The tragic, dedicated life of Chinese missionary Katherine Chase Pratt 1875-1942 "I have long wondered about the thoughtful young woman portrayed [here]. She certainly does not seem like the typical socialite painted by Sargent. Her papers at the Yale University Divinity School Library answer many questions. Raised as a traditional Episcopalian, Katherine Chase Pratt married Alfred Shapleigh, a graduate of Harvard Medical School; and they served in Tientsin, China under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions from 1896 to 1897. Apparently experiencing a transformation in their religious beliefs, the Shapleighs divested themselves of many of the wedding gifts and possessions given to them by their affluent families and returned to the US, where Alfred attended Bible schools. They engaged in home mission work until able to return to China under the more conservative China Inland Mission board. They returned to China as missionaries in 1904, but Alfred and their 2 children tragically died of smallpox shortly after their arrival. Katherine Shapleigh decided to remain in China under the CIM for several assignments (1904-1908, 1915-1920, 1926-1927). She served at the training school for future mission workers run by the China Inland Mission in Yangchow and in later years worked with Russian refugees at the Foreign Women's Home in Shanghai. After her return to the United States, Shapleigh served as Dean of Women at Wheaton College in Illinois." 1934 Appointed Dean of Women at Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL 1935 Received B.A. 1937 Following a severe heart attack, KS retired from Wheaton position and moved to North Carolina 1942 Died in NC 9https://bjws.blogspot.nl/2014/08/the-tragic-dedicated-life-of-chinese.html)