in 1936, at age 29 and dying of tuberculosis, quinn became a legion of mary envoy, a very active missionary to east and central africa, departing in december 1936 for mombasa. edel settled in nairobi having been told by bishop heffernan that this was the most convenient base for her work. by the outbreak of world war ii, she was working as far off as dar es salaam and mauritius. in 1941, she was admitted to a sanatorium near johannesburg. fighting her illness, in seven and a half years she established hundreds of legion branches and councils in today's tanzania, kenya, uganda, malawi, and mauritius. fr. j.j. mccarthy, later bishop of zanzibar and archbishop of nairobi, wrote of her: