Sister Elizabeth “Betty” Campbell

Sister of Mercy Elizabeth (Betty) Campbell, known for her lifelong insistence on and advocacy for the dignity and human rights of every person, died in San Antonio, Texas on January 18, 2026. Her death was sudden, the result of a brain hemorrhage. She was 91 years of age, a woman of faith committed as a Sister of Mercy for 70 years to the service of the poor.

Born in Wisconsin and raised in Iowa, Sister Betty was the youngest of William and Caroline [O’Neil] Campbell’s 13 children. Influenced by two brothers who were doctors, she decided to become a nurse. In 1955 Betty entered the Sisters of Mercy, took her lifelong vows in 1961, and served briefly in two Mercy hospitals in the U.S. before accepting a call (1962) to missionary work in Peru.

Director of nursing and hospital administrator at Madres de la Misericordia in Sicuani, Peru, Sister Betty not only offered her professional skills and compassionate care, but also listened and learned from the people she’d come to help. Theirs was a dignity and a culture that called her to new perspectives about missionary work.

It was in Peru that Sister Betty met Father Peter Hinde, a Carmelite priest from the U.S. who was also sensing new possibilities for missionary service. Attending to the wisdom of the people they’d come to serve, Betty and Peter became lifetime companions and partners in what they called “reverse mission.” They came to see their role as one of working with those who were poor or disregarded, learning from them about their life circumstances, and bringing that knowledge to people in the U.S. A key aim was to alert government officials and ordinary citizens to the impact of U.S. policies and interventions in Central and South American nations.

Over the years, this mission found Sister Betty and Father Peter traveling extensively throughout Latin America, gathering information and returning to the U.S. to advocate for those nations and people they’d visited. Their work also led to the creation of Casa Tabor, a community of persons committed to justice and compassion for the poor and oppressed. Founded in Washington D.C. in 1973, Tabor house welcomed exiles and refugees from the wars and dictatorships of various Latin American nations and expanded its advocacy work. Casa Tabor moved to San Antonio, TX in the mid-1980s and again in 1995 to Cd. Juarez on the Mexican border.

​After Father Peter died in 2020, Sister Betty continued her decades’ long ministry with a focus on two key areas: work at the border with immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, and education and empowerment programs with women. In both, she was living out two Critical Concerns of the Sisters of Mercy: solidarity with immigrants and refugees in seeking a more just and inclusive world, and attention to women’s education, health, and spirituality.

Approachable, lively, prayerful, and always interested in each person she encountered, Sister Betty lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ in many ways. Though well known in the communities she served, her daily life was one of simple companionship. She delighted in the humming birds who nested in her yard. She welcomed visitors wanting to learn about the realities at the border. She emailed widely, urging others to advocate for those suffering abuse. She painted murals and kept a litany of persons violently killed or “disappeared”. And through it all she prayed, loving the Eucharist and daily gathering with others for Gospel readings and reflection.

Sister Betty is survived by a loving host of nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, by her Sisters in the Mercy Community, and by her companions in Casa Tabor. May she be rejoicing now in the presence of the God she so loved and served.

Prayer Service and Visitation Thursday February 26th, 9:45 am until 10:45 am at Mercy Hall, Illinois Room, 10044 S. Central Park in Chicago.

Mass of Christian Burial following at 11:00 at Mercy Chapel.

Inurnment Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials to the Sisters of Mercy, 10024 S. Central Park, Chicago, IL 60655 would be greatly appreciated.