Kuhn's mother had at one time told her that "the only way this young Christian would become a missionary was over her mother's dead body." This caused Kuhn much anxiety, because as a Christian she wanted to honor her mother and father. As this missionary-to-be wrote, she was "too young in the Lord to understand that obeying God comes before obeying parents." Ultimately, her mother allowed her to go to Moody. Kuhn's mother died during an operation (while Kuhn was in her first semester at Moody), acknowledging to a woman friend that her daughter had "chosen the better way."