BY THEA JARVIS

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--When Sister Kathleen Purser joined the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart 35 years ago, she didn't expect her vocation to lead to Olympic fame.

But a search of the faces that appear as homegrown ambassadors on a 15-story Coca-Cola mural near the Olympic Stadium will soon reveal a smiling Sister Purser in the right-hand portion of the mural's giant Coke bottle.

The 54-year-old Religious, executive director of North Atlanta Senior Services (NASS) and a former elementary school principal, was among 35 people chosen for depiction on Coca-Cola's Centennial Olympic Wall.

The mural, easily spied by drivers on I-20 and the downtown connector, decorates the north wall of Carter Hall, a student dormitory that sits across from Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in southeast Atlanta. Behind it rises the new Olympic Stadium.

"I was quite surprised and taken aback" by the selection, Sister Purser said when she dropped by the archdiocesan Catholic Center in April, four months before the Summer Games were to begin. Her broad, open face, framed by short dark hair peppered with gray, was calm enough, but her hazel eyes danced and twinkled behind clear-rimmed glasses.

"It's very humbling--and lots of fun," she said. "Lots of people have been stopping me" to comment on her newfound celebrity.

Sister Purser, who is known as Sister Kay, is a native Atlantan who attended Christ the King elementary school and was in the second graduating class of St. Pius X High School. She began her career as a teacher at Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Paul of the Cross schools in Atlanta and later became principal at both facilities.

Since November 1987, Sister Purser has coordinated NASS education, home visitation, referral services, counseling, transportation and fellowship programs. The non-profit interfaith corporation is an association of 16 north Atlanta churches that includes Christ the King and Holy Spirit Catholic parishes.

Sister Purser's Olympic adventure began last fall when a Coca-Cola representative called NASS seeking names of people to consider for the massive mural. After Sister Purser had nominated 15 NASS participants for recognition, she found her own name put forward by then-NASS board president Rita Engelhardt, who is also in the mural, and past president Mary Hayes.

The two women submitted a 200-word essay on Sister Purser's NASS activities as well as her ongoing community service at CANAAN, an emergency assistance resource, and Nicholas House, a transitional home where she organizes evening meals for over 60 residents.

Last December, Sister Purser was interviewed by a screening committee and met with mural artist Kevin Cole. Ten photos were taken, she said, "just in case I was chosen."

"I didn't feel good about (the interview)," Sister Purser added, explaining modestly that she wasn't skilled in self-promotion. Her subsequent inclusion in the fourth and final group of Georgia heroes -- a roster that listed former Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson, former Mr. Olympia Lee Haney and the widow of civil rights leader Ralph David Abernathy -- was "very definitely" a surprise. Already pictured on the wall are such famous Georgians as Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter.

Donna Browning, Olympic Program Manager for Coca-Cola, said winners were chosen because they "typified Olympic ideals and had given back to their community." Ms. Browning expects the fourth phase of mural subjects to be added in May, weather permitting.

Ms. Hayes, who nominated Sister Purser for the mural, said the NASS director is caring and sensitive, unselfish with her time and energies.

"She perceives what people need and goes about (giving it) in a very quiet way," said Ms. Hayes, adding that Sister Purser brings warmth and individual attention to the elderly she visits and chats with on the phone despite a full schedule of duties.

"I don't know how she does it," Ms. Hayes said. "She has twice as much energy as the ordinary person."

Sister Purser said that she does feel "energized by others, especially when I see them committed to something or responding to God's grace in their lives. I try to see each person as uniquely special and I try to help them see that in themselves and others."

At a brunch in January to honor winners in the third phase of selection, Sister Purser was publicly introduced along with other fourth phase winners.

"It was very inspiring to be around them, to hear their stories and be in their presence," she said. "I would have been thrilled just to have been there" without being a winner herself.

On a recent visit to Carter Hall, Sister Purser was able to show off the artist's sketch of her portrait to her parents, Louise and Dick Purser of All Saints Church in Atlanta and to her sister Bobbi Breibeil, also an All Saints parishioner. Her father pointed out his famous daughter to passersby, Sister Purser remembered.

"He's very proud of his daughter. That alone was worth it," she said.