy room.

Joanne Poe treated patients at Dongsan Christian Hospital in the morning and went to Aerakwon in the afternoon to treat patients. Joanne Poe said in her first mission report that more than 1,500 patients opened and treated physical therapy rooms. "We've treated about 755 patients at Dongsan Christian Hospital so far, and we've treated almost the same number at Aerakwon. We performed surgery on 11 patients at the Aerakwon and helped retrain eight people transplanted muscles" She felt joy and reward as she watched her patients recover their health through her physical therapy.

Joanne Poe in Physical Therapy

An incident that clearly showed how Joanne Poe mission at Dongsan Christian Hospital was an example of allowing a young girl with a toe and cleft palate to undergo surgery.

The only granddaughter raised by her maternal grandmother in a poor rural area was given as a foster daughter to a rich family. The condition was to help with housework, take care of children, and allow them to undergo surgery when they turn 20. Upon hearing the news, Joanne Poe went out to find the little girl and eventually tried to persuade her grandmother to have the little girl undergo the surgery. At that time, 6 million won(about 4700 dollars) was a huge cost, but she spared no support and repeatedly operated in collaboration with doctors from various departments at Dongsan Christian Hospital over several months, and the surgery was very successful. The severely torn area recovered so beautifully that it was barely marked, and the child grew up with praise from local adults for studying well, believing in Jesus well, and being polite.

The life of a person who would have lived his whole life suffering from an inferiority complex due to a serious disability problem in his face has completely changed through Joanne Poe, leading to a new life.

As such, Joanne Poe's mission was a crystal of love that she did her best enough to be named the "total care" mission. Since then, the number of cases of total care has increased, and she has not helped the people of the mission site only in one direction, but has helped and served in all areas of spirit, soul, and flesh when she found it necessary to help them.

Even in the midst of that busyness, missionary John Sibley joined the Geoje Regional Social Health Pilot Project, which began in Geoje Island from the end of 1970.

Joanne Poe who took care of the total care mission

Impressed by Joanne Poe's strong faith, not only the patients but also the hospital staff believed in God. Physical therapy was a good tool for her to preach the gospel. While talking naturally during this physical therapy, she did her best to lead a soul to Jesus by preaching the gospel.

With her efforts and interest, she finally bore the fruit of a considerable amount of evangelism in the hospital, including Professor Lim Man-bin. In a letter to Joanne Poe, he said, "I really wanted to tell you how I came to believe in Jesus, and I thought how happy Miss Poe would be if she knew I believed in Jesus."

For her work in Korea, Joanne Poe was awarded the Merit Award by the Korean government and the Medal of Honor by the Korean Red Cross.

She spent 30 years dedicated to the development of the physical therapy room before returning home in October 1992 for health reasons. Joanne Poe was the embodiment of love that showed Jesus' love to countless people while at Dongsan Christian Hospital. Her breast cancer recurred in 2004 and she lived with full reliance on God every day due to cancer fighting, but was called by God on April 16, 2008 at the age of 75. She was then buried in Oklahoma Memorial Park Cemetery.

On April 17, 2009, Dongsan Christian Hospital opened the first physical therapy room in Yeongnam in 1962 and held an unveiling ceremony to commemorate Joanne Poe, who had been leading the modernization of medical care and rehabilitation patients until 1992.

Chung Chul-ho, director of Dongsan Hospital, said, "We organized a memorial service to commemorate the sacrifice, service, and dedication of missionary Joanne Poe, who left her home country at the young age of 30 and devoted her life to Koreans without marriage."

Joanne Poe Memorial 1st Anniversary Facial Image Unveiling Ceremony, April 17, 2009

Joanna Poe Missionary's Tombstone